Stonie Stays Focussed.

[Stonie]

Alright, I’ve had a busy few days but let’s get this updated. 
 

my routine these last few days got a little thrown off by a friend having a home crisis with her brother (Who she lives with) so I’ve been helping her through that since her family are less than helpful. She’s been leaning on me for support which is fine but since she doesn’t drive and has no where else to go I offered to Help her move some stuff and cat-sit her cat when the argument with her brother came to a head and she couldn’t handle being there any longer. so now I have a temporary extra cat which is sure to throw some sparks into the household for a while. At least until my own cat and dog get used to her presence.

 

May 26&27, 2020

 

Morning routine: 50% done / 50% done

Both days i did the cold shower and got my work stuff together (made coffee, breakfast, lunch! Etc) but i didn’t do any exercise or writing. 
 

workout: not done / not done

just push-ups. Mostly done in the stairwell at work that no one uses. I actually think I forgot to do them yesterday? Whoops.

 

eating mindfully:  done / done

this has been the hardest around snack time, I had to work hard to not pick up my phone or be working while snacking. I think I might even be feeling less like overeating since I’m trying to drop the “no you can’t have / don’t need that” mentality and am just eating things if I want them. I’ve also been trying to work out what my hunger cues are since they aren’t generally my stomach yelling at me for food but other things like not thinking straight or feeling tired. I’m trying my hardest to not supplement that with copious amounts of coffee but that like, a 50/50 for me. I love coffee too much to ever cut it out of my life entirely. 😂

 

Evening routine: 50% done / 50% done

so Monday / Tuesday evening I took my meds too late which is what made it too hard for me to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, and I didn’t do my dishes last night since there are like, 2 plates and 2 bowls and 2 4 knives that need doing and I did the ol’ “it can wait till tomorrow” so I’ll have to do them today. I did try to go to bed when I felt sleepy too but Tuesday night that didn’t go well and I lay in bed for ages before finally falling asleep. Last night I slept well. I’m starting to adjust to this early routine and it scares me. I woke up of my own accord at 6am and even got out of bed willingly before the sunlight on my day off. 
 

self care: done / done
on Tuesday night I re-painted the nails I chipped doing housework, and last night i played some more saints row IV

 

[Stonie]

May 28, 2020

 

morning routine: done

my one day off so I made sure I actually heckin did it instead of blowing it off. 
 

Cold shower song: I’m not okay my My Chemical Romance

 

workout: done

1 minute jumping jacks 

dynamic stretching

supersets of:

1-10 incline pushups / 3x10 pushups

3x12 body weight squats

 

i also finally found a kettlebell in town for the first time since ‘Rona hit, so I grabbed a 10kg one to do workouts with since I actually really enjoy kettlebell workouts and you can do so much with them. 
 

Eating Mindfully: done. Almost lost my focus when snacking again but didn’t. Also since I was home I kept leaving my phone in places my body wasnt so that was actually helpful 😂 maybe I need to do a “separate your phone from your hand” challenge next round. 
 

evening routine: done

slowly, but I did it. I really didn’t want to address the pile of dishes on my sink but I had to since it as well, most of the dishes that  I own. 
 

self care: done

i sat in my sun room and just sat and enjoyed it. It’s full of plants and I have a comfy chair set up in here to just hang out in. It’s glorious.

[Stonie]

May 29, 2020

 

Morning Routine: done

nothing interesting happened. I did all the bits. I felt pretty good at work today too which was nice. Alert, functioning

 

Cold Shower: Na na na na (na na na na na na) by MCR

 

workout: done

5 minutes of 20 seconds on / 10 seconds off kettlebell swings. I thought it was going to hurt more than it did but we’ll see how I pull up tomorrow.

 

self care: done

im sitting by the open fire drinking a not chocolate. Cozy AF. 

Eating mindfully: done.

 

evening routine: not done

 

[HomeLifter]

You could add in some band exercises for shoulders?

I like doing side delt band exercises supersetted with band high pulls. I don't do the hip movement and have noticed my traps growing.
 

 

[Stonie]

12 hours ago, HomeLifter said:

You could add in some band exercises for shoulders?

I like doing side delt band exercises supersetted with band high pulls. I don't do the hip movement and have noticed my traps growing.
 

