In Which Stealthstitcher Does a Themed Challenge

[stealthstitcher]

Last challenge I remarked to myself that due to busyness, this challenge was going to make for interesting times. Interesting times naturally made me think of Discworld. Discworld made me think of wizards. Wizards took me to Diana Wynn Jones' wonderful trilogy which begins with Howl's Moving Castle. And I realized that the three books and movie fit pretty nicely with the four weeks of the challenge. Each week will have its own challenge goals, since my constantly changing schedule would make an all-challenge goal difficult to reach.

 

Week the First: In Which Things Are Not As Busy As They Could Be

"Sophie discovered she was a very hale old woman indeed."

I can identify a lot with Sophie. "She read a great deal ... She was very deft with her needle ... But she felt isolated and a little dull." Sophie lets her self fall into a rut, working long hours in the hat shop and rarely doing anything else. And the more she isolates herself, the more she curls in on herself and becomes anxious and nervous when she has to deal with the outside world. It takes an evil spell that turns her into an old lady to make her realize that under the anxiety there's actually a brave, competent, rather bossy woman. 

Also, I definitely plan on being a hale old woman. I don't want to be tottering around, unable to do anything or take care of myself just because I neglected my health. 

This week's challenge primarily has to do with that. Also with getting back on track strongly after my mild fall-apart at the end of the last challenge. 

 

Goal 1: Get in six workouts.

My aim is always to work out six days out of seven, but usually I hit four or five at best. This week I want to accomplish a solid six! I don't have to work any nights, so it should be possible to get up in time and get them done, or do them in the evening if I miss the morning.

 

Goal 2: Eat Paleo for seven days!

Paleo has done the best things for me. Since I got off track on this, I want to take one solid week with no off-plan meals. Not working nights means I have time to cook and eat real meals.

 

Goal 3: ???

I feel like I should have a social goal this week, in keeping with Sophie's transformation from timid mouse to outspoken old lady, but I don't have any ideas. Almost all of my friends live out of state. My coworkers are middle aged married people who just want to go home after work. The one friend I have who lives in the area is working full time, getting a grad degree, and recently had a baby. She's a bit busy. I'm open to suggestions. 

 

 

Bonus Goal

I'm not specifically focusing on it, but I do have weight I want to lose. For every pound lost this challenge, I can buy one packet of seeds for the garden. This is actually partly a limiter - in the early spring I tend to have delusions of grandeur about what I can accomplish in the way of gardening and end up buying a ridiculous amount of seeds. Seriously, a ridiculous amount. I have two 8 x 4 garden beds and I usually buy enough seeds for a medium sized truck garden. 

[Teros]

 

Goal 3: ???

I feel like I should have a social goal this week, in keeping with Sophie's transformation from timid mouse to outspoken old lady, but I don't have any ideas. Almost all of my friends live out of state. My coworkers are middle aged married people who just want to go home after work. The one friend I have who lives in the area is working full time, getting a grad degree, and recently had a baby. She's a bit busy. I'm open to suggestions. 

 

 

Bonus Goal

I'm not specifically focusing on it, but I do have weight I want to lose. For every pound lost this challenge, I can buy one packet of seeds for the garden. This is actually partly a limiter - in the early spring I tend to have delusions of grandeur about what I can accomplish in the way of gardening and end up buying a ridiculous amount of seeds. Seriously, a ridiculous amount. I have two 8 x 4 garden beds and I usually buy enough seeds for a medium sized truck garden. 

 

Maybe number of Adventurer threads visited? Or that + one social outing, regardless where?  Like maybe see a small indy band for a couple of bucks and talk to a couple of people there.

 

I like the gardening thing. I want to grow a couple thing this spring.  Peppers, green beans, tomatoes. Idk maybe a small pot for mushrooms.  Haven't decided, but definitely 1-2 things.

[MichiruSedai]

How did I never know that was based off a book?  Now I have a new book to read at some point.  You will rock this!!

[Mekong]

Subbed!  Social suggestions of varying degrees of socialness:

-Strike up a conversation with a stranger

-Smile at and say hi to 3 strangers

-Join and go to a meetup.com group.  I've always found people to be really welcoming at any meetups I've gone to, and if you're in a moderately populous area, there's probably quite a few.  Almost every area has a board game group, which you seem like you'd like and boom, built-in conversation.

