[obax]

I've been in a funk for a long time now. It started as a general life funk, and while some things have improved, working out/being active has not been one of them. My physio has been gently urging me to get moving again, and I know I feel better when I move, but doing it regularly has been a challenge.

 

So, inspired by @Cheetah, I'm going to try to (re)start simple: doing a thing is better than not doing a thing. This is a mindset I struggle with, if it's not exactly what I want to be doing I don't wanna do it, but it's a place to start. I'd like to focus on mobility for now, but really any kind of movement will do. And I'm going to try to remember to post here about it each day, because I could use the accountability, if left to my own devices I will not form a new habit no matter how good it is for me....

[obax]

For today I did some calf and soleus stretching, some 1-leg RDLs, and some air squats. They all felt bad and good at the same time. I'm going to try to remember to do some more of the same later on as well, but remembering is not my strong suit...

[foxinthenorth]

Following!

[Cheetah]

Following for solidarity and mutual accountability.

[obax]

Some other things on my mind that aren't specifically part of the challenge but do involve doing a thing (just not the type of thing I'm focused on, per se):

 

Eating healthier lunches - take-out is so easy when you're out on the road and don't really take a lunch break, but it sure isn't healthy for me every day... No specifics on this, just trying to keep it in mind when grocery shopping, and if this challenge goes well may be a focus down the line.

 

Picking away at my writing - my main WIP is stalled in the middle section, and I've got a couple side projects that, if I'm going to get serious with, will need some serious thought to pin down the stories. It remains forefront in my mind, but I don't do as much work here as I maybe should. No specifics here either, but this may become a focus down the line also.

[obax]

1 minute ago, Cheetah said:

Following for solidarity and mutual accountability.

 

I could use some of both. Let's do some things together!

[Elastigirl]

Welcome back! Hid any good geocaches lately? 

[obax]

4 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Welcome back! Hid any good geocaches lately? 

 

Not in a while. I keep getting people DNFing some very easy ones and then having to go check on them because the local cache reviewer is like 'seems like there's a problem with your cache' only for them to be exactly where they're supposed to be, so that's kinda soured me on it a bit... Still finding them on occasion though!

[Elastigirl]

28 minutes ago, obax said:

 

Not in a while. I keep getting people DNFing some very easy ones and then having to go check on them because the local cache reviewer is like 'seems like there's a problem with your cache' only for them to be exactly where they're supposed to be, so that's kinda soured me on it a bit... Still finding them on occasion though!

Yeah, that sounds frustrating. 

[Artemis Prime]

Hello! Happy to see you forum-side!

[sylph]

[obax]

Today is Tuesday, and I did the things. It wasn't more than yesterday, but I did the same stretches with my slant board and then 10 RDLs (each side) and 10 air squats. The range of motion on the RDLs is downright pitiful, way worse than I was expecting, though when I really think about it I supposed I shouldn't be surprised... Didn't have time for a walk in the still-perfect weather, I have an appointment later and definitely need to shower before I go (I may have extended the 'dirty hippy' thing a bit past the music festival this past weekend...), but the weather's supposed to hold until at least tomorrow so I'mma try to get one in then if I can.

 

Had take-out for lunch today but it was healthy-ish! Certainly better than the McDonalds/Wendy's I had in the previous couple of weeks...

[sylph]

13 hours ago, obax said:

Today is Tuesday, and I did the things

Then Tuesday was a success.

[Artemis Prime]

13 hours ago, obax said:

 

Had take-out for lunch today but it was healthy-ish! Certainly better than the McDonalds/Wendy's I had in the previous couple of weeks...

Yeah progress! Looking forward to hearing what you think of soylent when your order arrives.

[Cheetah]

16 hours ago, obax said:

I did the things.

 

Good job!

[obax]

Today is Wednesday, and I did the things (barely). I almost forgot, and didn't end up going for a walk (did a bunch of overtime at work and there wasn't really time by the time I got home), but I did the same, at least: stretching, 10 RDLs, 10 air squats. My squats felt deeper than yesterday. My RDLs did not...

 

Only homemade food today (this is apparently becoming an unofficial goal I'm reporting on? *shrug* I'm rollin' with it).

[obax]

Today is Thursday and I did the things. This is the most days in a row I've done the things in literal years! Same as previously, it was another day with OT and I got home late.

 

Got Wendy's today. The Soylent was a good experiment and kept me satisfied til much later in the day than I expected, but it's definitely not going to work as a regular meal replacement. But to get me through on a really busy day, I think it's valuable to have around. Dinner was chicken fingers and cesar salad, so better than Wendy's and not takeout.

[Artemis Prime]

Oooh, I haven't had a Caesar salad in a while. I could go for one of those.

[obax]

Forgot to do the thing on Friday. I worked late getting things wrapped up for my vacation week, then made dinner and promptly got distracted by inconsequential stuff, and then it was time for D&D. I think part of it is, I moved the slant board I use for the stretching out of the middle of the livingroom where it had been, and out of sight means out of mind. I'll probably move it back when I get home again as a reminder.

