[Treva]

I feel like last challenge went well, I was able to make some positive changes.  I want to look at progress as a balance between effort and recovery.   Doing balance poses in the last challenge helped me remember how I keep my center, and how I can stay calm.  At work, I also found I can lose the nervous, and keep the nerve.

 

Last challenge I initiated some new healthy habits, and I want to build on those.   By the next challenge, I really want to be able to go back to the squat racks.  I think increasing the weights and frequency of my S&S will help.   I'm still at the time limit they suggest - I can get it done in 15 minutes.  I  would like to increase the weights I am using.

It is a little early for me to think about going to any fencing clubs.  I can still use my home practice and my gym here.

I will give myself some flexibility this week, flipping from nights to days and having to go home this weekend .

 

Goals –

Initiate : review of another piece, one healthy habit, increase frequency of one-offs

Maintain: one old piece, 2 healthy habits, three one-offs a week

Review Piece: Bach g minor fugue

Maintain Piece: BWV 614 Das alte Jahr vergangen ist - maintain

Healthy habit 1 – do one yoga pose before bed

Healthy habit 2 – do 5 passes through the meyer’s square most days a week (add captains wheel)

Heathy Habit 3 - do 20 minutes on the bike once a week.

Fitness one-offs to increase

-        Pilates x2/week

-        Swim x1/week

-        S&S x2/week

Meet 50% - Get a new set of thermal curtains for the living room.

Meet 75% or more – Get thermal curtains and a new bookshelf.

 

Fun Non Mandatory Things to Do this Month

-Bake

-Work on some messaien/vierne

-work on novels - didn't do as much on this, but I have been a little busy.

 

 

Template for Updates

Bach g minor renewal: 

BWV 614 Maintenance:

Yoga Habit:    /7

Meyers Square habit:    /7

Pilates:   /2

Swim:     /1

S&S:       /2

Bike:     /1

Nutrition notes:

Sanity/discipline notes:

Sleep notes: 

 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

 

May add more later.  I'm a little delirious today but ok.

[Kishi]

As usual, I'd say you're understating how busy you are, but if you're comfortable with the load and want to add more, then there's no reason not to, yeah?

 

So! Let's get after it, then.

[Mistr]

Nice goals!

 

Ambitious as usual, but that seems to be right where you prefer to be.

 

[Treva]

On 2/14/2023 at 3:04 PM, Kishi said:

As usual, I'd say you're understating how busy you are, but if you're comfortable with the load and want to add more, then there's no reason not to, yeah?

 

So! Let's get after it, then.

 

On 2/15/2023 at 3:23 PM, Mistr said:

Nice goals!

 

Ambitious as usual, but that seems to be right where you prefer to be.

 

HAHAH WELL WOULD YOU BELIEVE

In true "My life is absolute chaos" fashion, the work rotation I thought would be, at most, an 8 hour day, is in fact, 12-14 hour days.

Not to mention the work environment is back to being a touch toxic.  It's a different place than I normally work at, and it's only for the month, but this one is turning out to be much worse than I anticipated.

 

So, since the Work part of my life is going to be overbalanced, the NF/SelfCare needs to be more bite sized in order to be consistent.

 

I'm going to focus on building 2 disciplines.

 

Discipline 1: Be on the organ bench every night at 8 PM

I will have to be assertive at work (look, the last shuttle is at 7:15), and assertive with myself (look, stop moping and do the work).

 

Discipline 2:  Do Some Exercise every day.

It can be anything, even if it's just balancing.

My options are

1 minute - plank

5 minutes - yoga

10 minutes - sword

15 minutes - S&S

20 minutes - pilates

30 minutes - cardio

60 minutes/day off- swim

 

I don't want to sacrifice eating or working out to get on the organ bench, so if I can't be home by 7:15, I will do a short workout, shower, and get on the bench for whatever time I have until 9 PM.

I will also plan on doing all my studying and research at work. There's downtime, so it can happen, I just didn't appreciate what this month was going to entail so couldn't plan for it.

 

New Template

 

Discipline 1:    /7

Discipline 2:     /7

 

 

Week 1: bust

Week 2:

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

 

 

[Mistr]

Yikes, your current works sounds stressful. I hope you get to go back to the good coworkers when this is over.

 

I think the way you are revising your goals makes lots of sense. I hope things go as well as possible under the circumstances.

[Treva]

 

18 hours ago, Mistr said:

Yikes, your current works sounds stressful. I hope you get to go back to the good coworkers when this is over.

 

I think the way you are revising your goals makes lots of sense. I hope things go as well as possible under the circumstances.

 

it’s starting to improve from a personnel standpoint, and I do get to leave at the end of the month! I think revising the goals will get me out of feeling like it’s too hard to be perfect, and into it’s easy enough to be done.

