LittleTurtle Returns

[LittleTurtle]

Wow.  It has been an insanely long time since I've been here.  Thanks to a special message from @Jittersthe.Clown, it made me realize how much time has passed.  I gotta be honest.  I don't even have a plan of action right now, but it looks like I have a couple days to get it together.

 

Of two things I'm certain:

1:  My life is insanely busy right now, and I have a lot of stress.

2:  I have some chronic pain issues I've been dealing with lately and exercise seems to aggravate it even more.

 

I will think about some goals I'd like to accomplish and join the boards for this one.  I'll do my best to keep up and also check in on my fellow Druids.

 

I've missed you all!  💚

 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome back!

[Jittersthe.Clown]

On 9/11/2020 at 7:16 PM, LittleTurtle said:

Wow.  It has been an insanely long time since I've been here.  Thanks to a special message from @Jittersthe.Clown, it made me realize how much time has passed.  I gotta be honest.  I don't even have a plan of action right now, but it looks like I have a couple days to get it together.

 

Of two things I'm certain:

1:  My life is insanely busy right now, and I have a lot of stress.

2:  I have some chronic pain issues I've been dealing with lately and exercise seems to aggravate it even more.

 

I will think about some goals I'd like to accomplish and join the boards for this one.  I'll do my best to keep up and also check in on my fellow Druids.

 

I've missed you all!  💚

 

 

Where is the pain you're dealing with? 

I'm so happy to see you back around here. 

 

You better believe we'll be checking in to keep you around. 

[Scaly Freak]

On 9/11/2020 at 6:16 PM, LittleTurtle said:

I don't even have a plan of action right now, but it looks like I have a couple days to get it together.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that the challenge start date was negotiable to the point of completely ignoring it if it doesn't work for us...?

 

And I don't recall seeing you before, but I'm kind of new to the Druid guild and do most of my challenges with the Warriors, so.... Hi! Nice to meet you!  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

2 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that the challenge start date was negotiable to the point of completely ignoring it if it doesn't work for us...?

 

[LittleTurtle]

On 9/14/2020 at 6:45 AM, Jittersthe.Clown said:

Where is the pain you're dealing with? 

I'm so happy to see you back around here. 

 

You better believe we'll be checking in to keep you around. 

Thanks!  Pain is all over in general.  I discovered that corn causes inflammation in my joints, so I have been trying to eliminate it.  I cannot tell you how many times I've eaten something corn related and gone, "ACH!  That had corn!!!"  🤦‍♀️

 

On 9/14/2020 at 9:23 AM, Scaly Freak said:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that the challenge start date was negotiable to the point of completely ignoring it if it doesn't work for us...?

 

And I don't recall seeing you before, but I'm kind of new to the Druid guild and do most of my challenges with the Warriors, so.... Hi! Nice to meet you!  

I think you are absolutely correct!  I like to start my challenges on Mondays...but here it is - Thursday and I'm still like...hmmmmm.  Hahah!!

 

I used to be extremely active a couple years ago, but got heavily involved with our community theatre, so I haven't been around in awhile.  Nice to meet you too!!

 

On 9/14/2020 at 11:38 AM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

NICE!!  

[LittleTurtle]

Popping in to say, "WHAT THE HELL?!  HOW IS IT ALMOST THE END OF THE WEEK?!?!?"

 

I still haven't set goals yet.  My goals are to survive each work day and then I have theatre 4 nights a week, and OH!  I am taking Adult Tap Dance lessons!  That is my favorite part of the whole week!

 

I gotta find time to sneak on here and check the threads.  Bad Guild Leader, BAD!  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, LittleTurtle said:

I still haven't set goals yet.  My goals are to survive each work day and then I have theatre 4 nights a week, and OH!  I am taking Adult Tap Dance lessons!  That is my favorite part of the whole week!

I think you'll find if you examine the juxtaposition of the first two sentences they are, in fact, contradictory. 

 

1 hour ago, LittleTurtle said:

I gotta find time to sneak on here and check the threads.  Bad Guild Leader, BAD!  

We'll have none of that. You're here, you're posting, everything else will work out. It will work out more easily if you don't waste energy mentally beating yourself up.

[Jittersthe.Clown]

12 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I think you'll find if you examine the juxtaposition of the first two sentences they are, in fact, contradictory. 

 

We'll have none of that. You're here, you're posting, everything else will work out. It will work out more easily if you don't waste energy mentally beating yourself up.

[LittleTurtle]

On 9/17/2020 at 6:27 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I think you'll find if you examine the juxtaposition of the first two sentences they are, in fact, contradictory. 

