Briniel's Super Sim Challenge

[Briniel]

Hey guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? I'm currently juggling two jobs and it's taking more of a toll than I thought. I stopped doing all the awesome things I did during my last challenges with NF (yoga, workouts, eating healthy, handstands, super fun assassin challenges...), I even stopped using my bullet journal!!! I just completely fell off the waggon. I figured I'd just have to get used to the new situation and new work hours, but it's been almost 8 months now (which is completely crazy!!) and I guess it's time to face the fact that I am not getting used to it and that I just have to start working on building my habits regardless. I may feel tired and drained after work, but nothing is going to change unless I do something about it. And lo and behold, there's a new challenge starting tomorrow! Yay for coincidences

 

As for this challenge's theme (what's with all these cat-themed ones!?): I've played a lot of the Sims 4 lately to relax after work. And I thought it was kind of ironic how I was micro-managing my Sims' lifes or watching videos of youtubers creating "Super Sims" while my own life was just floating along. So I decided to create my own Super Sim Challenge for my own life.

I took the needs from the Sims 4 and adapted them to better fit what I'm trying to achieve and made a nice little spread in my journal with all the relevant information. My goal for now is just to get as many points as possible. I'm not going to fill up every need every day, but that's not the point. The point is to get back into good habits and making good decisions.

I already have a loot page in my journal and I will take some time to assign points to them, but right now this should suffice. I'm probably also going to set up weekly tracking pages... something like that.

 

So... let's get back to business!!

 

[Hymnusal]

Haha! What a neat idea to base this challenge off of the Sims 4 (plus the sketched bullets are so cute!) Curious as to how you are going to quantify point gains/losses for avoiding refined sugar/white flour? (Point for a successful day? Points for successful meals?) Good luck as you track all of your personal Sim ups and downs this challenge!

[Miw_Sher]

Hey Briniel!! Welcome back!

 

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[Hypotheticalfox]

5 hours ago, Briniel said:

 

 

 

Well color me impressed! I'm beginning to feel like my challenge needs more visuals.

[Briniel]

2 hours ago, Hymnusal said:

Haha! What a neat idea to base this challenge off of the Sims 4 (plus the sketched bullets are so cute!) Curious as to how you are going to quantify point gains/losses for avoiding refined sugar/white flour? (Point for a successful day? Points for successful meals?) Good luck as you track all of your personal Sim ups and downs this challenge!

Thanks! I've spent so much time on it lately, I figured there should be some real-life motivation hidden in there

I've done the no sugar/no white flour thing before and have a pretty decent understanding of what works for me and what doesn't. I'm going to reflect at the end of the day whether I did my best over the course of the day or whether I caved and can earn one point per day. Basically, anything that obviously has sugar and white flour in it is off limits, but if it's something like wholegrain bread which still has a bit of sugar in it for color or something, that's okay. I tried avoiding sugar at all costs once and it just made me unhappy because it was so tedious. The point where I see some leeway for cheating myself is the one portion of freggies thing... I still need to determin how much that is

 

2 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

Hey Briniel!! Welcome back!

Hi there!! Glad to be back How have you been doing? I haven't checked up on everyone's challenges yet...

 

1 hour ago, Hypotheticalfox said:

 

Well color me impressed! I'm beginning to feel like my challenge needs more visuals.

Thanks! I love me some visualisation, that page gets me motivated just looking at it

[fleaball]

HOLY SHIT YOURE BACK <3 <3 

 

okay. Now to actually read the thread. 

[fleaball]

So excited I double posted. Oh well. Using this post to comment because you should be asleep by now anyway. 

 

First: cat-themed challenges spawned out of my thread (are you surprised) last challenge. A few of us started doing it and it's caught on because everyone is crazy.

 

Second: I am still hella jealous of your art skillz and neat handwriting. I love the setup of your challenge though! And you totally made me want to play the sims again. 