-Go to a local class/lecture, bonus points for talking to people or asking a question.  Usually there are free ones at community centers, libraries, and museums.

-Make a plan to have lunch with ( and maybe bring lunch to) your newly mommified friend.  Usually my friends who are new moms miss being social, and this is a pretty low-maintenance option for them to see people.  And if nothing else, I think they find the incentive of  food to be a worthwhile trade-off for some conversation and baby-oohing.

-Volunteer somewhere. If you're new there, you'll almost certainly be doing something public-facing, or at the very least talk to other volunteers.

-Watch Yes Man.

-Resolve to accept an invitation you normally wouldn't

-Meditate, with the purpose of learning to recognize and dismiss anxious or self-deprecating thoughts.  This isn't necessarily you, but a lot of people get worked up in their heads about being dumb or boring or they'll say something stupid and embarrass themselves.  It's not often the case.  People in our heads care way more about how we come across (obviously, since they're born of our thoughts and extensions of us) than people outside our heads.

-Watch a TED talk about body language.

-Learn something new.  Have opinions.  People are interested in interesting people.  Though you may not have that problem because making costumes for plays already seems more interesting than most other people.

-Practice mindful listening.  An equally important conversation skill.

-Learn to ask questions.  People like to talk about themselves.  And perhaps more specifically, I assume you have access to actors, who are generally pretty extroverted.  Ask them questions, they'll probably find it easy to keep the conversation going.  Bonus points for asking them stuff related to this, like how they overcome stage fright or how they get into character.  You want to be genuine when you're trying to make connections with people, but social cues, conversation, and body language all have a lot in common with slipping into a character and acting.  And a lot of people find it easier to be outgoing when they consider it an acting exercise- you say this so I say that, etc- and it's a way to feel less vulnerable. 

[stealthstitcher]

How did I never know that was based off a book?  Now I have a new book to read at some point.  You will rock this!!

Not just a book, a trilogy! The third in the series, House of Many Ways, is in my top five favorite books of all time. 

 

Social suggestions of varying degrees of socialness:

 

Wow, that is a lot of suggestions! 

 

  And perhaps more specifically, I assume you have access to actors, who are generally pretty extroverted.  

Are they ever ... probably an occupational hazard for them, even if they don't start out that way.

 

I'm going to call day 1 a success. I mean, it's still early evening so I suppose it's possible that I will snap and rush out and buy junk food, but I think I'll be okay.

Workout this morning was like trudging through mud. You know how some days, you just fly through everything and it all seems easy even though there's no reason why it should be, and then other days for equally no reason everything seems incredibly hard? Sometimes there is a reason, like not getting enough sleep or you're coming down with a cold. But this morning everything was just hard for no reason at all. Yet, oddly, I feel like it was a very good workout. 

Eating all paleo, all the time, no problem. But it is day one, which always has a psychological advantage over the other days. 

 

My less busy week went and got busier. I got a call to work a show this weekend. Yay, extra pay! Boo, no free time ... oh well. I could potentially make my social goal being at least mildly friendly while working. Since working touring shows means being thrown into an entire crowd of unfamiliar people, I tend to go into lockdown ice mode. I speak when necessary and forget to smile (But seriously, what is with people wanting you to smile all the time? Do other people really feel smiley every minute of the day?). As far as I can tell, nobody ever seems to care. Some actors even appreciate it; the ones who go into a focused trance before going onstage and don't want to be pulled out of the zone. However, most of the other dressers chat and joke with the actors they're dressing while I'm over here being all business and hoping no one speaks to me about anything unrelated to my job. Small talk ... uuuuuuuuuugh. "Weather, yes, we shall likely have some tomorrow again. Mm, yes, sport things, I have heard of those. Good local restaurants? I ... I got nothin'." Okay, I may be a touch belligerent about small talk and unnecessary smiling. 

[jkiley]

Small talk ... uuuuuuuuuugh. "Weather, yes, we shall likely have some tomorrow again. Mm, yes, sport things, I have heard of those. Good local restaurants? I ... I got nothin'." 

 

 

 Haha, I love that. I'm the same way and tend to ice up unless I am with friends.   Good luck on all of your goals!

