Tundralily seeks Earth and Sky

[tundralily]

Last time on the Rebellion

 

My last challenge was officially a flop. I neglected the last 3 weeks of my challenge when the darkness within (aka my depression) decided to come roaring in for a visit.  There are a number of factors contributing to why I am so exhausted and withdrawn from the things I love. Like lifting, yoga, friends. I don't remember the last time I touched my kettlebells or my pull-up bar.

 

Luckily, I've been slowly recovering and taking care of myself and am ready to tackle a new challenge. I'm focusing on making some tiny changes to my current routine so I don't get overwhelmed. I keep thinking I can do ALLL THE THINGS, but am reining myself in to the smallest possible change I can move forward with for my bigger goals.

 

In the meantime, challenge time!

Main Quest
 

Health, wholeness and healing in body, mind, and spirit.

 

Motivation

 

I will face each day with an open heart, be adventurous in all the ways that piqued my curiosity, have specific long-term goals, and practice kindness and compassion towards myself. I will meet myself where I am with love, compassion, and without judgement. I will celebrate the smallest of successes and be gentle with myself if I fail, focusing instead on learning what works for me. I am a unstoppable, untamed and wild force of nature when I go through life with all of my mind, body and soul.

Challenge Aim:
 

This challenge I'm recovering in the Druids grove. While I struggle to do battle with the darkness within, I am seeking refuge, support, love, compassion and rest from the earth and sky. Getting in touch with my inner Druid will allow me to find the peace, confidence, and resiliency to face whatever challenges will come my way. 

 

 

Challenge Quests:

Quest 1: Peace Within (2 mins daily yoga flow)

 

 

I want to grow deeper into my yoga practice. Yoga has worked wonders for my anxiety and pain levels when I commit to it.  I want to do 2 mins of a yoga flow when I wake up in the morning after my shower before I start my day. I originally wanted to do a 30 day yoga challenge but decided to start REALLY small so I didn't get overwhelmed. 2 mins is definitely doable!

 

Quest 2: Sky Above (No phones in bed, sleep tracking)

 

 

My sleep has been all over the place, and a struggle for the last couple challenges. I tried doing no phones in bed last challenge and it worked wonderfully when I committed to it! Going to continue working on that this challenge. I also ordered a Mi fitness band (like a fitbit) to track my sleep, I'm exicited for my new shiny!

1) No phones in bed - I moved my charger to the kitchen so it stays out
2) Track my sleep using a Mi fitness band 

 

Quest 3: Earth Below (Daily tracking Pain Levels and Triggers)

 

 

I've been under a lot of stress lately at work, and I've been having a difficult time managing my pain levels as a result. I'm working proactively with my support team (therapist, doctor, etc) to address this, but need some data! I'm going to track my pain levels and eating and see if I can come up with any patterns)

 

Quest 4: Fire Within (Pick up 5, put it away not down)

 

 

 

In my ongoing quest for a clean house, I want to focus on putting items away, not down! My daily quest is to pick up 5 items out of place and put them away. 

 

Challenge Summary

QUEST 1 - Peace Within: 2 mins daily yoga
QUEST 2 - Sky Above: No phones in bed and sleep tracking
QUEST 3 - Earth Below: Daily journaling
QUEST 4 - Fire Within: Put it away not down, pick up 5. 

[Kairiel]

^.^ I will follow your journey to better-ness !

[Feowyn]

following

[JessOfAllTrades]

Seems to be an awesome reason to be here with the Druids. Best of luck!

[ElemHH]

You always semed to be around checking up on us wannabe assassins during our recruit challenge last time, so I'm following now, hopefully I can cheer you on if you need it this time around.

[seth.e.shaw]

Seems we have traveled to the Druids' groves together! Glad to see a familiar face.

[tundralily]

You guys are awesome, thank you for checking in on me! I'm doing better this week and am recovering with my best friend while she is here to visit. I'm still struggling with the darkness within so I will take all the cheering on I can get. 

 

My challenge will be a couple days late, I'm hanging out with my best friend and going camping this weekend

[seth.e.shaw]

Yay for camping! That was my favorite part of Boy Scouts as a kid. We haven't been able to do much camping with our kiddos over the past few years. We tried a few times early on but they have a hard enough time sleeping at home, much less in a tent when they can crawl all over everyone else. I expect to start doing some one-on-one camping with the older ones next summer and hopefully in a few years we can bring everyone together.

 

Sorry to high-jack your thread! I just got a bit over-excited for you.

 

Have fun!