[Bean Sidhe]

5 hours ago, Hypotheticalfox said:

 

Well color me impressed! I'm beginning to feel like my challenge needs more visuals.

Very cool. My little journal looks nothing like that. The fact you have a point system is amazing. Great job. I wish I could figure out how to do that.

[Miw_Sher]

Eh, I was on a pretty long hiatus myself and have only been back since January and it's been... rocky. ..

 

I'm running veteran Rebel challenges though. ^^ this month it's about cooking things in new ways. have a look!

 

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[Briniel]

9 hours ago, fleaball said:

HOLY SHIT YOURE BACK <3 <3 

 

okay. Now to actually read the thread. 

I am! And I'm really going to make an effort to stay this time. Oy!! Guess I have to adapt my Social goals and add "update NF challenge and post on at least two other Rebels' challenges". That should help.

 

9 hours ago, fleaball said:

So excited I double posted. Oh well. Using this post to comment because you should be asleep by now anyway. 

 

First: cat-themed challenges spawned out of my thread (are you surprised) last challenge. A few of us started doing it and it's caught on because everyone is crazy.

 

Second: I am still hella jealous of your art skillz and neat handwriting. I love the setup of your challenge though! And you totally made me want to play the sims again. 

Of course it was you, should have guessed. I briefly considered joining in, but I had my setup completely fleshed out when I got here and didn't have any idea how to make it fit. So.

I'm having so much fun with the Sims. I'm currently searching for Mods. And watching building videos and let's plays by TheSimSupply on youtube. I'm not even *playing* that much, actually...

 

8 hours ago, Bean Sidhe said:

Very cool. My little journal looks nothing like that. The fact you have a point system is amazing. Great job. I wish I could figure out how to do that.

Thanks! I do enjoy making my pages a bit fancy.

 

6 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

Eh, I was on a pretty long hiatus myself and have only been back since January and it's been... rocky. ..

 

I'm running veteran Rebel challenges though. ^^ this month it's about cooking things in new ways. have a look!

It always is, isn't it? I might hop over and have a look at the Rebel challenge, but I think I'm going to mostly stick to what I have here for the time being. There are sooo many ideas in my head for ways to expand on this already, but I don't want to get overboard with it and overwhelm myself. (At least that's what my rational mind is going to tell you. There's a pretty loud voice in my head going "Do all the things!!!" again )

[Miw_Sher]

Haha! I try to keep them very light since I want the occasional newbie which stumble across them to be able to follow as well; and I know a lot of people here struggle with not overdoing it so I aim at making them complementary rather than extra work.

 

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[Briniel]

Huh. Maaaaaaybe.

 

Yesterday was a test run. I didn't make any concious effort since the challenge only starts today, and I estimate this as my baseline:

Hydration: 3-4

Nutrition: 4

Movement: 1? No exercise, but no escalators or elevators either. Mainly because I stayed home

Fun: 2 (jam session with the boyfriend, lots of fun )

Social: 1. Mainly because I stayed home

Hygiene: 2

 

I did a lot better today. I'll give a detailed update tomorrow when I can safely say whether I'll do yoga and floss tonight (the answer is yes).

[Briniel]

Had a pretty good first day

 

Hydration - 4 - I had my water bottle next to me all day and drank about 4 and a half fillings. That computes to 2.7l which is pretty awesome. I've found that just having something to drink near me at all times helps a lot, but I still have to remind myself to actually drink once in a while.

Nutrition - 4 - I didn't have any white flour or sugar (though my friend had butter cookies that were really tempting me!). I usually eat a bowl of fruit and quark/yoghurt in the morning but didn't yesterday for some reason, so I had it at a snack later in the day. I had chicken breasts for lunch and potatoes for dinner which make up a decent meal if combined, I guess? I didn't get a veggie point though. While potatoes could be considered veggies, I had the non-starchy ones in mind when setting this up. Otherwise I'd just eat potato casserole all day (which is basically just potatoes, cheese and cream) and get two points for that.

