[Epsilonte]

Happy New Year everyone!!  

 

I was thinking long and hard about a new challenge. I don't have any new years resolutions (why should I? I get a new chance of changing something every 5 weeks here ) or big goals for 2022, but then I thought of the little things. Things that make me feel good, things that make me feel bad... And I want more of the former and less of the latter. So feeling good will be my challenge for the next few weeks.  

 

I want to do at least 2-3 feel good things a day. I have some more time at hand in the next weeks than I had before and some of them are pretty routine, so this should be doable.  

Feel good things are (non-exhaustive list, in no particular order):

• Sleeping enough (7-8 hours) or sleeping in (bonus if it's the day after a good workout. Nothings feels better than snuggling up in the morning when everything is sore. ) 
• Feeling sore after a good workout. I don't always feel good during the workouts, but afterwards? Heaven. xD
• Taking a hot shower or bath while feeling sore after a good workout. I do really like feeling sore... xD 
• Doing fun stuff on the pole (and maybe posting something on my Instagram story about it)
• Going to the gym/pole study with friends - much more fun than doing it alone
• Spending quality time with my husband (sitting next to each other playing different games is also nice, but doesn't count for this)
• Cuddling my cats
• Doing my dailies in Guild Wars 2, and also: running around with the guild, best done on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays (most often Friday and Saturday are good for this as well). But: only after 7 pm. (6pm on no-school-days and for the next week, I do still have free time right now after all.)
• Doing well in my exams at school... This one needs more (daily  ) preparation and is non-negotionable. Makes me feel really great though. And as long as I do one hour of studying (on top of classes - don't have that many in January), it's fine. 5 exams to go until the end of the semester.  
• Playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends
• Drinking a nice cup of tea or (decaf) coffee while doing my studying. Always gives me those nice and cozy dark academia vibes. 
• Eating food that is full of nice veggies and fruit and salad and makes me feel good.
• Dancing with my bellydancing friends - preferably live

 

Things that make me feel bad - those are to be avioded at all costs:

• Overeating. Yes, while I munch on something tasty it feels nice, but it's just not worth feeling like a stranded whale and looking 5 months pregnant for hours afterwards. I don't have to stuff my face with everything we have, there is enough food around to do smaller meals more often. 
• Eating too much sugary stuff (while playing DnD) - it messes with my sleep and makes me feel meh. I love sugary stuff though, so I want to keep eating it in moderation. Stopping after one slice of cake. Maybe even eating something real while playing so I don't get too many cravings. 
• Drinking too much caffeine. Also messes with my sleep. How much is too much? Sadly that depends on the day, so I'll just try and avoid it alltogether.
• Eating too much dairy - I'm lactose intolerant and while I can eat dairy just fine with my pretty little lactase pills, I tend to feel bad, bloated and overall unhappy afterwards. I'd love to try going dairy free for a few weeks just to seek how I would feel like, but I love pizza and cheese and I'm not ready to try this just yet. Might be in the future. For now I want to limit my dairy intake and maybe try out some vegan alternatives.
• Dirty floors - I hate vacuuming, but I always feel much better afterwards when everything is nice and clean, so this goes on the list as well.  
• Letting a simple little lockdown keep me from feeling good and moving around - I have a pole, a gymnastics ball (Swiss ball? One of those big ones to sit on it and do PT exercises with it - there are a few exercises that are quite fun and strengthening if you do them right ), several yoga mats and some weights, I should be fine. (Don't know if we will have another lockdown, but I have a feeling that we will have one, so I just need to get creative if it happens... )

 

So yeah, that is quite a big list (and it's just the things I thought about while doing dishes this morning), but I only need to do a few of them each day. Soooo, do 2-3 of the good things, avoid the bad things. Should be easy enough? (famous last words). xD

[Epsilonte]

For today I'm already up to a great start. I was at the gym yesterday in the morning with some friends. Usually I go with my husband and his best friend and don't mind having waaaaay less weights on the bar than the guys, because they are guys and I'm just a little girl (ok tall woman, but still xD). But with my female friends? It would be a disgrace to have less weight on. So I used about 10-20kg more on some exercises than I usually use. And I could lift them just fine, but I'm soooooo sore today. xD Love it.  