[LittleTurtle]

Well.  It's Saturday.  I actually have a moment to sit and breathe.  

 

I've been seeing a massage therapist for awhile now, and I've just recently started going back to the chiropractor.  Pain is still there, and I am about 95% certain I have tendonitis in my right shoulder.  It is extremely frustrating because I have the massive desire to start strengthening my upper body, but moving my shoulder is so painful that I wanna throw up when I move it.  I cannot take anti-inflammatory drugs because of my autoimmune disease.  If anyone out there knows of an anti-inflammatory I can take that isn't an NSAID, please, oh please let me know and I will give it a shot.

 

Work is super stressful right now.  I work for the largest school district in our state in the Facilities Services office.  I used to be in the Insurance and Benefits office, but there were massive cuts made because of our budget crisis, so they downsized our office and I was transferred to a different position.  I've been in the new position for about 3 months.  They cut a position in my new office as well.  SOOOOOOOO...there used to be three full-time secretarial positions in our office, but now we are down to two PLUS we are dealing with all the COVID stuff for the entire district which, in itself, is a full-time job.  We have two of us doing the work of four, and I am so stressed on any given day that I have to excuse myself occasionally to go sob in the bathroom.  They did hire a temporary position to help us out for the school year while COVID is in full swing, so I am grateful for that, but training a new person has me nervous since I, myself, am still very new. 

 

When I'm not working, I'm at the theatre.  I directed my very first show this summer, and now I am assistant directing "Murder on the Orient Express".  I am also taking an Adult Tap class which started two weeks ago mostly because I love tap and I want to audition for a musical next year that has a lot of tap in it and I'd like to improve my dance skills.

 

Diet is okay.  I'm very nutritionally educated and know what I need to change, but am struggling to find the time and energy to do just that.  At this point in time, I am not terribly concerned with it because my weight is the best it's been in years (probably stress related, I'm sure).  I know I'm not eating as nutritionally sound as I could be, so I've just been eating a bit less than normal and keeping an eye on the scale (even though I know that the number on it is a very small indicator of the bigger picture).

 

So a typical day for me looks like this:

 

- Wake up at 5:30 am

- Work from 7:00 am - 4:00 pm

- Do miscellaneous errands, then help make dinner and quickly eat

- Theater from 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

- Drive home and get ready for bed

- Crash hard around 11:00 pm

- Repeat

 

All that being said...this challenge won't be a very "traditional" challenge for me.  I usually like to make diet and fitness goals, but for the time being, I am more focused on my mental health and pain levels.  So here are my goals:

 

Frequent Body Checks

Are my shoulders down and away from my ears?  Is my jaw unclenched?  Is my tongue relaxed and not pushing up against the roof of my mouth?

 

Meditation via apps like Calm, Headspace, or an ASMR video

Try to do this for about 10 minutes 3 times per week

 

Stretch

Every.  Single.  Day.  Some kind of mindful stretching and breathing

 

 

 

I may not be able to be on the threads everyday, but I will make sure I am doing these three simple tasks and maybe I'll start to feel less like this each and every second of the day:

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

Sympathies on the job situation. When I have been in similar stress level situations in the past, what helped me was to try hard to focus only on the task I am currently doing, and ignore the very long lit of everything else that has to get done, that I may not have time to do. I don't know if that will work for you, people are different, but it'sworth trying.

 

I have this on  the wall next to my desk at work. Looking at it when I'm very stressed has helped me in the past, so here you go:

 

 

[LittleTurtle]

8 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

Sympathies on the job situation. When I have been in similar stress level situations in the past, what helped me was to try hard to focus only on the task I am currently doing, and ignore the very long lit of everything else that has to get done, that I may not have time to do. I don't know if that will work for you, people are different, but it'sworth trying.

You are so right.  I absolutely do my best at doing that, but sometimes 5 calls come in at the same time from 5 different schools with 5 different emergencies and then what I'm focused on goes right down the drain as I try to deal with figuring out how to fix each emergency in a timely fashion.  I just keep telling myself..."We will have a temp soon.  We will have a temp soon." 

And then visualize this:

 

[Scaly Freak]

7 minutes ago, LittleTurtle said:

You are so right.  I absolutely do my best at doing that, but sometimes 5 calls come in at the same time from 5 different schools with 5 different emergencies and then what I'm focused on goes right down the drain as I try to deal with figuring out how to fix each emergency in a timely fashion.  I just keep telling myself..."We will have a temp soon.  We will have a temp soon." 

 

Yeah, it's a simple approach, but not at all easy. 