 

ooh I like those, thanks. ill add them to my list of upper body exercises to do! I could prbably do those with my kettlebell too... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stonie]

Okay so early morning is starting to get the better of me but I'm doing my best I swear.

 

May 30, 2020

 

Morning routine: 50% done

I didn't have a cold shower and I didn't workout. I probably should have stretched since my body started aching from those kettlebell swings yesterday. oops. maybe next challenge ill add that in

 

workout: not done

 

eating mindfully: done.

getting slightly easier, still trying to grab my phone while eating but ive caught myself every time a few bites in so thats a win in my books.

 

self-care: done

I had a nap and started a few paintings

 

Evening routine: 50% done

ngl, i only had the spoons left to do half of my dishes.

 

 

[Stonie]

May 31, 2020

 

Morning Routine: 50% done

6:30am starts can go f&^$ themselves

 

Workout:  not done

 

Eating mindfully: 50% done

I bought a bag of tasty chocolate snacks which i was eating while doing things around the kitchen, and only thought about stopping Multitasking when I’d eaten most of them. Whoops

 

Self-care: done

went to bed early.

 

Evening routine:  not done.

 

[Stonie]

June 1, 2020; Gay Pride Day

~*Happy Pride Month Y’all*~

 

Morning Routine: done

Yesterday I set up a light with a timer in my bedroom to come on a minute after my alarm goes off in an attempt to wake me up better. Since the GD sun doesn’t come up until 7am now. Rude. 

so that worked good. I did forget to set it for 6am instead of 4:30am... so both my alarm and light went off at 4:30am. Thankfully I got the timer with an app that I can set with my phone so I could just turn it off with that 😂 I’m gonna be mad if my body clock has finally adjusted to this wake up time when I have time off in a few days.

 

i dunno if I actually wrote this down on here But something I found with the cold shower is that th3y aren’t as “cold” feeling if I’ve done a workout just before. If I decide to skip the workout and just shower and get dressed it always feels worse. 

 

Workout: 50% done. 
I’ve decided to gift myself half of a daily success if I Just do some warmups And stretching in the am, even if I don’t do a full workout. Since I plan on doing push-ups every day anyway this gives me something that still gets my blood pumping but takes the despair out of having to workout if I -reaaaaallly- dont want to. Or if I dilly dally too long drinking my tea lime I did this morning. Oops. 
 

so I did 1minute of jumping jacks and 3 sets of 10 pushups (dining room chairs). ‘‘Twas good. 

 

Self-care: done

i set boundaries for friends coming around for games afternoon. Knowing I had to get up early for work tomorrow.
 

Eating Mindfully: not done.

we snacked while chatting and playing Games and I’m not going to pretend like I was paying attention to what went in my mouth fully. 

 

Evening After Work routine: done.

I’m changing this to be a routine for when I get home from work instead of whenever i want to go to bed since it doesn’t appear to be working.

- do the dishes. 

- get changed. 

- do some skin and teeth care

(my toothpaste doesn’t taste like tooth paste so I can pull this off and still eat dinner without a weird minty tinge)

so we’ll see how that goes. 
 

So having said that I did do this just before bed, since I had people around pretty much as soon as I got home from work. 

 

[Stonie]

Yikes I haven’t updated since Monday?! Alright. 

June 02, 2020

 

Morning routine: done

So the light thing works good. Especially at 4:30am. 

 

Workout: done

1 minutes jumping jacks

dynamic stretching

super sets of:

3x10 incline pushups

3x12 split squats (Each leg)

3x10 kettlebell rows (each leg)

 

Eating Mindfully: done

 

Self-care: done, i think?

surely. 

 

Evening routine: 50% done

I had a exec meeting for derby to go to at 7pm which went for an hour and a half since we are trying to workout a return to skating plan post-COVID. Good news - we get to go back to skating on the 18th! Bad news - I didn’t get to bed till 9pm so I didnt bother trying to get up at 4:30am the next day. I already knew it wasnt going to happen. 

 

 

 

[Stonie]

June 03, 2020

 

Morning routine: not done

im not sure if getting up early and being more prepared, or getting more sleep was the right move for Wednesday.