Since I got to sleep in (though it was a little less than 7 hours with NYE and stuff) and take a nice hot shower after waking up, I'm already down three (ok two, because <7h) things on the feel good list.  

 

I hope the rest of the day goes nicely as well. Today I will start the great study marathon of January 2022, I want to do a quick round with the vacuum and I really want to play some Guild Wars since I couldn't really in the last week with visiting family and stuff. Let's see how it goes!

[deftona]

Following for the good feeling! 

[MezzotheLefty]

Happy New Year! 🥳

 

I like your feel good list. Framing it as "doing this makes me feel good" is a lot better headspace than " this is my checklist of things I have to do or I fail."

 

Following as always my friend. 😁

[Alanna]

I really like the set up for this challenge! It's like a "choose your own adventure" for feeling good. 

 

10 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

I love sugary stuff though, so I want to keep eating it in moderation. Stopping after one slice of cake. Maybe even eating something real while playing so I don't get too many cravings. 

 

Having some fat and protein with the sugar should also help control the blood sugar swing, reducing the "meh" and cravings

 

10 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

I'd love to try going dairy free for a few weeks just to seek how I would feel like, but I love pizza and cheese and I'm not ready to try this just yet. Might be in the future. For now I want to limit my dairy intake and maybe try out some vegan alternatives.

 

I tolerate goat and sheep cheese and yoghurt, but not cow milk products, so other types of dairy could be something else to explore! They do still have lactose, but possibly less (and are generally easier to digest in general), so it may depend on how sensitive you are. I think it's partly a lactose issue on my part - I'm fine with goat milk kefir, where bacteria have broken down the lactose, but not plain goat's milk. 

[Epsilonte]

11 hours ago, deftona said:

Following for the good feeling! 

Feels good to have you here!  

 

8 hours ago, MezzotheLefty said:

Happy New Year! 🥳

 

I like your feel good list. Framing it as "doing this makes me feel good" is a lot better headspace than " this is my checklist of things I have to do or I fail."

 

Following as always my friend. 😁

 

I know right?  Though I noticed today, that it puts me into some kind of Marie Condo mindset about my life "does this thing I'm about to do really make me feel good or can I just not do it?" xD

 

1 hour ago, Alanna said:

I really like the set up for this challenge! It's like a "choose your own adventure" for feeling good. 

 

Having some fat and protein with the sugar should also help control the blood sugar swing, reducing the "meh" and cravings

 

I tolerate goat and sheep cheese and yoghurt, but not cow milk products, so other types of dairy could be something else to explore! They do still have lactose, but possibly less (and are generally easier to digest in general), so it may depend on how sensitive you are. I think it's partly a lactose issue on my part - I'm fine with goat milk kefir, where bacteria have broken down the lactose, but not plain goat's milk. 

 

Thank you for the suggestions! Fat, protein and sugar... totally did that today, had some Tiramisu that needed eating as it was a leftover.  Making a rule of "sugar is fine, as long as the thing it's in is self-made" could also help there. More real cake and stuff, less chocolate bars etc. 

Goat and sheep could be a nice idea for pizza cheese, if I find something suitable. I love goat/sheep cheese. With potatoes... mmmh.... But I'd rather skip the animal milk all together some day, it is rather gross and weird if you think about it... 

 

 

Day recap: It felt good.  

Did a lot of things on my feel good list, didn't vacuum though. Maybe tomorrow. I did cook some risotto with lots of zucchini though, which tasted very nice. And I did a few hours of studying. Didn't get as far as I wanted to, but it was just the first day, there will be many more for this subject. Afterwards I played guiltfree Guild Wars.  While cuddling the cat. Two birds with one stone.  

I had planned another gym session with my friends tomorrow, but all three of us are so sore that it wouldn't be a good idea to train, so we're probably going on Monday. I might do some light pole though, if my body allows it. Right now I have trouble sitting down and standing up, so don't wanna even think about dancing. xD 

Over all it was a really productive and nice first day of the year, I'm quite happy with it. I hope this sets the precedent for the rest of the year... xD

Now off to bed!  Snuggling up in the evenings while feeling sore is also one of the best feelings. ❤️ 

[deftona]

It sounds like you had a great day - what an excellent start to 2022! 