[Mekong]

Sorry for all the suggestions, I got a little excited.  And here's another!  There's probably a Toastmasters group around you and usually they let you attend a meeting for free to see if you like it (I think membership is like $30/year otherwise).  Toastmasters is more about public speaking in a business capacity, but the skills are pretty transferable and they definitely cover small talk too.  Just Google 'Toastmasters small talk' for plenty of decent articles. 

 

It sounds like small talk or body language would probably be a good focus for your social goals. 

[stealthstitcher]

Sorry for all the suggestions, I got a little excited.  

Don't be sorry! I was impressed. So many ideas all at once. My ideas for socializing are usually more like, "Um, I could, like ... do a ...thing?" 

[Loveable_Bouncer]

YAY a theme that I LOVE! (haven't read the trilogy, the first book though after I feel in love with Howl in Middle School)

 

*proceeds to actually read challenge/goals*

 

Okay so much luck for getting your workouts in and Paleo, especially with the busier week!

 

Glad you asked the social question, now to proceed saving all the ideas since I didn't have any. A go to list when I'm lonely, quite refreshing.

[stealthstitcher]

Day two, a hard-won victory. Workout this morning once again felt like a really good workout yet was incredibly difficult to get through. I'm not doing anything different - well, I added a few stretches to my cool down, but I don't see that affecting the workout that comes before it. Barring some kind of time/space interference ...

And I was so hungry all afternoon at work. I feel like eating lunch made me hungrier. It was a perfectly good and adequate lunch but it didn't do it for me. Fortunately, not having any change protected me from the vending machine (which only has absolute junk ... the healthiest option would probably be pop tarts ...) but I murdered my emergency dark chocolate (all two squares of it) and would definitely have eaten anything else if there had been any. 

Came home and made a fabulous what-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge soup. It involved chicken, green onions, and limes for a start. Not the kind of thing I'd ordinarily make, but it came out amazingly well. 

[jkiley]

Day two, a hard-won victory. Workout this morning once again felt like a really good workout yet was incredibly difficult to get through. I'm not doing anything different - well, I added a few stretches to my cool down, but I don't see that affecting the workout that comes before it. Barring some kind of time/space interference ...

And I was so hungry all afternoon at work. I feel like eating lunch made me hungrier. It was a perfectly good and adequate lunch but it didn't do it for me. Fortunately, not having any change protected me from the vending machine (which only has absolute junk ... the healthiest option would probably be pop tarts ...) but I murdered my emergency dark chocolate (all two squares of it) and would definitely have eaten anything else if there had been any. 

Came home and made a fabulous what-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge soup. It involved chicken, green onions, and limes for a start. Not the kind of thing I'd ordinarily make, but it came out amazingly well. 

 

Lime in soup  ! Glad it come out amazing, all I can picture is chicken noodle soups with lime juice.

 

Awesome job and well earned victory... It seems like whenever I try to go strict paleo the first few days are pretty rough (low carb flu), but once I make it past that I have a lot more energy and I'm no longer starving.

I find sweet potato helps in the beginning. 

[Mekong]

Came home and made a fabulous what-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge soup. It involved chicken, green onions, and limes for a start. Not the kind of thing I'd ordinarily make, but it came out amazingly well. 

 

Sounds good! Reminds me of pho with lime and cilantro or like soup with coconut milk and lime.

 

Awesome job and well earned victory... It seems like whenever I try to go strict paleo the first few days are pretty rough (low carb flu), but once I make it past that I have a lot more energy and I'm no longer starving.

I find sweet potato helps in the beginning. 

  Second the sweet potato thing.  I'd also add that I usually find I'm just very hungry in general the first few days of cleaning up my diet (before swinging to the opposite side and never feeling hungry and then getting all obsessed about how much I'm eating/not eating and crash and burn),

 

I like to refer to Whole30's timeline on how you feel throughout the 30 days.  It doesn't always match up for me, but it makes me feel less alone in the effort.  http://whole30.com/2013/01/whole30-timeline/

[stealthstitcher]

Lime in soup  ! 

Yeah, usually I make plain, basic things but sometimes I go into mad scientist mode while cooking. Sometimes it works out (Brussels sprouts with onions, lemons and ghee? Yes. Canned tuna stir fry ... maybe not.) It ended up being chicken, green onions, carrots, celery, chicken broth, lime juice and cayenne pepper. Probably not to everyone's taste.

