Tzippi Becomes a Waterbender

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Book: Water

Also known as the Tale of Tzippi and the Too Many Tags

 

I am returning to the Rebellion after a long battle with a demon of depression. The dark spirit swept in as I was weakened by becoming a mother. I am doing better now, and am just beginning to practice Tai Chi, which (along with the fine spring weather) is inspiring me to respawn here, as a monk.

One goal under each bending style is a constant habit, one-two one-time goals under are straight up success if done. Thanks for the help refining  my foals, @sarakingdom

 

Goal One: Plantbending

 

☆ Eat 2 fruits and veg per day. (If this gets too easy, up it to 3).

☆ Research and plan an indoor greens growing system. 

☆ Shop for weeStockings sized garden tools, pit on wish list.

 

Goal Two: Waterbending

 

☆ Exercise every day to support Tai chi. On class days, go to class. Other days, Hammer, walk, yoga . . .

☆  Sweep back deck for morning practice.

 

 

 

Goal Three: Cloudbending

 

☆  Harness the breath like an Airbender by Meditating 5 minutes daily. 

☆  DONE. Get reusable travel mug again. A nice ceramic one with a silicone lid.

☆  For week with April 1st, make a new Gratitude BuJo spread.

☆  With first paycheck, sign up for Calm premium subscription.

 

 

 

 

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week One Retrospective:

 

 

Not a bad first week! 

Plant bending: 4.5/7

Cloudbending: 6/7

Waterbending: 6/7

 

Specials: My husband's thrift shopping habit turned me up a travel coffee/tea tumbler, which I'm going to use for hot drinks so I can kick the coffeeshop habit except for special occasions (this was a Cloudbending goal because money matters are a huge stressor for me and my husband, and my mental health will get better, even from this tiny thing.)

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week Two Retrospective:

l

 

Continuing on. Considering a few days of feeling wretched, pretty good.

 

Plantbending: 5/7

Waterbending: 5/7

Cloudbending: 6/7

 

I'd like to get back to more hammer workouts here and there, and better about cooking veg again. But my lettuce in the garden is starting to help out with fresh salads!

 

Single-item goals: I made my April BuJo Gratitude slread, which I put under Cloudbending as a mental benefit.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week Three Retrospective:

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week Four Retrospective:

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Reserved for Woots and Celebration 

 

 

 

 

Rejoined the Chevra Kadisha.

Planted a bunch of greens in the box outside and the l'il kitchen greenhouse.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

End of Challenge Roundup:

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week 0 Thursday 3/14

 

Achieved what feels to me like a very big adulting milestone: I cleared a blocked toilet, by myself. Only somewhat ashamed at this being my first time, since I am over 35.

 

Other news: I got a job, after being out of work since September. Its not a dream, but it does mean lots and lots of access to salads, so hopefully it'll help with those Plantbending goals above (working at Café Zupas). 

 

To do for my challenge:

*Start sketching a design for my BuJo micrography

*Get some good green tea (no hot leaf juice!)

*Find a place on the counter for the blender to live - Smoothie time. 

 

Managed to Shovelglove both yesterday and today, so very pleased about that. Two days makes a chain, so here we go.

 

 

[Terra]

I love that you are back.  I'm sorry to hear about what kept you away.   

 

I'm here to support ya!!! (i'm always sporadic but I'll do my best to break out of the Ranger ranks and find you here!) Not to mention I should try to visit the Monks more often... 

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week 0 3/15

 

So far today, I have applied for three more jobs, did another shovelglove workout, and binged on water to be ready for tai chi tonight.

 

Lunch and meditation before my orientation, then Tai chi afterwards.

 

Tai Chi was great - learned the next two steps. Had leftover Veggie Thai green curry for dinner and shared my veg and chickpeas with weeStockings, who even said "MOaaawh IH-bees!" when asking for more. He also likes red bell peppers and carrots, and amazingly, the bok choi stems. So that's good. Stretching and drinking tea now. Not planning on doing shovelglove on the weekends. I also edited my goals above to reflect a more realistic development of goals. Shovelgloving is also great, but I don't want it to take over the skills I want to work on NOW, which are Tai Chi (while I have three months paid in advance), cooking more vegetables, and working on meditation. 

[sarakingdom]

This is a ton a ton a ton of goals. Probably too many. I'm extra concerned, because depression is on the issue list, which tends to make people anxious to solve ALL THE THINGS, and then get extra discouraged when it's just too much.

 

Don't spread yourself too thin. Next month exists, too. Pick off a smaller number of things and come back for the next set next month.

 

What three things would move the needle on your well-being the most? What core habits can you fine-tune later once they're in place? Which habits are things that would make sense as coming before other habits?