 

I'm at the cottage, so my routine is all messed up (not a complaint), so we'll see how the next week goes. Thus far today I've lazed and then driven and now I'm lazing again, and have not yet done the thing. We'll see if I remember before bed.

[sylph]

When away at a cottage, could lazing about count as the thing? 🤔

[obax]

On 8/6/2023 at 8:56 AM, sylph said:

When away at a cottage, could lazing about count as the thing? 🤔

 

If it does, then I'm excelling. 

 

***

 

I have not been doing the things (aside from lazing) since getting to the cottage. Some of it is the change in routine, some of it is having other people around, some of it is me just plain not thinking of it until I'm in the process of getting ready for bed then choosing not to.

 

On the plus side, I've been reading, which I don't do much of any more, and I drank some real good cider yesterday.

 

A little break isn't a bad thing, though the timing is not exactly conducive to me trying to establish a routine, if not exactly a habit... We'll see what I can do to get back to doing some things for the rest of the week.

[obax]

It's... Tuesday? Maybe? Time has no meaning at the cottage. But regardless, I did a thing, even if it wasn't the things I have been doing: I sawed a bunch of wood and chopped some kindling for the pitiful excuse for a campfire I made tonight. It got my heart rate up a bit (I really go at it when I saw things), and I can feel it in my arms now. And now I smell like woodsmoke, which is just fine by me.

 

Not much else going on, as it should be when at the cottage. Probably going out and about for a bit tomorrow, I don't know if it'll result in the doing of things aside from lunch, but maybe a change of pace will inspire me. Or something...

 

Trying to decide if I want to take a trip to Tobermorry some time in the rest of the week, there's really not much there for me now that I'm an adult, though the candy store has good saltwater taffy, but I'm not sure it's worth the time and gas to go all that way just for saltwater taffy... Maybe if I'm bored I'll go for a drive and see where I end up, but most of my childhood haunts are so full up with tourists these days that I just stay away. Might like to try to get some writing done in the next few days too. My brain's been a bit bouncy and I haven't had much focus, but there's rain coming apparently so that might be a good day to give it a go.

[obax]

Wednesday today, and I'm sure of it this time! No doing of the things as of yet, aside from lunch, I'm real tired today. I did have a nap, sort of, which is a thing. And swing a small sledge hammer a bit, but it wasn't real heavy. And now I've got the perfect little campfire, unlike last night's! And there's thunder moving in... I'll sit out as long as I can then move inside, and maybe do a few more things then.

[obax]

Back from the cottage. There wasn't a lot of doing of things while I was there, mostly just sitting on the muskoka chair and playing with the dogs. I got back late-ish yesterday, so there wasn't really any doing of things then either.

 

Today I played hockey, which counts as a thing. We lost, but we're the last place team and we were playing the first place team, so this was not unexpected. I finally got to play forward again, and thought I did ok, but I was only sort of feeling it. Hopefully next year I get to play forward more often.

 

I also found a new thing to try. It's basically a habit-building board game, you have your little character and every time you do a thing (?) you move on the board and every now and then you get to attack the creature by rolling a d20. I'm not super clear on exactly how it works yet (clearly), but I thought I'd give it a try. I've tried phone apps that do something similar but I'm real good at ignoring phone notifications and never opening a majority of the apps I have on there, I'm hoping the hard copy will make it harder to ignore. Though I've tried post-it notes as reminders in the past, even sticking them right in the middle of my tv, and I still ignored them too, so *shrug* I guess we'll see. I think I'm going to try to put together a little bodyweight routine for this, beyond the couple of easy things I've already been (sort of) doing, that's a little more complete, and make my goal 5 days/week. I'm normally terrible at doing this sort of thing at home, but I haven't been motivated to try the gym again since my mini-panic attack last time I was there, so... like I said, I guess we'll see...

[obax]

Today I did some meal prep, made some fish, some broccoli rabe and onions, and a bean salad. I was dumb and didn't thaw a second thing of fish, but it's one of the few cookings I'll do after work, so I'll pull one out of the freezer tomorrow and cook it when needed. I also made a plan for some homemade lunches through the week. I'm hoping it'll keep me full long enough, but I've got some Soylent packs to take with me to hopefully fill the gap.

 

No exercise done as yet. I'm actually kinda sore from hockey, not terribly so but it makes me want to laze. Not to mention the meal prep took most of my spoons for the day. I'm going to do some stretching and mobility before going out for dinner tonight, and then when I get home actually get the board game thing organized and figure out exactly how it works and figure out what exercises I want to do, and hopefully start it tomorrow for real.

 

Back to work tomorrow after 10 days of vacation. I'm not exactly excited, but I do legitimately like my job so I'm not sad either. I'm just going to miss being well rested more than anything.