[tundralily]

Yay for camping! That was my favorite part of Boy Scouts as a kid. We haven't been able to do much camping with our kiddos over the past few years. We tried a few times early on but they have a hard enough time sleeping at home, much less in a tent when they can crawl all over everyone else. I expect to start doing some one-on-one camping with the older ones next summer and hopefully in a few years we can bring everyone together.

 

Sorry to high-jack your thread! I just got a bit over-excited for you.

 

Have fun!

 

 

That's ok, I LOVE camping and enjoy when other people do too! My hubby and I are sans kids at the moment, so its fairly easy to pack up and go for the weekend. When I was little I spent more time outside sleeping in a tent and in a canoe than at home in the summers. Its the one place I feel at home always

[tundralily]

Challenge posted! I'm looking forward to my yoga flow in the morning and am off to bed to get some rest.

[tundralily]

Daily Update - July 28

 

Peace Within: Did a cat and cow yoga flow with some child pose. Really enjoyed it!
Sky Above: Sleep tracking device isn't here yet. I'm waiting not so patiently!
Earth Below: Forgot to journal yesterday. Opps.
Fire Within: Picked up 5 items that weren't where they belonged!

 

Pain Levels: 6/10. Going to make a physio appt tomorrow to see if I can get a better plan to work on my shoulders 

Nutrition: 4/5. I made a really awesome paleo stirfry for supper tonight with kale, sweet peas, beef, peppers, garlic and onions. Soooo good!

 

Thoughts for today: 

 

My day was better than yesterday. I had a rough day at work yesterday, my boss is really stressed and I'm picking up on it. Its frustrating to feel like there is little or nothing I can do to control whether we as a department meet some really outrageous goals that management has set for us. However, all I can do is find ways to make the work I do the best I can possible do.

 

I've put alot of focus into finding ways to be more efficent in the ways that I work (with systems, error tracking, etc) but I'm as far as I can go with it right now without getting some buy in from my boss.

 

My best friend is here to visit for the past week, and is leaving tomorrow. I'm sad to see her go but I'm so happy she came to visit! She helped me figured a bunch of stuff out emotionally and is one of those touchstones in my life that I turn to when things get tough. I'm happier and feeling better, and am thankful to her for tha

[tundralily]

Motivation of the Day! 

 

I post things here from the internet that make me happy or for positive motiviation. I usually do a post a week but thought I would try posting more frequently if I see something I really like!

 

[tundralily]

Daily Update - July 29

Peace Within: Did 5 mins of Sun Salutes this morning, and did my weekly Hatha flow class. Always love going to class with a bunch of awesome people
Sky Above: I used my phone in bed. Miss. My sleep tracker (Mi band) is here and I'm ogoogling over it right now!
Earth Below: Journal entry here counts
Fire Within: Picked up 5 items that weren't where they belonged!

Pain Levels: 4/10. Yoga was amazing today. Still have to make a physio appt.
Nutrition: 3/5. Had lots of yummy veggies today (leftovers and then taco salad tonight), but had more carbs in the snacks then I would of liked. 

Thoughts for today

 

Today was a great day at yoga! I practice at my local yoga studio with an amazing teacher, and usually do a weekly 90 Hatha flow class. I love it! Compared to last week when I was in terrible amounts of pain (8/10), I was much stronger today and able to do everything without modification or much difficulty. My focus at class was strong too, I was there in the moment and didn't have many distracting thoughts. Its such a wonderful and safe space to come to and practice. I have been going regularly for about 6 months now and attribute my yoga practice to why I am doing so much better mentally and spiritually then last year

[tundralily]

Daily Motivation! 

 

[ElemHH]

I love "Quest 4: Fire Within (Pick up 5, put it away not down)" It's simple and doable, but also effective. I used to do 10 minutes of daily cleaning each night before bed. It was much easier to stay on top of the cleaning when it was just doing a little each day.

[Bast]

Just came by to stalk, er, follow, yeah, follow your progress!!

 

 

I'm sorry to see that you had so much trouble, but I'm proud of you for your perseverance!!

 

Wow, it really looks like you're getting back on track!  I love you're challenge to be better at picking up after yourself!  I've got a similar one, as well!  Something that's really helped me is FlyLady.  It's free, and it gives a lot of great advice on how to get your house in order, and awesome encouragement!! 

 

I'm with you on the sleep and pain...I have found one of my biggest triggers is the sleep issue...the less (or poor quality) I sleep, the more pain I have.  It really sucks!  I like having a relaxing soak with Epsom salts before bed, then a mind-quieting self-meditation with relaxing sounds (usually a CD that will automatically shut off) as I drift off.  Sometimes it works better than others, but that's life, right?

 

You can do it!!