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

5 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

This is a ton a ton a ton of goals. Probably too many. I'm extra concerned, because depression is on the issue list, which tends to make people anxious to solve ALL THE THINGS, and then get extra discouraged when it's just too much.

 

Don't spread yourself too thin. Next month exists, too. Pick off a smaller number of things and come back for the next set next month.

 

What three things would move the needle on your well-being the most? What core habits can you fine-tune later once they're in place? Which habits are things that would make sense as coming before other habits?

 

You're right. Reading over my previous challenges, I often just lost the thread a week or two in. With a four rather than six-week challenge, I need to work on just a few things. I'm not ready to do all the big mindmapping stuff, but I made a quick rundown of a lot of my bog goals, and some potential medium-sized goals underneath. 

 

My biggest of big goals (also posted to Search for My Epic Quest board):

 

Have the strength and stamina to do what I want to do comfortably

     Be able to play with weeStockings without getting winded immediately

     Be able to keep up with my yard and house

     Be flexible to avoid injury and strain

 

Find my happiness to develop a regular exercise schedule

     Learn 24 for Tai Chi, maybe a weapon style?

     SCA Fencing with friends?

     Try running again? 

     Hike with weeStockings?

 

Make a better Mindspace

     Learn to meditate

     Learn to lucid dream?

     Gratitude journal

    Be proactive with therapy - journal?

 

Cook More and Better Food

   Meal Plan

   Batch cook

    Back to Bentos!

   Recipe collection + shopping lists (teach Mr. Longstockings to cook some stuff)

   Garden - veggies and herbs

    Indoor system for growing greens

 

Better time with weeStockings

     Practice my French, especially songs and games

     Cooking activities (make him an apron or smock)

      Art activities

      Nature activities (hiking?)

      Garden - child-sized gardening tools?

 

Be better with money

                Get coffee/tea cup

                Batch cook

                Limit WISH spending

                Develop savings plans

                CROSSOVER Household expenses account

 

Pay off student debt

                Put some physical money aside?

                Make more money in general?

                Put gift money toward debt (Always half?)

Start business with Lindsey

                Study Puzzle development

                Write story

                Research insurance

                Work on website stuff

                                Learn about website stuff

                Get test groups to play How to Host a murders or similar

Get set up so SCA is easy

                Garb “wardrobes”

                Pack camping gear

                Purses, containers, and food prep equipment

                Figure out preppable camping food

                Find SCA babysitters for weeStockings

 

 

 

[sarakingdom]

It's good to have the big list. And I totally get the urge to do lots of it, because it all seems important to getting things straightened out. I have the same urge. But whatever the length of the challenge, the brain can't handle too many high priorities. One of the biggest lessons I had to learn, and I'm still working on it, is that I get more done by doing less.

 

If it were me, I'd pick three habits, one for each bending category, and then find 4-5 actions on your list that only need to be done once as a week challenge task.

 

For cloudbending, I think meditation for five minutes a day is your high priority game-changer. For waterbending, I think "exercise every day to support Tai Chi" might be good. When it's class day, you go to class, and when it's not, you do something to support it. You can worry next month about the precise subgoals and training distributions and tracking and everything. This month, I'd just work on the habit of making time daily, even if it's the silliest thing by the standards of your goals. They're goals for a later month. For plantbending, I think it's your call; a nice garden now might encourage more plant eating later, or eating more plants now might be useful for your health and activity change.

 

Single tasks? Get a coffee cup. Make wee Stockings a smock. Get wee Stockings gardening tools (good preparation for your gardening goal). Install a meditation app. Those are all single-action things that you do once to support your big goals and shrink the list. Do one a week as a bonus.

 

I would temporarily ditch the cleaning points. It doesn't look like it now, but it's nine extra goals for you to track. You'll get there. If you want to start, as part of your meditation practice, try the old classic of washing the dishes mindfully, once a week, as one day's meditation practice. It sneaks in one cleaning goal, and it's great mindfulness training. There's value to training yourself to do that sort of labor mindfully and calmly - it'll pay off when you put the other things back on the agenda. (I'll dig up an essay on the Zen approach to mindful work. I'm really bad at it, but I love it.)

 

Think of this challenge like starting working out after an injury - you're going to need to take it easy for a while and rebuild strength until you trust your body to handle your workout without reinjuring itself. It's the same with your challenge muscles. Let them ease back in, and stay focused on less, so you can do those things better until you trust yourself to focus on more. You'll get to everything. And you'll get there faster if you go slower.