 

Wednesday was rough. It was day 6 of 6 at work (for like, The 2nd week in a row, after 1 day off) and I’d already been shifted from one position to another and then when i got to work I was supposed to go to a different position again... one that I’m still not technically trained in but can do passably well because of my training in other areas. Between that and the only staff left being the dead weight i just hit my fucking limit at work and couldn’t deal with peoples dumb shit. Mostly all things that people do 100 times a day that they seemed unable to do that one particular day. Ugh. My boss was also mildly put out because i didn’t want to be her doormat and absorb all the work she never got done because she starts things and never finishes them. Apparently sticking up for myself is me being “moody” but whatever xD 

(wondering what I do? Hospital administration. Medical records, ward clerk, front concierge screening visitors for COVID symptoms... I’m that one person at the office with no real position but does them all at a moments notice)

 

other things that happened were me leaving my lunch and prepared coffee at home before leaving for work, only to discover that when i went to eat it, me flinging my phone out of its cover against a wall and onto the floor (unintentionally) to completely shatter the screen and my cat escaping the backyard when i got home causing me a momentary meltdown... before i found her basking in the vacant block behind my house without a care in the world. 

 

Anyway. 

 

workout: not done.

 

eating mindfully: 50% done

I did buy a small bag of chocolate buttons that i ate while doing things around the house so... whoops. Otherwise i had no choice but to do this since after i shattered my phone screen it promptly went flat on me for the rest of the day. 

 

Self-care: done. 

Spent the evening having a few drinks and drawing.

 

Post-work routine: not done.

so I had the great idea to do this after work instead of whenever i felt like... except that now I don’t go back to work for 12 days xD! I was supposed to be travelling interstate for a roller derby Tournament that obviously didn’t go ahead but i kept the time off because i knew I’d need a break from work (and oh boy was it right) so I’m going to have to reassess that idea. 

[Stonie]

June 4, 2020

Day 1 off. 

 

Morning Routine: 50% done. 

no workout or cold shower. But i did shower.

 

I sat down and wrote down all the things that I would like to get done during my time off just so that i don’t spend all day every day living in constant anxiety from not achieving enough with all my time off. There are only 3 things that I would truly like to get done and the rest are optional but I’m going to try my best to not put too much pressure on myself and fail in having a restful time off, since thats the goal. I also made a bit of a plan so that my days still have some structure - do my morning routine, do some “work” for some daylight hours i.e whatever project you want to work on or some painting or some writing or something “productive” - and then spend the evenings doing fun stuff. Like playing all the video games i have half finished and never returned to. 

 

Workout: not done

But i will probably walk the dog at some point since she’s bouncing off the walls. 

 

eating mindfully: tbd

 

self-care: tbd

 

meal prep: tonight. Gonna try a vegan pulled pork recipe using lentils and carrots. 

 

Evening routine: tbd

 

 

 

[Stonie]

Whops. Updating has not been My strong suit this week. hopefully I can remember what I’ve been doing.
 

I’ve throw my whole routine out of whack by not going to work! Which I’m not surprised about. I’m going to reuse most of these goals next challenge anyway since I’m one of those people that takes months to build new habits instead of the fabled 21 days. Ugh if only.

 

JUNE 05-06, 2020

 

morning routine: 50% / 50% 

Ive not done any planned workouts and no cold showers.

 

eating mindfully: done / done

I found that i was able to say no to many pieces of pizza since I’d already eaten and have realised that the vegan pulled pork that i made is super filling and I only need to eat Half as much as I thought. I probably wouldn’t have realised that if I had just mindlessly scarfed two buns filled with it fin to my belly then wonder why i felt sick. 

 

meal prep: done

So this vegan pulled pork is comprised of lentils and shredded carrots and bbq sauce basically. And it’s delicious. I’ve been eating it with fresh bread rolls from the bakery down the road and coleslaw. Amazing.

 

Workouts: 50% / 50% done

No planned workouts done but i walked the dog on Thursday, a friend and i played in a playground on Friday, and i walked around in a BLM protest yesterday so ive not been sitting still, which is good. Also shows me just how much my workplace traps me into sitting down all the time.  

 

evening routing: no / no

This has completely fallen apart. I need to put the focus back on this next week some how. I’ll have a think about that one. 

