Jayniana Jones Rests

[Jayniana Jones]

I'm hopping back to the druid guild for this round because I'm not sure what to do next and sometimes moving forward requires going back to where I started. My life is completely nutty at the moment and I find that I can't look beyond the current day on the family calendar without feeling immense panic about how I'm going to survive the week. So I've been living one day at a time and letting things play out as they may.

 

Normally, I feel compelled to up the ante for the next challenge.  This time around I feel mentally exhausted and I don't think I'm up for making my challenge any more challenging than it already is. So for this round, I want to continue what has worked for me in the last few months.

 

Continue my daily yoga challenge. 

It started on a whim with my daughter back in January to see how many days in a row we could keep doing yoga. As I type this we are on day 196. I think it is safe to say that this is the longest I have stuck with anything (besides being married) and haven't missed a single day. Because I didn't want to ruin our yoga streak I even did my yoga through recovering from ACL surgery back on April 8th. Over the weekend, my daughter and I did our yoga practice on our camping trip. Day 200 (which is Friday, July 22) will give us a reward of going to Madison, WI to tour the capitol and do a girl's day in the city. It's about a four-hour drive from here and I'm looking forward to it. I haven't planned the trip yet just in case we mess up.

 

Continue my rehab.

My physical therapy schedule shifted to once a week every other week. I'm cleared for many exercises so I'll be figuring out a routine that will give me some variety and challenge in the exercises. My main goal is to get my left leg (the one that had surgery on it) to have the same strength as my right leg. There are a few exercises I have to do nearly every day.

 

Edit my novel.

My novel draft is done and now it's time to edit. My deadline for having the manuscript ready to send to publishers is August 30. I'd like to spend 10 hours a week working on my novel.

 

Create.

Art is my escape from some of the not so fun things I have to deal with right now. I have a painting on a large canvas that needs finishing. This round if I can get to it at least two times in the next four weeks I'll be happy. I also have an art journal that I'd like to keep adding to daily. The daily entries are small and simple but are designed to maintain the habit of letting myself play. 

 

This round I really want to stay steady and moving forward on things that are important to me.

 

[SnowOwl]

I'm so glad to have you here with me this round! 

I'm really trying to get an art journal going since you started yours, not daily, but at least once a week.

Sounds like a good challenge to help you through crazy busy days.

[SaltyDragon]

Seems like a lot of us are in the same boat this go 'round. Well OK, not literally the same boat , that would be weird. But ya know what I mean! Prioritizing really feels like the right thing to do now. I'm happy you're back. And 200 days of yoga is a huge accomplishment – congratulations! I can't wait to see how far you can take it!

[Schaengel]

I'll be following along

[Ferngirl]

Good luck with your yoga! 

Both my parents are yoga teachers, so It's kinda of all around me.  I should do more of it though. 

 

Ooh, I hope your novel goes well!  I'm editing a couple novels right now.  Although one is pretty much done. 

(Heheh.  My ultimate dream is to get published.  It's quite a chore) 

[Jayniana Jones]

On 7/18/2016 at 10:20 PM, SnowOwl said:

I'm so glad to have you here with me this round! 

I'm really trying to get an art journal going since you started yours, not daily, but at least once a week.

Sounds like a good challenge to help you through crazy busy days.

 

 

I stumbled across a book at the library called No Excuses Art Journaling by Gina Rossi Armfeld. She has some super simple ideas on how to do a little bit of art each day (basically picking a color of the day, a word of the day, a doodle of the day, and recording the weather) and one sketch/painting/doodle/ an art piece each week. My brain tried to make it bigger over the weekend and I discovered that as soon as I did that I didn't feel like I could squeeze it in. So I went back to simple. Unlike her suggestion of using a calendar, I'm using a watercolor pad and creating the weekly calendar as I go. That way when I'm done I know I won't have empty pages to stare at (not that I have troubles finishing something, but sometimes I miss a few days/weeks).  

[Jayniana Jones]

On 7/18/2016 at 10:53 PM, SaltyDragon said:

Seems like a lot of us are in the same boat this go 'round. Well OK, not literally the same boat , that would be weird. But ya know what I mean! Prioritizing really feels like the right thing to do now. I'm happy you're back. And 200 days of yoga is a huge accomplishment – congratulations! I can't wait to see how far you can take it!

