Great place you've got here!

[Absidey]

Love everything I've found on here so far; it's awesome. I've meandered around a bit over the last few months, but discovered this week I'd barely scratched the surface of what's going on. And now I know, I have to join in!

So I've been working on "leveling up" all year, just didn't refer to it that way. Last November, I decided it was time to get serious about my health, and joined the gym and Weight Watchers. I've been researching, experimenting, and tweeking my workouts and eating ever since. I've lost only about 7 lbs, but that's translated to 2 clothing sizes and nearly 10% body fat. I was down about 18 lbs when I decided WW wasn't right for me in the spring, but the pounds I've gained back coincided with more inches and body fat lost, so I'm confident I'm still moving in the right direction, possibly a better one.

In February, my husband and I decided to start really working towards making our life more what we want. He contracts with FedEx, and, though the work is fine, doing it in the Texan climate is awful. I work full time in a high stress, low reward industry, and run Bobby's business in my "free" time. I want to finish my degree and get into health care (nursing). Bobby doesn't know what he wants to do, he just wants to do it somewhere it isn't 105 and humid. It's a slow process, but we're going to get there. One week from today, I'm signing my house over, and we're moving into an apartment to cut our expenses.

My goals for fitness are all focused on my body being able to do whatever I want, and tie into the things I want from my life. On my second date with my husband, we went hiking, I broke my tailbone, and it was awesome. I'm not that girl anymore, but I want to be that and MORE. This year I did a 5K obstacle course, went indoor rock climbing, and won an impromptu kayaking race. Someday I want to hike the Pacific Crest Trail; I want to climb Mt Ranier; I want to kayak and dive on the other side of the world. I'm learning to focus the things I put in and do with my body on making it better. Making me better.

I just finished a 3 month fitness program at my gym. After the obstacle course, I decided I needed to start working on my fear of heights, and found a friend to go indoor rock climbing with. I started adding heavy weights (relatively speaking) into my workouts about 3 months ago. After the move is done, I'm starting the program from The New Rules of Weight Loss for Women. I really want to try a martial art, but the cost is a bit outside my budget at the moment. I really hate doing yoga, but I love the way I feel afterwards, so I've set the goal to start doing it 2-4 times a month. I've had a lot of successes so far this year, and I'm really looking forward to even more.

I want to be strong and dextrous and flexible. I don't want to sacrifice anything, and I want to be good at everything. I know I'm being unreasonable, but I don't know what I can do until I try. Two weeks ago, I learned something that may open up the world of running, which I've always assumed would be closed to me. Maybe I can be fast. I'll find out.

So, yeah, hi! I ramble, I'm sorry.

Edit: Ah-hah, found the RPG rules. Woot!

[Absidey]

Okay, I have new questions.

Can I join a challenge that's already in progress?

Can I follow challenges with more than one profession?

[CyningaDena]

Welcome to the boards! It sounds like you've got a ton of motivation and some freaking awesome goals. I hear ya about wanting to do it all -- there was a point where I realized the new me could do all this amazing stuff, and I wanted 36 hours in a day and unlimited energy so I could say Yes to all of it.

I'm pretty new here myself (this is my first challenge), so someone with more experience might want to trump my answers to your questions.

1) I've seen people who hopped on the challenge a day or two late, and no one pushed them out. We're a week in on this one, and so I'm not sure how long that "grace period" extends. But the 6-week challenge is something that you do for you. The only thing you need "official" approval for is to win the challenge for your guild and get a cool sticker and maybe a t-shirt. Even if you were hopping on board 3 weeks late, I'd say to join up anyway and just shoot for the t-shirt next time.

2) Sorry, you can only pick one profession. I have seen people hop guilds, sometimes just for one challenge, because their goals match better with that guild's focus. So it's not like you're locked in for life once you pick one. As a shameless plug, the Rangers are pretty fracking amazing, and seem like they might be in line with what you're doing -- working on functional strength and agility so we can tackle any new activity that comes our way.

Glad to have you on board!