 

Why is is that everyone always has their emergencies at the same time? There really needs to be a way to schedule these things to so they happen one emergency at a time!

 

Hang in there. It doesn't feel like it right now, but it won't be this way forever. It will be for longer than we want, sure, but it won't be forever.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, LittleTurtle said:

I cannot take anti-inflammatory drugs because of my autoimmune disease.  If anyone out there knows of an anti-inflammatory I can take that isn't an NSAID, please, oh please let me know and I will give it a shot.

@Elastigirl uses Turmeric pills as an anti-inflammatory. 

[Elastigirl]

45 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

@Elastigirl uses Turmeric pills as an anti-inflammatory. 

Yep, I've found Tumeric pill super helpful..The brand I use is Doctor's Best Cuccumin from Tumeric Root.

[Jittersthe.Clown]

 

I hope things get better at work for you soon. This year, school districts are doing their best but it's havoc on the employees. I empathize and send virtual hugs your way

Do you see any ways that could help improve the situation you and the other person in your department are in?

[Scaly Freak]

On 9/19/2020 at 12:38 PM, LittleTurtle said:

I just keep telling myself..."We will have a temp soon.  We will have a temp soon." 

 

How is the temp working out?

 

Optimistically assuming that you have one.  

[LittleTurtle]

On 9/19/2020 at 1:30 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

@Elastigirl uses Turmeric pills as an anti-inflammatory. 

THANK YOU!

 

On 9/19/2020 at 2:17 PM, Elastigirl said:

Yep, I've found Tumeric pill super helpful..The brand I use is Doctor's Best Cuccumin from Tumeric Root.

I bought myself some and it seems to help a bit.  Do you take it everyday?

 

On 9/21/2020 at 6:31 AM, Jittersthe.Clown said:

Do you see any ways that could help improve the situation you and the other person in your department are in?

It's hard to determine being as I am still so new and learning.  We're trudging through though.

 

On 9/28/2020 at 10:15 AM, Scaly Freak said:

 

How is the temp working out?

 

Optimistically assuming that you have one.  

Yeah...she isn't able to start until probably the 1st part of November.  😩 

[LittleTurtle]

I've had little mini breakdowns almost everyday for a couple weeks now.  And to top if off...Opening Night was supposed to be this past Friday and we had to postpone the show on that very day because of COVID precautions.  So all that hard work kinda went down the drain for me.

 

I don't even know how far into this challenge we are right now, but I'm struggling bad.  At least I don't have rehearsal anymore.

[Elastigirl]

2 hours ago, LittleTurtle said:

I bought myself some and it seems to help a bit.  Do you take it everyday?

I usually just take it for pain, so until the pain goes away. You can take it daily though, it helps with inflammation

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

5 hours ago, LittleTurtle said:

I've had little mini breakdowns almost everyday for a couple weeks now.  And to top if off...Opening Night was supposed to be this past Friday and we had to postpone the show on that very day because of COVID precautions.  So all that hard work kinda went down the drain for me.

 

I don't even know how far into this challenge we are right now, but I'm struggling bad.  At least I don't have rehearsal anymore.

Hugs friend. Get some rest and let your body, mind, and soul recover.

[Scaly Freak]

6 hours ago, LittleTurtle said:

I've had little mini breakdowns almost everyday for a couple weeks now.  And to top if off...Opening Night was supposed to be this past Friday and we had to postpone the show on that very day because of COVID precautions.  So all that hard work kinda went down the drain for me.

 

I don't even know how far into this challenge we are right now, but I'm struggling bad.  At least I don't have rehearsal anymore.

 

There's nothing wrong with struggling. We all do it. Focus on the small victories and winning in little every-day things, and don't worry about the challenge. Be kind to yourself.

[LittleTurtle]

I spent 4 hours in line for a COVID test today.  I found out I was in close contact with someone who tested positive, so now I'm quarantined for 14 days and awaiting my results.  I don't seem to have any symptoms other than a headache and a scratchy throat.  Temp is well within my norm.

 

Silver lining?  I will have lots of time to get on the treadmill in my basement.  🤷‍♀️

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

7 minutes ago, LittleTurtle said:

I spent 4 hours in line for a COVID test today.  I found out I was in close contact with someone who tested positive, so now I'm quarantined for 14 days and awaiting my results.  I don't seem to have any symptoms other than a headache and a scratchy throat.  Temp is well within my norm.

 

Silver lining?  I will have lots of time to get on the treadmill in my basement.  🤷‍♀️

Another silver lining might be that staying in for two weeks can help you recharge and hopefully prevent more mini-breakdowns.