Movement - 2 - I decided to not count the "stairs instead of elevators" one unless there are acctually elevators to avoid. So I didn't get that point, but I did 26 minutes of yoga in the evening before bed. I decided on some Yoga with Adriene videos. She's so great. Did some of her routines this morning, too and time went by so quickly!

Fun - 2 - I did a little reading in the evening and sat on my friend's balcony for a while which definitely counts as the outside. It was so, so cold, but for a minute or so I even had a little bit of sunshine on my face. I think I need to add some sort of time frame for this one, though, just to get a clear idea of what counts and what doesn't.

Social - 5 - Met with friends and shared ideas about living arrangements. I really, really love tiny houses or container homes, they're so cool. We've been thinking about buying a big property for some version of shared living, but it's just ideas and daydreams so far. Curious to see what will come off it. I also talked to my boyfriend and his mom, so that's two more points for this one. Oh, and I updated my challenge thread and commented on some others! I just realized. That makes my first max score

Hygiene - 3 - I brushed my teeth and flossed and also did my tidying tasks (for those who remember, my housekeeping chart is pretty much the only thing from my last challenges that's still going (mostly) strong), but I forgot the kitchen counter zero thing and my clothes are not where they're supposed to be. Still pretty decent.

 

Today started off with yoga and fruit. I start work late so there's still a little time left. Might as well get a head-start on my chores... maybe I'll put away my clothes

[NeverThatBored]

Brinieeeeeeeelllll~~~ Following!

[Briniel]

On sunday I was so happy about this and felt like it was so easy and even considered making my goals a bit harder in some areas. Then monday hit me. And work. And... well... let's just say I'm going to stick to my goals as they were.

 

Hydration - 4 (though I'm not quite sure that's correct... I need to track how many refills I've had)

Nutrition - 5 (so happy about this one)

Exercise - 2 (stairs + 10 minutes of yoga in the morning)

Fun - 1 (reading on the way to and from work)

Social - 1 (didn't talk to anyone outside my work except for my boyfriend... ugh)

Hygiene - 4 (put my clothes away!! Didn't do kitchen counter zero again. Third time's the charm!)

[Hymnusal]

4 hours ago, Briniel said:

On sunday I was so happy about this and felt like it was so easy and even considered making my goals a bit harder in some areas. Then monday hit me. And work. And... well... let's just say I'm going to stick to my goals as they were.

 

Even if Monday was a bit rough you still rocked the Nutrition, Hydration, and Hygiene. Sounds like progress is in the positive direction to me!
I just hope the kitchen counter gets some love today, it must be lonely

[Briniel]

19 hours ago, Hymnusal said:

 

Even if Monday was a bit rough you still rocked the Nutrition, Hydration, and Hygiene. Sounds like progress is in the positive direction to me!
I just hope the kitchen counter gets some love today, it must be lonely

It didn't... I had a friend from work over and completely forgot about it.

 

Tuesday stats:

Hydration - 4 (solid)

Nutrition - 5 (woot!)

Movement - 2 (well... I did yoga in the morning, but that's about it. No stairs to climb)

Fun - 1 (I'm not sure whether I just don't have time for this or whether the things I chose are not really fun and therefor not internally motivating to me... or maybe it's something completely different)

Social - 4 (had that friend over which was really great. Had some good conversation and a really fun discussion on why I don't want to even try playing VR horror games)

Hygiene - 4 (that damn kitchen counter! I'll get to it tonight)

[Miw_Sher]

Haha the bane of having friends over. I hope at least you had a good time!

[NeverThatBored]

3 minutes ago, Briniel said:

Fun - 1 (I'm not sure whether I just don't have time for this or whether the things I chose are not really fun and therefor not internally motivating to me... or maybe it's something completely different)

 

 

When I try to make having fun a goal, it suddenly becomes really hard! Maybe that's what's happening with you too?

