[NightWatcher13]

Happy 2023 all!

 

The last few years have been weird, rough, and overall unpleasant. I have some good memories (and holy smokes did I get a lot of valuable experience), but overall I'm glad to close the books on several stories, reopen some that I missed, and begin some new ones. I don't know altogether what that looks like, but some points I do know:

 - Left two jobs that in separate ways sucked my life,

 - Picking back up with reading and crafting,

 - Continuing improving my mental and physical health,

 - Restarting time to spend with friends gaming and hanging out

 

I'm still getting my feet under me at my new job (there's a TON to learn, I'm still in training until February) so I'm not going to be adding too much new to my plate this challenge, but I will continue what I have been doing and also automate some things like groceries to help streamline things at home.

 

Main Quest 2023 - Developing my root system (I feel like I finally managed to claw back my health bar, and I feel like my "spoons" have finally started recharging - now I want to use that strength and energy to develop myself - mentally, physically, socially and spiritually)

 

Sidequest 1 - Exercise - Continue exercising minimum 3x/week (3 points/week)

Bonus - Sign up for Y and look at classes, current online membership is going to be allowed to end in February due to changes at my current gym (2 coach switches in one month, structural changes in the organization) and in my schedule (swing shift) no longer aligning with each other

 

Sidequest 2 - Reading - Read daily - Sh!t went down & The Daily Stoic currently (0.5 points each, 3 points/week) 

These both have about 1 page per day, so they're accessible time-wise but still require an intentional moment of me sitting down, and sitting with the philosophy or events being discussed on the page.

 

Sidequest 3 - Food - For a bit I'll be automating a lot of what comes in via HungryRoot, and I've been doing way better the last couple of months with making most of my food at home rather than going out, so I want to start working on actively tracking food now. Not actively changing anything or setting calorie goals etc, just the tracking part - I'll start with 3 days per week (3 points/week) 

 

Lifequest - Crafting - I want to do ALL THE THINGS (knit, crochet, paint, fill-in-the-blank) and I think I'm giving myself decision paralysis. So I'm going to pick one specific item I want to work on, and while I'm allowed to work on others, I want to spend time and intention working on and finishing this one. So meet my Book Wyrm, I'll be working on painting him through this challenge. No points on this one, but I do want to do an upload of his progress every week - both to keep me on track with him, and to give me added motivation to remember to post on here.

[Elastigirl]

That book Wyrm is very cool! 

[Waanie]

It's great that you're starting to reclaim your health-bar .

 

6 hours ago, NightWatcher13 said:

Sidequest 3 - Food - For a bit I'll be automating a lot of what comes in via HungryRoot, and I've been doing way better the last couple of months with making most of my food at home rather than going out, so I want to start working on actively tracking food now. Not actively changing anything or setting calorie goals etc, just the tracking part - I'll start with 3 days per week (3 points/week) 

That sounds very convenient . Do you have any favourite home-cooked meals?

[NightWatcher13]

16 hours ago, Waanie said:

It's great that you're starting to reclaim your health-bar .

 

That sounds very convenient . Do you have any favourite home-cooked meals?

Thanks! I finally feel like I've made some progress - at least on getting onto the path.

This time of year I love roasts and soups, homemade chicken noodle soup is amazing and fairly easy to make.  

19 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

That book Wyrm is very cool! 

Thanks! It is definitely one of my favorite finds, I'm looking forward to painting it. 

[NightWatcher13]

Week 1 wrap up:

 

Sidequest 1 - Exercise - Had exercise on Tues, Wed and Fri this week. 3/3 points

My workout buddy and I scheduled classes Tue and Fri morning together (I was off both days and they're on 2nd shift), Wednesday I signed up for yoga after work because it was the only other appealing class available. I did look at signing up for the Y, I may have to sign up in person though - they don't take my brand of CC online 😕 On the plus side though, I glanced through their class program at the local branch and there are classes that will fit my schedule really well on both ends of my swing shifts.