 

Discipline 1: 2   /7

Discipline 2: 2    /7

Exercises I did this week: 

- walk for an hour

-plank 1 min

- s&s 10lb weight

 

I’m running into chronic exhaustion and sleep deprivation again, which is probably why it’s hard to get in shape.  The bonus of stopping to practice at 8 means I can go to bed between 9-10 pm. So, a secret third discipline. 

[Kishi]

On 2/21/2023 at 9:34 AM, Treva said:

I’m running into chronic exhaustion and sleep deprivation again, which is probably why it’s hard to get in shape.  The bonus of stopping to practice at 8 means I can go to bed between 9-10 pm. So, a secret third discipline. 

 

Right? It's the one that feeds the others. Life is genuinely better the better-rested you are.

[Treva]

7 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

Right? It's the one that feeds the others. Life is genuinely better the better-rested you are.

Yeah.  Sometimes not even the espresso can fix the clinically-induced depression.

 

 

Discipline 1 (music): 4   /7

Discipline 2 (work out): 3    /7

Exercises I did this week: 

- walk for an hour

-plank 1 min

- s&s 10lb weight

- Yoga

-plank 70s

 

I am discovering this week all the evil things sleep deprivation does to my body.  it not only makes it harder to lose weight, but I am also hungry all the time!  I have decided this week to throw in the towel a little bit and buy salads at work, instead of worrying about having everything prepped or not spending money.  To hell with it.  Starving myself isn't the answer.

Side note: I have now read exactly 1 paper on the physiologic consequences of restricted time in bed and HOLY HELL oh my god this explains so much.  notably, why I feel like I'm cranky, hungry, and inattentive all the time.  SWEARS.

Me reading the paper: I bet it's ghrelin.  Goddamit I bet it's freaking ghrelin.  YOU ABSOLUTE NUNCHUCKS I KNEW IT.

 

 

I am a little happy today because I played well even though it was a short notice prep and had to add some music literally last minute.  So that was nice and made me feel artistic.  I have not been telling people at work why I need to leave at a certain time to meet an obligation, because frankly, none of them need to know, and "hey I need to go be an artist and make noises that sound pretty otherwise I will f***ing lose it" is sorta awkward to get through.

I also think I found a research group I might want to join.  I don't know.  We will see.

Also, I did dishes today.  Yay. 

[Treva]

 

Discipline 1 (music): 6  /7

Discipline 2 (work out): 5 /7

Exercises I did this week: 

- walk for an hour

-plank 1 min

- s&s 10lb weight

- Yoga

-plank 70 s

-walk for an hour

-sword work

- swim

 

I realized my perfectionism and having difficulty restarting when I “failed” the day prior by not doing what I planned to was keeping me from building momentum. If I do something almost every day, even if its just five minutes, I still feel like I am succeeding. Thats enough to help me feel ready to tackle the next day.
also oh my god being able to eat healthy food, drink water, sleep eight hours a night, and sit down occasionally has made me an entirely new person. Even though I’m still working 60+ hours a week, I feel like I can accomplish the things I need to in order to lose weight and be healthier.

[Kishi]

Phew! So glad to hear you're in a position to take care of yourself. And just touching base with things consistently is awesome; you'd be surprised at how much you can preserve/progress with a comparatively minor investment of energy as long as you keep showing up. And taking care of yourself will give you the energy you need to do it. Cool!

[Mistr]

On 2/22/2023 at 8:05 PM, Treva said:

Side note: I have now read exactly 1 paper on the physiologic consequences of restricted time in bed and HOLY HELL oh my god this explains so much.  notably, why I feel like I'm cranky, hungry, and inattentive all the time.  SWEARS.

Me reading the paper: I bet it's ghrelin.  Goddamit I bet it's freaking ghrelin.  YOU ABSOLUTE NUNCHUCKS I KNEW IT.

 

I am surprised they didn't teach you about all that in med school. Sleep deprivation is so common, all doctors can expect to see it complicating symptoms in the majority of their patients. Now you know in vivid detail.

 

On 2/22/2023 at 8:05 PM, Treva said:

I am a little happy today because I played well even though it was a short notice prep and had to add some music literally last minute.  So that was nice and made me feel artistic.  I have not been telling people at work why I need to leave at a certain time to meet an obligation, because frankly, none of them need to know, and "hey I need to go be an artist and make noises that sound pretty otherwise I will f***ing lose it" is sorta awkward to get through.

I also think I found a research group I might want to join.  I don't know.  We will see.

Also, I did dishes today.  Yay. 

 

Awesome that you got to use your music skills!

 

I agree completely on not telling your coworkers why you have to leave. "I have a previous commitment to be at" is enough.

 

Be picky about joining a research group. Academia is going through structural upheaval right now. You do not want to be the person at the bottom of the ladder in a situation where the water is rising. Make sure that they have funding and you will be able to do the type of research you want to do.