[Briniel]

15 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

When I try to make having fun a goal, it suddenly becomes really hard! Maybe that's what's happening with you too?

Nah, it kinda already was hard before. Well, let me specify:

Playing with the cats is (unfortunately) a chore for me. I rarely do it and while it can be fun while I'm at it, I usually don't have much patience. And I have a really big bad conscience because of this. I love cuddling with "my" cat, but she's not often in the mood for that.

I read the newspaper on the way to work and just finished a book on relationships that was really interesting. But I finished all my reading material yesterday and haven't yet decided on what to read next. There's a book I read to my boyfriend sometimes and we both really enjoy that, but our sleep schedules are so different that we rarely manage to get that done. I could (and want to) put some more effort into this.

The private dance party is something I read about in another NF challenge and liked the sound of (and it IS fun when I do it), but making it a goal doesn't work, probably just like you said, NTB.

Singing is something I'll get back to soon (choir starts again) and that, again, I want to do more of. I'd like to practice for my private singing lessons more often (and have more of those, but that depends on my teacher's schedule) and make more music with my boyfriend. But this stuff just happens when you're in the mood for it, I guess, and I can't really force it. Though, to be fair, I haven't really made an effort in this one so far. Maybe it would be fun once I start...

Going outside just for the sake of going outside is one of those things that I'd like to do although there's no inner motivation. I do enjoy it once I'm outside, but there's this really big hurdle inside my mind when it comes to leaving the house. I just want to stay home and cuddle up on my couch in a blanket.

 

I guess the question is this: Is the FUN category supposed to optimize my leisure time activities or is it supposed to be geared more towards self-care. It's definitely ill-designed for the latter.

[Bookish Badger]

First off, with an avi like yours, you're in the cat challenge whether you want to be or not  (fun fact, it looks almost exactly like a kitty that I TNR'd and still look after, except she has longer hair.)

 

Second, I feel this:

1 hour ago, Briniel said:

there's this really big hurdle inside my mind when it comes to leaving the house

 

In my case, it's switching any activity; e.g. from watching TV to sketching. Even if TV is totally boring and I'm really looking forward to sketching something, the inertia is difficult to overcome. The only thing that seems to work is to literally force myself into action, which is as much fun as it sounds.

 

Three, I found this useful, and maybe you will too. It discusses how what we often think of as restful (such as the aforementioned TV) often isn't.

http://eleganthack.com/are-you-tired/

 

[Briniel]

Quick Wednesday update: put in an effort to do the things that were lacking before. Worked pretty well.

 

Hydration - 4

Nutrition - 5 3 (had some baklava that my boyfriend brought from work. I did not resist.)

Exercise - 5 (thanks to a 40 minute session of Yoga with Adriene and stairs)

Fun - 2

Social - 3

Hygiene - 4 (the counter did get some lovin', but not enough to call it a kitchen counter zero. Getting there!)

 

I don't have to go to work until 10am today, so I will try and meet my exercise and fun goals before that.

[Briniel]

Quick Thursday update (because I really don't have energy for anything other than a quick update):

 

Hydration - 3 (didn't have time to drink at work... stressfull day)

Nutrition - 5

Exercise - 3 (stairs and yoga)

Fun - 3 (put a bit more effort in this one)

Social - 2 (uuuuum)

Hygiene - 5

 

Not really happy with these numbers, but at least I'm more mindful of the things I want to do, even if I don't yet get around to doing all of them.

[Dagger]

I love the Sims. You actually made me go on a searching spree to see if Sims 4 had been released on Mac (yes, last year), and if it would run well on my 4 year old laptop (it seems so). I didn't also go and buy it, but it suddenly entered a possible buying future.

 

Considering you've been away from challenges and you haven't focused on these kinds of things for a while. I think you've started well.

[Miw_Sher]

 

How was your weekend Briniel?

 

 

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