 

 Second the sweet potato thing. 

I have a monthly adventure where I buy a sweet potato, cook it in some fashion, take three bites and say, "Nope ... still don't like 'em." I want to like sweet potatoes. I just can't seem to actually do it. 

 

Morning workout, by the way, was death and pain today. Okay, that might be overstating it. But unlike the last two days where it felt like swimming through mud but ultimately effective, today felt like trudging through chest deep peanut butter in order to accomplish nothing. I am not doing anything different. I am not doing anything excessive. I don't think I'm getting sick. There doesn't seem to be a reason why it's so hard this week. "Trust the process," I tell myself. "If you are doing the right things the right way, results will come." 

[MichiruSedai]

Trudging through chest-deep peanut butter would be efficient since you could eat and exercise a the same time. 

 

Silliness aside, you are doing great! 

[weaver]

The soup is intriguing!

 

What does your workout generally consist of?

[JessOfAllTrades]

I just wanted to post and say I love your theme (<3) and think you have a great set of goals. 

[Sylvaa]

Morning workout, by the way, was death and pain today. Okay, that might be overstating it. But unlike the last two days where it felt like swimming through mud but ultimately effective, today felt like trudging through chest deep peanut butter in order to accomplish nothing. I am not doing anything different. I am not doing anything excessive. I don't think I'm getting sick. There doesn't seem to be a reason why it's so hard this week. "Trust the process," I tell myself. "If you are doing the right things the right way, results will come." 

 

Best description ever. It might be a combination of the increased exercise and diet changes all at once. You are right to tell yourself to trust the process! You'll get through it!

 

P.S. Sweet Potato is awesome!

[stealthstitcher]

Trudging through chest-deep peanut butter would be efficient since you could eat and exercise a the same time. 

 

Plus, the peanut oils would probably act as a moisturizer - and if it was crunchy peanut butter, it would also exfoliate. That's it, we're opening a peanut butter themed spa. "Want to get toned muscles, beautiful skin and tasty snacks, without the time commitment of exercising, following a skin care routine, and meal planning? Do all three at once with our peanut butter treatment." (We'll need a better name for it, something that sounds fancier ...)

 

 

What does your workout generally consist of?

I do planks, mountain climbers, and bridges every day. Then I have a jar full of no-equipment, body weight exercises and I choose five of those at random to round out my workout. I do three sets of either 10 reps or holding as long as I can, depending on the exercise. I find this helps with boredom and also, if I pull out the same exercise too many times or I'm just not feeling it, I can put it back and draw a different one. Also, I warm up by putting on a song and dancing around the house feeling ever so slightly like an idiot cause seriously, I cannot dance. Then I cool down with yoga, which I really like but also can't do well because I'm completely inflexible. Some day, I would like to be able to do a whole routine of yoga poses without having to modify any of them or use blocks/straps/chairs to assist. Some day ...

 

I just wanted to post and say I love your theme (<3) and think you have a great set of goals. 

Thank'ee! 

 

Quote for the day from Howl's Moving Castle (cause of course I'm re-reading it for my challenge): "She was finding that there were some things she could only do when there were no excuses left." 

 

The peanut butter was gone today, as was the mud. I was back to normal workout ability. Yay! 

 

As to my second goal of a solid week of paleo eating ... well, yesterday I had to run forty million errands for work, most of which were fruitless. I ended up out well past lunch time, tired, cranky, and hungry. So I belligerently grabbed a fast food cheeseburger (there weren't any other food options near me). I ate two bites of it and said, "This is nasty, and I'm not eating it." and threw it away. So, my week will be imperfect but not terrible. Seriously, though, I used to get fast food probably three or four times a week, sometimes more. And I enjoyed it. Now that I hardly ever eat it, it strikes me how revolting it truly is. Also, if one is not going to eat fast food, then one really needs to remember to always carry a snack just in case.  