 

[Stonie]

my half drunken typing posted this comment before I was even done writing so let me find a sweet gif to put here instead.

 

[Stonie]

So i realised today that the challenges are 5 weeks and not 4 weeks... which is good since I thought today was the last day of the challenge. Thankfully no.

 

June 07, 2020

 

Morning routine: 50% done

Instead of doing a at home workout I took the dog for a walk, but didn’t have a cold shower afterwards. 
 

workout: done

walked the dog. She had a great time, and it was a lovely day so I did too. 
 

Eating mindfully: done

Self care: done

sat and listened to the neighbours band practice in the sun in my backyard. That was nice.

 

Evening routine: done! 
So a big part of this not happening for me is that there is no trigger for me to start the routine and also no immediately obvious reward for doing it.  the trigger for the habit I have fixed I think? When I put my dishes in the sink after dinner then I have to start my routine by washing the damn dishes. I guess the immediate reward for that is my kitchen is shiny and clean for me tomorrow. 
 

hopefully I can reward myself For the good job on the dishes by getting into my pyjamas for the evening and doing my skincare and routine. skin care is the easiest part of this because I immediately feel silky smooth by doing it. Brushing my teeth is obviously rewarding long term by my teeth not falling out of my head but the immediate discomfort of toothpaste tasting like shit and making me feel slightly ill puts me off making it a solid habit. Tsk. I am working on getting some toothpaste tablets that you chew up and use instead and they are different! But I also don’t wa t to throw out a perfectly good tube of toothpaste? 
 

now I’m just rambling about teeth. that’s enough. I’ll go tally up my successes for the week over in my challenge log. 

[Stonie]

June 08, 2020

 

Morning routine: 50% done

 

Workout: 50% done

No actual workout one but I moved vegetable gardens and a few wheel barrows of mulch and I’m knocked after that.

 

eating mindfully: done

 

self care: done

had a long shower and shaved and moisturised and face masked. ‘Twas good

 

Evening routine: done

I nearly forgot to be honest. I had dinner really early. However I did not forget. Woo!

 

[Stonie]

June 09, 2020

 

morning routine: 50% done

no workout or shower. 
 

workout: none, took a rest day

 

meal prep: done

so I planned to gather the stuff for making vegan crunchwraps Through the week... and forgot the crunchy part of crunchwraps 🤷‍♀️ So for lunch I had burritos with leftover bbq lentils, homemade cashew cheese sauce, avocado, lettuce and tomato. It was still pretty good despite lacking a certain... crunch. I also used the 4 bananas in my freezer and made two batches of banana bread; froze one batch.

 

mindful eating: done

i bought the Intuitive Eating book today and started reading that in preparation for the next challenge, it’s good reading and giving me lots to think about. I discovered that I am definitely an Unconscious Eater. I definitely eat while doing other things - because it’s more efficient that way! Which means I don’t really realise what I’m eating or how much I’m eating or if I’m even enjoying it? Which totally tracks. Which means I’m also not paying attention to my hunger cues so I just eat until my body hurts 😂.
 

So It‘s good that I chose to eat mindfully for the rest of this challenge because I am definitely starting to tune back into my fullness cues and how I feel when I get hungry. Spoilers: my brain stops working and I can’t think straight. That’s a big one. 
 

So anyway Part of today was letting myself buy literally whatever I wanted from the shops when I went. Chocolate biscuits? Check. Lolly bananas? Check. Pineapple fritters? Also check. I can eat whatever I want as long as I pay attention to it. Am I even enjoying the thing I’m eating? That is really insightful to think about because if I’m not even enjoying it then there’s no point me buying it again. I did also buy lots of healthy things! Like salad, and frozen fruit, and granola, and yoghurt. 

 

self-care: done

let myself have a downtime day. I did some cooking yes, but then just spent the rest of the day drawing and playing a Journey to the Strange Planet.
 

evening routine: done.

i nearly balked on the dishes since there were heaps from baking but I couldn’t leave them there since, well, there were heaps 😂

[Stonie]

June 10 & 11, 2020.

 

morning routine: 50% done / not done

Wednesday i got out of the house for my morning coffee and went and sat at the beach and sketched the scenery and some people walking past as practice. Also one seagull. It was really nice and something i plan on doing more.