 

On 2/25/2023 at 7:54 PM, Treva said:

I realized my perfectionism and having difficulty restarting when I “failed” the day prior by not doing what I planned to was keeping me from building momentum. If I do something almost every day, even if its just five minutes, I still feel like I am succeeding. Thats enough to help me feel ready to tackle the next day.
also oh my god being able to eat healthy food, drink water, sleep eight hours a night, and sit down occasionally has made me an entirely new person. Even though I’m still working 60+ hours a week, I feel like I can accomplish the things I need to in order to lose weight and be healthier.

 

I am glad to hear that you are doing a little bit and feeling better about yourself. My schedule is not as nuts as yours, and I am buying salads at work to save time and stress. It is totally worth spending the money to have healthy food and a few more minutes to do other things at home.

[Treva]

On 3/1/2023 at 4:43 PM, Kishi said:

Phew! So glad to hear you're in a position to take care of yourself. And just touching base with things consistently is awesome; you'd be surprised at how much you can preserve/progress with a comparatively minor investment of energy as long as you keep showing up. And taking care of yourself will give you the energy you need to do it. Cool!

I've been surprised at how successful I have with the working out, which is "just do SOMETHING with the time you have"

On 3/1/2023 at 5:09 PM, Mistr said:

I am surprised they didn't teach you about all that in med school. Sleep deprivation is so common, all doctors can expect to see it complicating symptoms in the majority of their patients. Now you know in vivid detail.

We do talk about it, but not in much detail.  It's not considered a problem - probably because they're about to send us into work schedules that operate on sleep deprivation.

On 3/1/2023 at 5:09 PM, Mistr said:

Awesome that you got to use your music skills!

 

I agree completely on not telling your coworkers why you have to leave. "I have a previous commitment to be at" is enough.

 

Be picky about joining a research group. Academia is going through structural upheaval right now. You do not want to be the person at the bottom of the ladder in a situation where the water is rising. Make sure that they have funding and you will be able to do the type of research you want to do.

So valid.  We are not supposed to have "commitments" that we have to leave work for, but on a noncritical consulting service I am allowed to set more boundaries than I would in the unit.

Definitely.  The groups I'm looking at have a long track record of remaining funded, and there's another professor doing things I'm interested in who was just recruited to head up a center of excellence.  I'm looking at people who publish well, and frequently. 

 

On 3/1/2023 at 5:09 PM, Mistr said:

I am glad to hear that you are doing a little bit and feeling better about yourself. My schedule is not as nuts as yours, and I am buying salads at work to save time and stress. It is totally worth spending the money to have healthy food and a few more minutes to do other things at home.

Yep.  Yep yep yep.  It has been so worth the money. 

 

While I haven't posted in two weeks, I did not lose track of this challenge.  I went home last weekend and got behind a little on writing, but thankfully, not on working out.  I've lost track on exactly what I did, but I know I've been doing the things I intended to do, unless I am absolutely too pasted to do anything except eat and go to sleep.

 

Week 1: Bust

Week 2: 75%

Week 3:

   Practice discipline: I would probably give myself a 50%; even though I practiced 6 days out of the week, I found that getting on the bench at 8 PM was still really hard, and I wasn't super productive

   Workout Discipline: I didn't swim, but I biked at least 3 times, did pilates at least once, S&S twice, yoga once, and I think a walk happened in there too.  so this is at least a 75%

Week 4:

    Practice discipline: I'm still at 50%, but I learned that practicing BEFORE I work out is much better for me, even if it means I eat dinner a little later.  I'm more productive and engaged in my practice, and there is an element of physical engagement that I need to pay attention to when I work.

    Workout discipline: Still no swimming, but biked 4 times, pilates once, S&S twice, no yoga no walk, so a 50%. 

 

Things I'm learning about scheduling my life - Realistically, I only have two hours to work in, and one to get ready for bed and the next day.

-I am never going to be someone who wakes up before work to get stuff done.  I will sleep in as late as possible.  Maybe this will change in the future, but right now body is gonna SLEEP and sleep hard.

-6-6:45 Practice-->workout 6:45-7:15-->dinner+study 7:15-8:30 means I will need a snack to get me to 7:30, BUT I can eat less things at dinner time.

-Buying salads at work will cost me ~$120 per month, but it saves me time and calories, and time is a more valuable commodity.    I bring nuts or the GoodRX target knockoff bars with me to snack on during the day. 

-Picking a workout based on how much time I have is really working

-Practicing at 8 PM is not working.

 

For my last week, I'm on a new service, so I'll use it to try out things for my next challenge.

Practice discipline: on the bench at 6 PM instead of 8

Workout Discipline: Same

Healthy Disciplines: Buy lunch (salads), sit on the couch and listen to rain sounds before bed, and use skin healing patches every day (mascne is still real if you're still masking).