[Yasha92]

I love this outlook, following along~!

[Mad Hatter]

I love your feel good list! 😍 

22 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

I know right?  Though I noticed today, that it puts me into some kind of Marie Condo mindset about my life "does this thing I'm about to do really make me feel good or can I just not do it?" xD

Which is not a bad thing at all!  

[Epsilonte]

10 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

I love this outlook, following along~!

Welcome!!

 

11 hours ago, deftona said:

It sounds like you had a great day - what an excellent start to 2022! 

It was!!

 

 

Today: Many feel good things happened.

Started the day with a big cup of decaf (and chocolate and oatmilk. Best combo.) and a nice little read of challenges here. I realized while laying in bed that yeah sure, I could stay there and scroll through facebook and instagram for an hour, but does that make me feel good? Nope. xD Also I slept for almost 9 hours and my soreness is much better today. 

I sat down to study for a few hours (and did) and got greeted by one of the cats who came for an extended session of bellyrubs. She loves bellyrubs and I just find it very soothing to rub her belly.  

Did a study break to cook and eat and watch the new season of Aggretsuko. Then studied some more.

Took a nice long walk with the mister, double awesomeness since that counts as moving and quality time.  

Ate some pizza and now I'm playing Guild Wars.  

My newest hack is brushing my teeth at 7:30pm so I don't eat any snacks afterwards while playing. Also lets me enjoy the nice freshly brushed teeth feeling longer than when I do it right before bed. 

 

So overall another great productive day. You really start seeing all the small nice stuff if you start thinking about it.  Like usually I'm getting annoyed if the cat comes to cuddle right when I started something useful, but right now it really doesn't matter if I finish 5 mins earlier or later and we both enjoy cuddling so... cuddle away!!

[Epsilonte]

4 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I love your feel good list! 😍 

Which is not a bad thing at all!  

Haha but it is like with the real condoing, there are just too many things one doesn't love but still has to do... xD 

[Mad Hatter]

1 minute ago, Epsilonte said:

Haha but it is like with the real condoing, there are just too many things one doesn't love but still has to do... xD 

I think the trick is to consider the secondary steps. Paying bills is not fun, but having a roof over your head is preeeetty neat. Cleaning is not fun, but having a clean house makes it easier to have fun.

[deftona]

31 minutes ago, Epsilonte said:

So overall another great productive day. You really start seeing all the small nice stuff if you start thinking about it.  Like usually I'm getting annoyed if the cat comes to cuddle right when I started something useful, but right now it really doesn't matter if I finish 5 mins earlier or later and we both enjoy cuddling so... cuddle away!!

 

Aw, I love this bit. I think your challenge is going to be one of my favourites this time around - it gives me the feelgood too! 

[Alanna]

31 minutes ago, Epsilonte said:

I could stay there and scroll through facebook and instagram for an hour, but does that make me feel good? Nope. xD

That's really cool how the new mindset is bringing awareness to these small decisions!

 

32 minutes ago, Epsilonte said:

Also I slept for almost 9 hours and my soreness is much better today. 

Oh no now you'll have to re-sore so you can do more of the feel good things that have soreness as a prerequisite 😆

[Epsilonte]

11 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I think the trick is to consider the secondary steps. Paying bills is not fun, but having a roof over your head is preeeetty neat. Cleaning is not fun, but having a clean house makes it easier to have fun.

That is exactly my take with the floors... I haaaaate the damn vacuum, but I love nice and clean floors and while that nice and clean feeling doesn't hold up too long (with two indoor cats and all xD), it's still longer than it takes me to vacuum everything.

 

10 hours ago, deftona said:

 

Aw, I love this bit. I think your challenge is going to be one of my favourites this time around - it gives me the feelgood too! 

Awwww, that makes me feel even better in turn. All the good feelings!!  