 

Workout: not done / not done

Wednesday I spent the day mounting a TV in my lounge room. It shouldn’t have taken all day but well, it did. I worked up a sweat just trying to screw the mounting bolts into the jarrah studs in my walls. I got sick of not being able to read the words on the screen of the games i have been playing.

 

Thursday I did stuff all. Did some painting, some gaming. 

 

Eating mindfully: done / done

If nothing else, this goal has stopped me mindlessly snacking on things instead of just eating every time i walk through the kitchen. It will be interesting to see how this goes when I return to work next week. 

 

Self-care: done / done

Wednesday: spent the evening playing video games on a TV i could actually see.

Thursday: spent the evening drawing

 

Evening routine: no / no

i think i short circuited the routine by already being in my pyjamas before eating dinner.

 

 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Jarrah studs? Wow. It’s an expensive exotic here.

[Stonie]

On 6/12/2020 at 10:38 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Jarrah studs? Wow. It’s an expensive exotic here.

it’s a beautiful wood! It’s more the expensive Option here too now but they used to build everything with them since it’s native to the area... before someone realised cutting down the native forests was probably a bad idea. My house will never fall down but I can only imagine the pain of having to build it 50 years ago! 😂 

 

 

[Stonie]

Damn, I’ve been terrible at updating this week. I go back to work today so I’ll probably be better at updating as an escape from work!

 

June 12 - 14, 2020

 

morning routine: no / no / no

not going to work has completely thrown my motivation for a routine out the door. I get up and drink coffee and draw or write or update here, but no planned exercise. Tsk. I have been doing things that move my body.

Friday i spent an hour shoveling trailer loads of dirt into raised garden beds for my first vegetable patch.
Saturday I did very little except for some housework,

Sunday I took the dog for a walk

 

my Fitbit has registered me as doing at least 3 day’s of workouts so I’ll take that but my goal for this challenge was to do at home workouts. That’s okay. 
 

Workouts: no / no / no 
🤷‍♀️

 

eating mindfully: yes / yes / yes

so I’ve actually been doing great at this. I‘ve been trying to pay attention to if I’m even hungry before stuffing something in my face, and being more aware of when i actually feel full and don’t need to eat any more while I’m eating. I’ve even managed to stop myself from grabbing snacky foods and asking myself if I even want it.

I had groups of people around both afternoons on the weekend; usually I end up gorging myself on The various snack foods that people bring or I supply and end the day feeling never stuffed and sick but this time I didn’t. I made an amazing fruit and dessert platter for everyone with strawberries, kiwis, biscuits, Lamington, pretzels, chocolate sauce, chocolate and nuts... and usually I’d go ham on it and make myself sick but for a change I was actually aware of how much I did not want any more sweet foods. It seems like such an obvious thing but I was 100% missing that awareness and re-tuning into It is gonna take some time. I’ve also been reading the Intuitive Eating book still which is Super insightful. 
 

self care: yes / yes / yes

easy to do when you have all day to yourself. I finally finished one of the many video games I’ve been meaning to finish, I bought some vegetables for my new vegetable garden, and hung out with some fun people.

 

Evening routine: no / no / no

im definitely going to revisit this routine specifically in the next challenge. Not that I’ve had anything pressing to get up for but it’s just better for future me if I actually do this. 
 

I’ll wrap up the end of this challenge and report back with how I did.

[Stonie]

FINAL CHALLENGE WRAP UP

So overall i feel positive about this challenge. For the days I had to work I found having routines in the morning and afternoon really super useful, and when I wasn’t at work I found i didn’t need them as much.

 

I also decided intermittent fasting wasn’t for me and Tank wonderfully suggested Intuitive Eating Instead and turns out, that is exactly what I was looking for, even comes with it’s own instructions for how to re-learn how to eat according to what your body wants. Amazing.

 

It also turns out that I have zero interest in any exercise when no one is telling me to do it so that was interesting. I do go back to derby training next week so I’ll be glad of that, and my gym is back open so I’m wondering if maybe I go there again once a week too? I’ll have I think about that.