 

I'm not expecting everything to magically turn around and unicorns to start dropping from the sky, but I'm hoping to be in a better place to tackle how overwhelmed I feel on a daily basis.

 

 

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Treva said:

Things I'm learning about scheduling my life - Realistically, I only have two hours to work in, and one to get ready for bed and the next day.

-I am never going to be someone who wakes up before work to get stuff done.  I will sleep in as late as possible.  Maybe this will change in the future, but right now body is gonna SLEEP and sleep hard.

-6-6:45 Practice-->workout 6:45-7:15-->dinner+study 7:15-8:30 means I will need a snack to get me to 7:30, BUT I can eat less things at dinner time.

-Buying salads at work will cost me ~$120 per month, but it saves me time and calories, and time is a more valuable commodity.    I bring nuts or the GoodRX target knockoff bars with me to snack on during the day. 

-Picking a workout based on how much time I have is really working

-Practicing at 8 PM is not working.

 

 

Gotta go with the flow, right? Challenges are sometimes about changes and sometimes they're about learning things. Both are equally productive, although in different ways.

[TimovieMan]

^ I agree with Kishi.

 

See what works best for you and your schedule, and take it from there.

[Mistr]

You are figuring out what works for you. That is a big win.

 

If you made salads at home it would probably cost you $40-60 in ingredients. Plus you would have to go grocery shopping at least twice for fresh produce and spend several hours chopping and prepping. Totally worth the money to have someone else do all that work.

 

I hope your next work situation turns out to be less stressful.

[Treva]

On 3/12/2023 at 1:01 PM, Kishi said:

 

 

Gotta go with the flow, right? Challenges are sometimes about changes and sometimes they're about learning things. Both are equally productive, although in different ways.

 

On 3/12/2023 at 7:21 PM, TimovieMan said:

^ I agree with Kishi.

 

See what works best for you and your schedule, and take it from there.

yep.  I am not making many changes yet, but I am learning when are times I will be working out, when are times I am not, and when are times I can be flexible about the type of workout.  My schedule is still pretty unpredictable.  Sometimes I can go home on time.  Sometimes I cannot.  Right now, we are rolling real deep on my team in terms of support, so going home  is happening on time, regularly.

 

On 3/13/2023 at 5:02 PM, Mistr said:

You are figuring out what works for you. That is a big win.

 

If you made salads at home it would probably cost you $40-60 in ingredients. Plus you would have to go grocery shopping at least twice for fresh produce and spend several hours chopping and prepping. Totally worth the money to have someone else do all that work.

 

I hope your next work situation turns out to be less stressful.

ohmygod.  I could not do any of that grocery shopping.  Twice a week!  Not happening.  Salads and lunches from work are way cheaper in money and time spent.  

 

The next work situation started this week, and so far things are much, much less stressful.  Sharkweek nonwithstanding, I am still getting my butt on the bike to do cardio for at least 20 minutes, and I am using my meyers square at least 3 times a week.

 

I have also entirely lost track of when challenges end and begin and I'm just glad I figured out it was monday today.  I guess we're wrapping up??  I barely kept up with anyone else's challenges?  Yikes?? 

 

As was noted before, this was a learning challenge.

New Things I Discovered Whilst Milling about in the Delta Quadrant, apparently.

-Practice importance:  Do it>time I do it>how long I do it.

- work out importance: Do it>frequency of doing it>type of exercise

-a variety of exercise options lets me build consistency in exercising

- using sleep focus to turn off the dating apps perisleep and not letting them turn back on until early morning or midday keeps me from staying awake with Absolute Dread and Loneliness.  

- making sure that I take my melatonin at the same time every night means I pass out at the same time every night.

- It's easier to stop at the end of a chapter than it is to stop at the end of an netflix episode.

- I assign myself "momentum" tasks in the morning to do first thing when I get home from work.  Having a task to do when I get home (Like, email the insurance guy, or get back to this PI) keeps me from both falling behind and falling asleep on my couch.  It helps with my anxiety and keeps the Adulting Tasks from piling up.

 

Summary - one of my big challenges is having consistent ordered routine while working an inherently chaotic and disordered job.  Having a variety of options for self care and health that I can mix and match into the time I have left in the day seems to be the most successful.  Regimenting my peri-sleep time to be electronic and dating app free has also seemed to help.

Big Goals for the Next Challenge

- don't take on too much

- keep up with the scheduled melatonin and Apps Off time

- work on the Variety is the New Consistency.

I don't have a choice and need to get a new bookshelf.  So I will be doing that this weekend.  Is it in between challenges?  I think it is.

[Mistr]

Excellent lessons learned this challenge. I admire your continuing efforts to make your life better while your career is on Hard Mode.

 

See you next challenge!