 

10 hours ago, Alanna said:

Oh no now you'll have to re-sore so you can do more of the feel good things that have soreness as a prerequisite 😆

That's the plan! Already have a gym date set for in about an hour with my friend. Curious to see how much she destroys me this time... xD Now that I can finally squat down all the way to the floor again without my quadriceps crying for mercy... xD

[Epsilonte]

Went to the gym, lifted heavy stuff, now sore again. Feels good. xD

 

This morning the decision was made between facebook and anki. Anki won. I made a lot of cards for my current study subject (and am continuing to make them while studying ) and spent almost an hour with them while cuddling in bed, getting up, making and eating breakfast... 

Then I made some more cards and went to the gym. Today's session was really nice again, just a friend and I, and we had some strength left at the end for playing with handstand and hanging leg raises and stuff. I like that.  Also I felt much more focussed while squatting today, I could really feel my muscles work, that was nice. 

On my way home, instagram won because I was tired. xD 

 

Yesterday I got a few addons for anki on the pc and I'm now seeing my streaks. Means I will spend a lot more time with my cards (maybe even revisiting a few old decks, that can never hurt  ) because I'm a sucker for streaks. 

 

I burnt myself while cooking but that just means I get out of doing the dishes for a few days, so yay? xD 

 

Cat bellies were rubbed, comfty clothes are worn, delicious tea was drunk. Good day again.  I did a little bit less new studying  (as opposed to revisiting the cards) than I wanted to, but it's fine, I still got time for it. 

 

I'm really looking forward to going to sleep today, I'm very tired in a good way. But first, some Guild Wars.

[Yasha92]

This sounds like an excellent day!

 

I don’t know what anki is… but anything that beats out Facebook is a winner!

[Epsilonte]

11 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

I don’t know what anki is… but anything that beats out Facebook is a winner!

It's a software for studying with flash cards. I discovered it years ago when I tried learning japanese and have been using it on and off ever since. It synchronises between the phone and the computer, so super handy for some reviewing on the go and making new cards on the PC.  https://apps.ankiweb.net/

 

Today didn't start so well, I slept too long. It was nice laying in bed feeling sore (though I'm not as sore as I was last week xD), but gettig up at 11am (almost 11h of sleep oO) makes me grumpy for losing so much of the day. So I set an alarm for tomorrow. I need to run some errands that will make me feel good (especially: tightening the scews of my glasses... All the mask wearing made them very loose, super annoying xD) and I planned on doing this today, but then I'll lose even more of the day. Hmpf. xD So tomorrow it is. Thursday is a holiday, Friday is DnD-day, so tomorrow is my best bet. 

At least the cat already came to me for her daily cuddles, that made me feel a bit better. 

And sleeping to long means I get pizza for breakfast/lunch, so that is not too bad as well. xD 

[Epsilonte]

I just realized: my challenge is to study for one hour. Not all day long. One hour is enough. (most often it turns into more anways).

I can do this!  See ya in an hour!  

[Alanna]

8 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

I just realized: my challenge is to study for one hour. Not all day long. One hour is enough. (most often it turns into more anways).

I can do this!  See ya in an hour!  

Great mindset! How did the studying go? Did your cat keep you company?

[Yasha92]

You can do it!

 

I also feel the ‘waste’ feeling of sleeping in… but, why? Obviously we needed it, so why be annoyed? Personally it’s because it bites into free time, since it almost always happens on a weekend, not a workday, which I will force my sleep-debt butt out of bed for. I’m trying to be more conscious of how much sleep I need/want over these ‘free’ days before I go back to work on the 10th, it’s quite a bit more than I normally get, which is possibly why I am often crabby…

[Epsilonte]

14 hours ago, Alanna said:

Great mindset! How did the studying go? Did your cat keep you company?

From time to time.

And I got my hour in. More even, Anki tells me I spent 45 mins on my cards and that was just the start...  

 

12 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

I also feel the ‘waste’ feeling of sleeping in… but, why? Obviously we needed it, so why be annoyed?