 

[tundralily]

Week 1 Update:

 

Peace Within 5/7 - Been to Hatha flow two weeks in a row and loving it! Did 5 mins of Sun Salutes this morning, and did my weekly Hatha flow class. Always love going to class with a bunch of awesome people
Sky Above: 5/7 - I moved my charger out of my room and this has helped alot.
Earth Below: 3/7. Need to figure out a better way of tracking things on paper. Maybe I can find a goal tracker?
Fire Within: 7/7 WIN! I've been putting 5 things away every day and enjoying a less cluttered house.

Pain Levels: 4/10 for the week. Still have to make a physio appt.
Nutrition: 2/5. My weekend was full of TOO MUCH YUMMY food and I'm struggling with some emotional eating. 

 

Thoughts and Things 

 

Last week was a decent week. My enegy levels are in the tank so I've been working on pacing myself and trying to sleep better where I can. I spent the weekend camping and slept outisde all weekend in my hammock. It was amazing. 

 

My challenge has been getting the motivation to get back to lifting...I've been afraid of picking up my kettlebell lately for some reason and am struggling with that. My goal for tomorrow is to go through my warmup and an easy set of swings and see how I feel. 

[tundralily]

Just came by to stalk, er, follow, yeah, follow your progress!!

 

 

I'm sorry to see that you had so much trouble, but I'm proud of you for your perseverance!!

 

Wow, it really looks like you're getting back on track!  I love you're challenge to be better at picking up after yourself!  I've got a similar one, as well!  Something that's really helped me is FlyLady.  It's free, and it gives a lot of great advice on how to get your house in order, and awesome encouragement!! 

 

I'm with you on the sleep and pain...I have found one of my biggest triggers is the sleep issue...the less (or poor quality) I sleep, the more pain I have.  It really sucks!  I like having a relaxing soak with Epsom salts before bed, then a mind-quieting self-meditation with relaxing sounds (usually a CD that will automatically shut off) as I drift off.  Sometimes it works better than others, but that's life, right?

 

You can do it!!

 

Thanks for the motivation and stopping by! I'm glad to be doing better and am so grateful for all the support that we are giving to each other here. Keeps me going and fighting through the dark parts. 

 

My sleep has defintely been an ongoing issue (insomnia is not my friend!) and my pain levels have spiked the last couple days with really poor sleep. Doing a brain dump onto paper before I go to bed has helped alot when I remember to do it

[Bast]

Thanks for the motivation and stopping by! I'm glad to be doing better and am so grateful for all the support that we are giving to each other here. Keeps me going and fighting through the dark parts. 

 

My sleep has defintely been an ongoing issue (insomnia is not my friend!) and my pain levels have spiked the last couple days with really poor sleep. Doing a brain dump onto paper before I go to bed has helped alot when I remember to do it

 

I hear that!!  I have a hard time getting my brain to shut off when I got to bed, also!!  We've also been having a record-breaking heat wave over here (55 confirmed deaths), so the heat is affecting my sleep quality as well.

 

[kokuryuu]

Heyo,

 

I must say the layout of your beginning post already tells me you put effort into this and really want to stick with it which I admire ( the pics make it look really cool too). Your job really does seem to take  it´s toll on you but your goals seem to be kind of a counterbalance to it.

 

I wish you the best of luck for the coming 3rd week!

[oldnews]

I hope your second week went well. I really like your goals!

[Bast]

Just dropped by to see how your Week 2 went...I was a bad girl and only just now posted my update...

 

 

Hope yours went great!

[Bast]

I hadn't seen your updates or any of your wonderful posts that always make me smile (and sometimes crack up!)...

 

I hope you are alright, and just in case you're getting bogged down by the dreaded Week 3s...

 

 

Hang in there...I know you can do it!!

[tundralily]

Heyo,

 

I must say the layout of your beginning post already tells me you put effort into this and really want to stick with it which I admire ( the pics make it look really cool too). Your job really does seem to take  it´s toll on you but your goals seem to be kind of a counterbalance to it.

 

I wish you the best of luck for the coming 3rd week!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Indeed, my job went crazy this past two weeks and I haven't had any time or energy to do anything besides eat, sleep, work, repeat. 

I hope your second week went well. I really like your goals!

 

My second and third week went well, according to my fancy new not my original plan challenge! Aka, life got in the way and I'm going to revamp a couple things

I hadn't seen your updates or any of your wonderful posts that always make me smile (and sometimes crack up!)...

 

I hope you are alright, and just in case you're getting bogged down by the dreaded Week 3s...

 

 

Hang in there...I know you can do it!!

Bast, you are so amazing! Thanks for poking me and spreading the encouragement. The last couple weeks have been really tough and I've been hiding from my challenge. Time to post an update tonight!

[oldnews]

Hope things are going a little better for you now. Sorry it's been rough.