 

 

 

While I was doing my yoga session today, I was thinking about tracking down your boat and spending a few days on it. It's a bit toasty here today and I could use a few more daylight hours.  Thanks.

 

On 7/19/2016 at 2:14 PM, Schaengel said:

I'll be following along

Thanks.

3

 

[Jayniana Jones]

@Ferngirl thanks for following. For some reason, I can't comment below your quote so I'll do it above.  It sounds like we have the same writing aspirations. What types of novels have you written? I just received feedback for a middle-grade mystery novel from my writer's group. It's about 145 pages and needs some editing. The one I finished last challenge is a romantic comedy that I plan to smooth out the rough edges and send off to my writer's group for final review. I was nervous to send them my first one and more nervous about my second one because comedy is tricky.

14 hours ago, Ferngirl said:

Ooh, I hope your novel goes well!  I'm editing a couple novels right now.  Although one is pretty much done. 

(Heheh.  My ultimate dream is to get published.  It's quite a chore) 

[Ferngirl]

Most of what I write is fantasy.  Though I do some sci-fi too. 

All for young adults. 

Unfortunately, these genres seem to be hard to find representation for.  Heheh.  But they're so fun to develop. 

 

One of my stories is pretty well finished.  Though I make little tweaks to it every time I look at it. 

My sci-fi novel has undergone an entire revision, but I'll probably go over it a few more times. 

And I'm in the middle of a first draft for a third story (fantasy).  Which I can't wait to get back to work on. 

[SnowOwl]

22 hours ago, Jayniana Jones said:

I stumbled across a book at the library called No Excuses Art Journaling by Gina Rossi Armfeld.

Thank you! I order it from the library and hope to have it next week.

[Jayniana Jones]

Mid-week check-in

Somehow I missed a day this week. All day today I was thinking it was Wednesday, even though I took my daughter to Theology Thursday at church. I just looked at the calendar and somehow knew it was the 21st. My family members pointed out I was super busy this week so they could see how I got mixed up.  I feel a bit cheated, but at least Friday will be here sooner than I expected.

 

- My yoga streak is still going. I still need to do my practice after I type this which will put me at day 199. I'm resting my foot and figured I may as well type while I have it elevated.

 

- My rehab stuff is getting its daily attention. I tried to increase the intensity with more reps (this was okayed with the physical therapist) but it caused my ankle and foot pain to flare up. So I figure I'll just do the usual reps and sets and try again next week.

 

-My novel and art haven't gotten more than an hour and a half of attention this week. I thought I'd have Tuesday to work on my novel and then my son had a major poison ivy outbreak that caused his face to swell. We're suspecting Buddy as the culprit since he was pretty sure he didn't touch any on our camping trip. My job was to be the runner and get the meds, which took a chunk of my day. Then teaching and Buddy's obedience class took me to the end of the day. Thank goodness I didn't lose the weekend.  

 

It was a rough afternoon mentally today. I had some not so nice judgments thrown at me from a family member that doesn't live with me. I couldn't defend myself because I couldn't be heard (for real, my voice is a pitch that people hard of hearing can't hear) so I kept quiet. I'm hoping that my workout and yoga will help me let it go or at least gain a bit of perspective.

 

Off to do my stuff.

 

[SaltyDragon]

See, you're on such a hot streak, the week's just flyin' by! Good work, and bring on yoga day 200.

 

Sorry to hear about the family troubles. Judgy people can be really hurtful, and it's worse when it's family. Stay positive. I'm sure the truth of the subject isn't so bad.

 

On 7/20/2016 at 4:04 PM, Jayniana Jones said:

While I was doing my yoga session today, I was thinking about tracking down your boat and spending a few days on it. It's a bit toasty here today and I could use a few more daylight hours.  Thanks.

 

Well, I hear there might be an opening soon...

[SnowOwl]

My husband had some rude comments made to him today. He got ready to fire up and then paused and replied "It seems like you are unable to control yourself from speaking your thoughts." I cracked up. Good job not getting into to it, stuff like that is never really about you anyway.

 

[Alexandrite]

Following for support and fun art! =)

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[Bee]

That's awesome that you and your daughter do yoga together.  My mom and I started taking a weekly yoga class together and it's so wonderful.  Good luck with the challenge!  

[Schaengel]

I know I have said it before...but that yoga-streak is just awesome and a real inspiration

 

[Jayniana Jones]

Thanks for the words of encouragement and for following. It means a lot.  