[sarakingdom]

(Also, I noticed something in there that might make a big difference with possibly, depending on Mr Stockings, minimal effort. You have teaching Mr Stockings to cook on there. Doing all the cooking is a big load on you, especially with a small child. Rather than focusing teaching right away, though, maybe you can make cooking time a family time, where all meals get made as a group activity. That wouldn't be much of a challenge task, if he's a willing victim rather than a reluctant one. He'll learn by watching you, and be able to help with things like "chop this," "wash that," and "grab the baby". And that can be genuinely good quality time, if you find a way between you to make it an enjoyable shared domestic task. Food is good, conversation is good, and time spent in kitchens can be very cozy.)

[sarakingdom]

9 hours ago, Terra said:

Not to mention I should try to visit the Monks more often... 

 

YES VISIT THE MONKS MORE OFTEN

[Tzippi Longstockings]

9 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

(Also, I noticed something in there that might make a big difference with possibly, depending on Mr Stockings, minimal effort. You have teaching Mr Stockings to cook on there. Doing all the cooking is a big load on you, especially with a small child. Rather than focusing teaching right away, though, maybe you can make cooking time a family time, where all meals get made as a group activity. That wouldn't be much of a challenge task, if he's a willing victim rather than a reluctant one. He'll learn by watching you, and be able to help with things like "chop this," "wash that," and "grab the baby". And that can be genuinely good quality time, if you find a way between you to make it an enjoyable shared domestic task. Food is good, conversation is good, and time spent in kitchens can be very cozy.)

This is a great idea, especially because a lot of the recipes I want to work on are "lots of prep then put it all in the slow cooker"-type. We could do knife skills while passing the kiddo back and forth.

 

Knife skills for the whole family!

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Week zero, 3/16.

 

This morning while weeStockings napped, I put in some spinach and romaine, and transplanted some of my mesclun seedlings. A bag of compost and some netting over the top to foil the neighborhood cats, at least until the plants are established. It's a little early, but romaine and spinach do well in colder temperatures,  and I can thin them out to add tomatoes and such later. 

Also put one romaine and spinach in my little kitchen greenhouse. 

 

Then on to Tai Chi and home to make and eat some red beans and rice. Hopefully going to take a hike with my mom and weeStockings soon.

 

Edited to add: went to the park and had a great time. 

 

[Teirin]

I love your little greenhouse <3

[Tzippi Longstockings]

40 minutes ago, Teirin said:

I love your little greenhouse <3

It's the IKEA SOCKER. It says it's indoor/outdoor, but I wouldn't use it outside without sealing the white painted metal with something. Then again, long term, I'd want to make a whole cold frame for outside.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Went out with weeStockings today to the park, and ran around the play equipment to help him up larger steps, prevent falls from open playforms, and be there to catch at the bottom of slides. We also watched two girls practice pitching and batting, and helped pick up softballs when their bucket was empty. 

 

 

 

So far just once through my form (I'm to the cloud hands bracketed by single whips), but will get a few more this evening when the Lil'Un goes down.

 

And yes, the hair shadow is from me hanging upside down from on top of the crawling tunnels.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

Finished out last night by making this BuJo spread for this challenge, with a box to tick for each day.

 

 

 

[Tzippi Longstockings]

WEEK ONE MONDAY 3/18

 

Plantbending: Managed two veg by having sweet potatoes for lunch and leftover Chinese with broccoli for dinner.

 

Waterbending: After doing some Purim baking tonight, I'm going to practice my form in the kitchen.

 

Cloudbending: I turned off my streaming device and mindfully scrubbed the tea stains off my teaspoons and the baked-on grease off my muffin tins. I also plan to do a 5 minute meditation on Calm before bed.

 

 

[Mistr]

Hi Tzippi, welcome to the Monks!

Your updated goals look good to me. Achievable, small steps that will put you in position to do more next month.

 

Yay for getting your garden started! I am in the frigid North where the snow is still melting. It is encouraging to see real signs of spring.

 

How are you feeling about working at Zupas? I like their food. I know nothing about their management style.

[Tzippi Longstockings]

On 3/19/2019 at 11:08 AM, Mistr said:

Hi Tzippi, welcome to the Monks!

Your updated goals look good to me. Achievable, small steps that will put you in position to do more next month.

 

Yay for getting your garden started! I am in the frigid North where the snow is still melting. It is encouraging to see real signs of spring.

 

How are you feeling about working at Zupas? I like their food. I know nothing about their management style.

 

Thanks belong entirely to @sarakingdom for helping me refine my goals.

 

Not sure on Zupas as a place to work yet. I've only had the one shift. People seem nice, but it is a really high-volume, fast paced place, and so far the training seems kind of slapdash. Maybe they try to weed out those who are too easily overwhelmed? I'll see in the next week or so. 

 

The garden is doing well so far. Watering it and waiting for it to get a bit established before I start raiding it for salads. In the meantime, keeping the neighborhood cats out.

 

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