 

And, unsurprisingly, doing a little bit of self care every actually does make you a little happier. Who’d have thought? I won’t do this as a challenge again but I’ll definitely keep trying to do it Since my therapist literally said I need to.

 

Onto the Scoring! 

 

1. STICK TO A ROUTINE.

A. Morning 25.5 /30

I’ve counted my zero week scores as well cos fuck it, why not. 
this fell down when I stopped working for a week and a half since I had nothing pressing to go to or do except for the things I wanted to get done around the house. I do enjoy a good cold shower after a workout so that’s a thing I learnt. Will I be continuing to do them every day? No. Definitely not over winter that’s for sure. But I learnt that so that’s good. I also learnt that no amount of preparation can make getting up at 4:30am easy for my night owl chronotype. I actually started hating my early shifts more when I got up too early so that didn’t really work how I planned but again! I learnt something about myself. 
 

B. Evening 18/30

This I’m definitely going to work on again! It quickly became apparent that the next day didn’t go as smoothly if my evening routine was messed up. Especially if I didn’t get enough sleep. I also just hate the dishes and brushing my teeth. 

 

2. EAT A VEGETABLE. STOP EATING CONSTANTLY. 

 

A. Meal Prep 6/6

This was easy and I won’t need to track it again next challenge, since it’s my preferred method of feeding myself now that I’m living on my own and ca do whatever I want. 

 

B. Intermittent Fasting  Eating Mindfully 34.5 /42

As I said above I replaced Intermittent Fasting for Eating Mindfully - focussing on what I eat instead of mindlessly throwing food into my face And expecting it to do something (I.e. intuitive eating is a thing apparently) part way through the challenge and I’ve made some good progress getting back in tune with how my body wants to eat and paying attention to when I’m full, instead of eating until I’m uncomfortable. I will be revisiting this next challenge since I’m only partway through the book anyway and paying attention to the food I put in my body is not a habit yet.

 

3. MOVE YOUR BODY 25/21

Nice! For the past few weeks I did less actual workouts and more moving my body while living my life but I’m going to pat myself on the back for that since I used to think I was just a lazy little shit. I think I’ll attempt once a week at the gym for next challenge since they are back open now and I go back to derby training next week too so that’s fun. 
 

4. LOOK AFTER YOUR DAMN SELF

40/42

turns out this probably actually helps my mood somewhat! Amazing, who’d have thought. I won’t be doing this as a quest next challenge but obviously I’ll be continuing to care for myself. These challenges are  a part of that too. 
 

Looking at those numbers I’d say this challenge was a heckin success. I definitely learnt some things about how I like to function so hopefully next challenge I can get the basics dialled in and then... do something... amazing from there? 

[Stonie]

So I've been a little MIA this week since i returned to work and hopped straight into a 6-day work week (booo) but I've tried to be somewhat mindful of what I'm planning to do from next week.

 

CHAPTER II: Resolute

1.EXERCISE, DAMNIT

Do a full body exercise routine At the gym 1x weekly

Push, Pull, Press, Squat, Deadlift, Core, Cardio. 
 

I go back to Derby training this week so I’m excited for that, and I figure since my gym is open again and I am paying for it I can go once a week without feeling like I’m overwhelming myself. That’s two days of serious exercise. I can hopefully stick to being somewhat active by just existing the other days. I'm going to try for Mondays as a gym day - get it out of the way early and that used to me my other derby day so that spread my two big exercise days out in a way I'm used to. 

 

2. STICK TO A ROUTINE, DAMNIT

Do your evening routine at least 5 nights a week. 

Last challenge I found that if my evening routine fell down the next morning was much rougher. The problem I have with this is my evening routine was mostly things I greatly dislike. Like doing the dishes and brushing my teeth. I have also struggled with Finding a suitable trigger to begin my routine. So I’m going to work on that. I’m going to drop doing the dishes from my routine and trust myself to do them at other times of the day. For now all I want to do is;

 

take meds

brush teeth

do skincare

Go to bed at a reasonable time

that’s literally it.
 

3. WATCH WHAT YOU’RE EATING, DAMNIT

Continue eating mindfully, continue working on intuitive eating. 