 

So things are cruising right along. Here's the status of stuff:

 

Yoga Streak:

I just completed day number 203 on my yoga streak. Unfortunately, my daughter missed yesterday because she didn't do it in the morning before she went to a friend's birthday party. So while she starts over, I'm carrying the yoga streak torch. In away, I think it'll be harder since not letting her down was a big motivator. We still have a trip to Madison to do as a reward for day 200.

 

Rehab:

I backed off on my rehab intensity until I speak with my physical therapist on Wednesday. Something keeps triggering pain in my ankle. I'm assuming it's from the plantar fasciitis which is better but not completely. I'm trying not to fall into my superhero mode and power through pain since, in this case, it will probably make things worse. I'm still doing the easier exercises.

 

Novel Rewrite:

My novel was sorely neglected last week. I got 2 hours in. On Saturday I wrote down all the things I wanted to do versus all the things I think I need to do and reviewed it with my hubby. I think both of us were a bit surprised on how skewed the balance is (other than my yoga and rehab session the rest of my time is used up in activities related to caring for others). We didn't come up with a solution but the awareness got me thinking about how I need to learn to delegate a lot more. This week, I'm test running getting my novel time logged first and then starting my day. 

 

Create:

My art journal gets a small amount of attention each day. At the moment nothing photo worthy, but a little bit of paint gets splashed onto pages daily.

 

Extras:

Buddy (my miniature australian shepherd) is learning that other people and other dogs are not terrifying. The two of us are enrolled in an obedience class. The first day he drooled constantly and preferred to hide in the corners. Last week he wouldn't go in the main door, hid behind me each time the trainer approached, but he didn't drool. I have another class with him tomorrow night and, hopefully, he'll be a normal happy dog. 

[Ferngirl]

How does yoga make you feel, out of curiosity?  Do you feeler calmer, or more centered during and after? 

[SaltyDragon]

Good work this week. I like how you're thinking about reprioritizing all the things that take up your time. That can be a really useful thing to do. Too bad about your daughter breaking her streak, but then again, not really. 200 days is still an amazing accomplishment. I don't know too many people, let alone kids or teenagers, who can commit to anything besides maybe TV for that many days. You should really be proud!

 

On 7/25/2016 at 9:04 PM, Jayniana Jones said:

I think it'll be harder since not letting her down was a big motivator.

 

Would it help if I said I'm still rootin' for ya?

[Alexandrite]

Keep at it! You still have your NF fam cheering you on!

I kind of wish my crazy attack schnauzer would chill out and be scared once in a while. Like attacking deer is not smart, please dont! She's 12 this year though and adopted, so I feel there is only so much I can work with her on. Glad you guys are enjoying the obedience class slowly!

Sent by my Navi-powered device!

[Jayniana Jones]

On 7/26/2016 at 0:59 AM, Ferngirl said:

How does yoga make you feel, out of curiosity?  Do you feeler calmer, or more centered during and after? 

Sorry, it took me a few days to get back to you on your question. 

 

As far as how I feel it really depends on what's going on around me and my mindset before starting. In general, I'm a pretty high-strung and hyper personality. I have a really hard time being still unless it's something that requires my full focus (then I forget the world exists beyond what I'm working on). My family has commented on numerous occasions that I picked the perfect dog for my personality (Australian shepherds are known to be pretty high-strung and will push themselves to collapse). So far I haven't found evidence to prove them wrong. Thank goodness they love me anyways. That being said, yoga isn't making me less hyper and high-strung. However, I think yoga is helping me be calmer when I'm faced with responding to situations. I'm finding I've been able to walk into some very stressful situations (i.e. super bad health news for family members, being the target of anger because I'm there, crazy drivers who aren't aware they're dangerous, etc.) and project a calmness that affects others around me. It's also helping me be a lot more patient.

 

I'm learning to recognize what I need from the yoga session before I start. For example on days when my attitude isn't pretty and I think, "this is crap. Who cares about maintaining my yoga streak?" Those are days I know I have to work in a physical challenge (i.e. balancing on one leg for a set number of breaths without falling) to force my brain to focus on the moment. If my body hurts, I know to focus on stretches. If I'm super agitated it's time for a power yoga type session. If I feel normal it's a day to wonder what in the world is wrong with me. Haha. Just teasing, it's really a day to do a session with a smile and enjoy the dust bunnies on my carpet that I've been meaning to vacuum up after each yoga session and then "conveniently" forget until the next session.