Haha, this time it really was too much. You know the feeling when you sleep eleven hours and are even more tired than before? Don't get that with 7-8... xD 

 

 

Good things yesterday:

• Cat was cuddled repeatedly
• study done
• soreness felt xD
• prepared some cookie dough for making cookies today
• did 20 mins of Guildwars during the day because I needed to quickly finish something for Winter's Day Festival, which ended yesterday evening. It got done, so now I can finish building Winter's presence which is a neat little item that makes it snow around you. xD Fancy shit. xD 
• Didn't overeat
• Brushed my teeth before doing the guild raid, so no snacks in the evening
• Guildraid in the evening.  

Sleep was a bit wonky because 1. I slept so much the day before and 2. I drank some "good morning" tea with mate and apparently that is also too much caffeine for me. 

 

But today started better than yesterday. Got up early and went to the gym for a nice long session with my friend. More soreness to come!!  Took a very nice hot shower afterwards, now I'm waiting for the food to finish cooking. We're having boiled potatoes with butter, salt (that would be enough goodness on it's own xD), cheese, olives and stuff. I've been craving potato chips for a few days now, so I'm really looking forward to this. xD 

Also I cuddled the other cat after gym and she has the softest fur ever and it feels even softer after lifting weights somehow.  

 

Todays feel good moment: I always start my showers at about body temperature and then gradually make it hotter. The first few seconds with the newly hot water on the sore shoulders is just the BEST feeling. ❤️ 

 

So right now it's even an hour later than yesterday when I started my studies, but I'm feeling much more confident today since I spent the morning at the gym instead of the bed. (Also because I already started studying by reviewing my cards on the way to the gym and back. Getting the one hour done is much easier if you already did 25 minutes of it. ) 

[Mad Hatter]

Go you! 

 

8 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

The first few seconds with the newly hot water on the sore shoulders is just the BEST feeling. ❤️ 

Mmm yes! Traveling made me appreciate this extra hard when I had to use showers either with zero water pressure or on a time limit before the hot water ran out!

[Epsilonte]

14 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Traveling made me appreciate this extra hard when I had to use showers either with zero water pressure or on a time limit before the hot water ran out!

*shiver*

Yeah, living with gas boilers for almost a decade made me appreciate quick limitless hot water even more. xD I'm very spoiled in that regard now, we have disctrict heating, so instant warm water at all times forever. ❤️ 

 

Yesterday:

• gym session with much guildwars talk in between sets
• nice hot shower
• glorious potatoes - but didn't overeat ❤️
• baked cookies together = qualitiy time AND cookies
• studied and finally finished that one topic that I have been dreading all week
• at one point I was sitting there with one cat behind my back on my chair and the other on the table in my arms. ❤️ So fluffy ❤️ 
• started watching the second season of Witcher while eating freshly baked cookies #netflixandchill

 

Again a great day.  I felt a bit stuck in my studies, but that cookie baking session really lifted my mood.

 

I'm a bit worried about tomorrow... We have a DnD session planned and usually DnD days are like: clean the flat/cook a ton of food in the morning, barely get done for 1pm when guests arrive, play until it's time to go to sleep. Now for tomorrow, MIL sneakily invited herself over for 10am ("Do you have time on Friday? Oh you are playing all afternoon? I'll come at 10 then"...), so cleaning and stuff has the be done until then. 3 hours less time (and I already planned to starting earlier so I can at least do my cards before the people arrive). Aaaaaah. Means I need to start today and that totally ruins my study plans. xD First world problem, but I am a bit annoyed at her. In the last weeks she got into a habit of inviting herself over all the time. I want the time back when we only heard something of her once a month or so... Fun fact: we always wanted to move somewhere else some day, but for the last month or so, the mister talks a lot about moving FAR away sooner than anticipated, so I'm not the only one annoyed by this. xD He is not good with setting boundaries, but working on it, so I hope this will get better even without having to move to a different country as soon as I finish school. xD 

I even had a little nightmare tonight and dreamt about inviting some people over and then having a house full of people I didn't know and couldn't get out anymore. Horrible. xD 

I'm not good with "last minute" plan changes... ^^ Or having people over. 

[sarakingdom]

25 minutes ago, Epsilonte said:

In the last weeks she got into a habit of inviting herself over all the time. I want the time back when we only heard something of her once a month or so...

 

Have a covid scare, and quarantine "for her safety". (Or try, "No  that's my study time".)