 

This has been working well for me so I’m going to continue doing it. For now I’m working on eating without distraction and honouring my hunger cues. Due to a side effect ofmy anti-anxiety meds my stomach doesn’t gurgle and I don’t feel hungry but I do get light headed and stop thinking straight. So I just need to be more aware of when I need food and when I no longer need to keep eating. Previously I had been eating mindlessly and not stopping until I was overfull. But when I pay attention to eating I find I don’t need to eat as much. 
 

4. DO SOME ART PRACTICE, DAMNIT

A. 30 minute sketch or painting 5/7 days a week

B. 1 x weekly learning a new art techniques.

 

my long term life plan involves being a full time artist and paying my bills like that... which doesn’t happen if I don’t practice said art. I have always been one of those “naturally talented” people but that is nothing compared to people who have studied and practiced and have the knowledge of basics of art. I also picked up Procreate recently for my iPad and I’m having a great time playing with that. 

 

[Bonus]  FINISH A PROJECT, DAMNIT’

work through this list of half finished craft projects that you would like to do. Get as many done as you can.

Half finished knitted sweater

half finished crochet mittens

1x paid pet painting commission

1x free pet painting commission

1x painting with a set colour scheme

1x crochet wombat

macrame coasters 
 

I collect half finished projects apparently. I’d like to get some of them done. 

[Stonie]

Alright I tried to act today like I’d actually started the challenge (since it starts tomorrow) 

WEEK 0, DAY 7

EXERCISE, DAMNIT

❌ not today. I did walk to and from work and all around work today so there’s that. I am planning on being at the gym by 9.30am tomorrow before I start work at 11.30. 

 

ROUTINE, DAMNIT

 ✅ did it! I think my secret weapon for brushing my teeth is helping, Also I moved my meds into the bathroom so when I walk in there I see them and HAVE to take them. Not taking them wrecks my sleep schedule and makes me feel like shit the day i start taking them again. I also have another sneaky idea that I should be able to implement tomorrow so I’ll let you know how that goes.
 

EATING, DAMNIT

✅ i did watch what i ate, since it was mostly pancakes. Had friends around for breakfast / DnD / hanging out before work, and we had all the trimmings you could possibly want for pancakes, I definitely did not over indulge so that was hella good of me but i probably didn’t Pay as much attention as I could have... however I was acutely aware of how shitty I felt later on at work being powered solely by sugar so I’ll take that as a win. 
 

ART, DAMNIT

✅ done. I finished a sketch of a friends doggo. This is the paid commission, which I’ll probably paint irl over again with acrylic on canvas, but it was fun to practice on procreate. 

[Stonie]

June 22, 2020

 

EXERCISE, DAMNIT

❌ yes, I did say I was going to do this today, but I woke up already exhausted and could barely move, even once I made it to work. 🤷‍♀️ I’m going to reschedule this for Wednesday since I have a day off and i can sleep in as much as my body desires before then.

 

ROUTINE, DAMNIT

✅ did it! So my secret weapon for this is... Pokémon Smile. Yes, Pokémon have app for everything now. You point the camera at yourself while brushing your teeth and it watches you do it, you wear a dumb Pokémon hat and at the end you might catch another Pokémon! I am clearly terrible at it because I haven’t yet... and it’s clearly marketed at children but whatever makes me brush my teeth without hating my life I’m going to use. 
 

EATING, DAMNIT

✅ So I’ve realised I’m snacking so much at work to combat how shitty I feel at work. Especially yesterday, I was trying to find some energy somewhere. It’s not like I was even hungry. It doesn’t help that my workplace is a very mentally And emotionally draining place To be right now? So I’ve definitely been coping with food. I read through the chapter on emotional eating last night before bed too which relay highlighted this. I just need to think of something else to do that isn’t snacking that might make me feel better at work. I also definitely need to put my foot down about picking up extra shifts. I need to stop burning out.

 

ART, DAMNIT

✅ done. Yesterday I sketched a buffalo in a trench coat. It turned out alright. 
 

this is the other reason I need to put my foot down about work. my plan was to  just do my contracted days of 8 shifts a fortnight, and use that extra free day as a day of art and side hustling, which doesn’t happen if I work 5-6 days a week. I never do only my contracted days though, I just keep waiting and expecting it to be better 😂 waiting for my workplace to sort itself out is like waiting for the sun to not rise.