 

While I'd love to say I feel calmer or more centered during or after the session I don't think it'd be fair to say that. On a few occasions, I've had the feeling of rightness, like it was a really good session and I feel better than when I started. Most of the time it just feels good to have the time for myself logged and my exercise complete. It's more a feeling of satisfaction similar to the feeling after a good workout, bike ride, run, or other fun sport.

[Jayniana Jones]

On 7/28/2016 at 6:26 AM, Alexandrite said:

Keep at it! You still have your NF fam cheering you on!

I kind of wish my crazy attack schnauzer would chill out and be scared once in a while. Like attacking deer is not smart, please dont! She's 12 this year though and adopted, so I feel there is only so much I can work with her on. Glad you guys are enjoying the obedience class slowly!

2

Thanks. I'm not sure this is completely true, but it seems like little dogs look at animals bigger than them and think "I can conquer that." Maybe they feel mad that they are small.  I did notice that giving Buddy a task (like sit and wait) when he's clearly interested in deer or horses distracts him enough to forget about them. Maybe it'll work on your schnauzer? 

 

On 7/27/2016 at 11:26 PM, SaltyDragon said:

Would it help if I said I'm still rootin' for ya?

 

Yep. Thanks.

 

 

On 7/23/2016 at 4:54 PM, Schaengel said:

I know I have said it before...but that yoga-streak is just awesome and a real inspiration

 

 

Thanks.

 

On 7/21/2016 at 11:41 PM, Bee said:

That's awesome that you and your daughter do yoga together.  My mom and I started taking a weekly yoga class together and it's so wonderful.  Good luck with the challenge!  

 

Thanks.

[Jayniana Jones]

I woke up moody today, so I've been hiding out in my office today to protect my family from myself. Haha. Painting is on my agenda after lunch.

 

A few notes on my challenge progress.

• My yoga streak continues. I'm at day 209 today. I'm thinking a need a reward at day 275 but haven't figured out what it would be yet. My hubby suggested a trip on my own. I'm thinking the trip should happen for reaching day 365.
• My knee rehab is plugging away. The physical therapy assistant gave me a huge list of pool exercises I could do that would help my knee and my plantar fasciitis. Since it's supposed to be near 90 degrees for a large chunk of the week I'm excited about playing in water.
• My art journal was ignored Friday and Saturday but otherwise added to.
• My writing hours logged was 5.5. The goal is 10 hours per week. However, the time I logged is double what I got in the previous week AND I sent a short story off to a magazine on Friday. I've been afraid to send things to market for quite awhile, so I figured it was time to start sending things out otherwise I'm not going to be published or paid for my work. I expected to have major anxiety about dropping the story off at the post office, but nothing happened except a feeling of satisfaction. I'm already thinking of the next thing to send off in between working on my novel. 
• Buddy is a nutcase. This week he was anxious in class (drooled big time) and was anxious walking on a bike trail (we met two bikers). The only thing I can think of to do is keep exposing him to new things. 

 

[SnowOwl]

1 hour ago, Jayniana Jones said:

The only thing I can think of to do is keep exposing him to new things. 

Every Saturday at the farmer's market there are people out practicing with their dogs - walking, not jumping, paying attention, not going crazy when they pass another dog. It's really fun to see the dogs and watch them improve each week. One little puppy used to hide and pee if you looked at her, now she runs up and says hi. The exposure really does seem to help all of them. Do you have a farmer's market near you that is dog friendly?

 

Also, you mentioned you are somewhat high-strung, do you have anxiety when you are out with Buddy? 

[Jayniana Jones]

6 hours ago, SnowOwl said:

Do you have a farmer's market near you that is dog friendly?

 

Also, you mentioned you are somewhat high-strung, do you have anxiety when you are out with Buddy? 

 

The farmer's market is a great idea! I'll have to try this Saturday to see how he does. 

 

As far as my own anxiety, my hubby and I were talking about this. I think some of the time his anxiety may feed off of mine. In large crowds, I do a lot of yoga breathing. I'm sure he picks up on my unease. Maybe, in his world, he has equated people with scary because sometimes I get overwhelmed. If only I could read his little mind or tell him in his language that we're safe.  I'll have to take some extra patience pills.