 

Sidequest 2 - Reading - I got both books read 6/7 days, 0.5 point each day so 3/3 points 

Some days this was super easy, other days it was a bit of a drag to pull myself away from things long enough to read the whole 2 pages assigned for the day.

 

Sidequest 3 - Food - I tracked food Fri, Sat and today. 3/3 

Sidenote, the coconut Thai curry chicken and zesty chicken burrito bowl recipes that came with the Hungryroot box last week were both awesome, definitely ones I'll make versions of my own of down the line.

 

Lifequest - Crafting - My bookwyrm is currently in a very emo phase - I got him a layer of primer while watching Knives Out on Friday so he's a literal case of "Paint it Black"

 

[Waanie]

On 1/5/2023 at 1:44 AM, NightWatcher13 said:

This time of year I love roasts and soups, homemade chicken noodle soup is amazing and fairly easy to make.  

While I won't eat anything with meat in it, I agree that this time of year is great for soups . Noodle soups in particular can be very filling without being too heavy!

 

 

[Jupiter]

Hey, Nightwatcher13, how are things going? 

[NightWatcher13]

On 1/9/2023 at 12:22 PM, Waanie said:

While I won't eat anything with meat in it, I agree that this time of year is great for soups . Noodle soups in particular can be very filling without being too heavy!

 

 

I definitely don't blame you there! There's a whole world of nice cozy soups out there that are ridiculously good this time of year

 

On 1/25/2023 at 11:46 PM, Jupiter said:

Hey, Nightwatcher13, how are things going? 

Pretty well, busy but not in a bad way at all  next week is my testing / sign off time at the new job. Challenge wise, I've been able to keep up with exercise and food prep (especially with help from HungryRoot for the time being) and doing ok with the reading, I've had to catch up a couple of times. Unfortunately I haven't made any more progress on the dragon 😕 Need to pull him and the paints out again sometime soon. And also remember to get on here and post more often 😅

[NightWatcher13]

Ok, note to self for next challenge - put in calendar reminders to pop in here 😅

 

So far, things are still going super well - I did struggle to get exercise in for the last couple of weeks of training/testing before being signed off, and one of the weeks I wound up needing more help in the food department via Walmart and Aldi ready-to-go soups and salads because I didn't have the mental energy at home to prep the food I'd gotten, but that's still leaps and bounds past where I was a few months ago. 

 

Challenge check-in:

Exercise : The last two weeks of training I had 2 exercise sessions one week, and 1 session the next. The rest of the weeks in the challenge I had 3-4 exercise sessions. 12/15 total points

Reading : Based on my habit tracker ticks, looks like I got 8.5 points/15 total this challenge

Food tracking: The first 4 weeks of the challenge I got 3+ days tracked per week, the last week this completely fell to the side. 12/15 points for the challenge

Crafting : I had no points assigned to this, but I didn't get any farther than painting the dragon with a layer of primer so he's ready to actually paint.

 - challenge total: 32.5/45 points

 

Overall, didn't go perfectly - but it was a lot of progress. Now, for the non-numerical stuff:

 - I got my budget re-adjusted, with a focus on paying off debt - I opened a separate account with a local credit union, and have my paychecks set to put an amount similar to my previous pay level in my "normal" account, and the rest of the money going to the separate account specifically to be used for paying off all outstanding debts, which actually might be able to be payed off within the year depending on overtime.

 - I got signed off on 2/10, which came with a raise for going from trainee to tech 1, and also got a bid for a breaker position that means I'll get to learn the rest of the labs (and also get raises for learning each one since it bumps me up a tech level). 

 - This current week is my last week with QG, they were helpful and exactly what I needed from last august through starting this new position, but I'll be using the Y and the stuff I've been practicing with QG at home to continue forward. 

 - I had my first appointment with my neurologist earlier this month, got more info from him about what it looks like actually happened as well as some additional testing that's scheduled for tomorrow.

 

Not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with how things are going currently.

[NightWatcher13]

New challenge is up! 

[Waanie]

Congratulations on the promotion . That you also sustained a good exercise, food and reading habit at the same time is even more impressive .