[jkiley]

As to my second goal of a solid week of paleo eating ... well, yesterday I had to run forty million errands for work, most of which were fruitless. I ended up out well past lunch time, tired, cranky, and hungry. So I belligerently grabbed a fast food cheeseburger (there weren't any other food options near me). I ate two bites of it and said, "This is nasty, and I'm not eating it." and threw it away. So, my week will be imperfect but not terrible. Seriously, though, I used to get fast food probably three or four times a week, sometimes more. And I enjoyed it. Now that I hardly ever eat it, it strikes me how revolting it truly is. Also, if one is not going to eat fast food, then one really needs to remember to always carry a snack just in case.  

 

Sorry to hear about the lame work induced fast food foray, but at least you've got the right attitude. Try to plan for the unknown, get back in there and make the rest of the week count.  

[weaver]

The workout sounds great - I really like the idea of a jar to pick exercises from!

[MichiruSedai]

Plus, the peanut oils would probably act as a moisturizer - and if it was crunchy peanut butter, it would also exfoliate. That's it, we're opening a peanut butter themed spa. "Want to get toned muscles, beautiful skin and tasty snacks, without the time commitment of exercising, following a skin care routine, and meal planning? Do all three at once with our peanut butter treatment." (We'll need a better name for it, something that sounds fancier ...)

 

 

YES.  We shall call it PBJ.   Peanut Butter Jamboree.  It will have all the things and we will be at least hundredaires if not millionaires.  *nodnod*

 

Isn't that crazy how our bodies get used to not having the junk and then it just doesn't taste good?  Kwik Trip convenience stores sell these banana cake with cream cheese frosting squares. A couple weeks back I bought one as a treat for myself and I threw half of it out.  I felt like I had wasted my money!  It just didn't taste good, it was way too sweet. The part I did eat, I didn't eat the super thick frosting.  It made me a bit sad, but then I realized that was a good thing.  As it sounds like your Cheeseburger Epiphany was today!

[stealthstitcher]

Okay, this is not specifically challenge related. But my day today reminded me a lot of March weather. This morning, things were nice and sunny (in my life, not the weather. The weather was lousy. Cold and windy with wet snow.). Woke up with energy, workout was good, nice breakfast, out the door in a good mood. Around noon, I had an anxiety attack at work. AT WORK. I'm not saying it's never happened, but only when there are a ton of people in my space and I can't get away. Today I was at work ALONE and I had an untriggered anxiety attack completely out of the blue. What. The. Heck. There is always a trigger. It's not always rational, but it always exists. Then I drove myself crazy half the afternoon trying to determine what triggered it. Still got nothin'. Tired all afternoon, then suddenly perky and energized and ran home, baked cookies (to send to my grandpa, not for me), ran out an mailed them, ran back home (no, not literally ran, but that kind of energy) and now suddenly I'm out of energy again. 

No real point - just kinda wanted to get the puzzled rant out of my system and the one friend I have who gets these things is too busy to talk this week. 

[Sylvaa]

Ugh for anxiety!

 

I hope today ends up being a better day for you!

[stealthstitcher]

So I'm taking today as my rest day - if you can call it a rest day when you're going to spend eight hours standing and running up and down stairs. I'm oddly kinda looking forward to it. Usually I dread the tedium and sore feet a little, but while I'm working at the other theatre it's physically impossible for me to do anything about my next show at this theatre, so I can put my ever-growing massive to-do list out of my mind and take a break from being in charge for a while. Sometimes it's good to be a minion with little responsibility. 

Social goal for the week - I will learn the names of my actors (there should be 3-4 of them that I will work with on costume changes for the next two days) and will greet them pleasantly at the beginning of performances instead of doing my usual deadpan nod in response to their hellos. I find learning names hard not because it's difficult to connect the right name with the right person (although sometimes it is) but because I always feel unsure that I've got it right. I've got this fear that even though I am perfectly sure that guy's name is Joe, if I say, "Hi, Joe," he will say, "Uh ... I'm Bartholomew, how do you not know that?"

Was running passionately late this morning and my options were no breakfast or yogurt and walnuts on the run. I opted for yogurt and walnuts. It was plain greek yogurt though, so I think it was a better choice than no breakfast and definitely a better choice than vending machine pop tarts.

[traaki]

Hi! Jumping in from accoutabilibuddies land!! Best of luck with everything. 

I've been trying to be more social/outspoken too--Periscope has been helping.  It's very very tough for me but it's been getting easier.  Feels like being social without infringing on other people.  Just an idea!