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kolJanuary weather in the south bay continues as grim skies that spit out bits of rain then hangs low in a dreary, surly ceiling that menaces our still-parched hills. I am not fond of January and it is not delighted by my presence, either; I fumble scarves and hats against the bite of wind and a block later the skies are clear and sun-clad and I am roasting and ineptly swaddled-- how does one even use a scarf, anyway?! I need to research scarf arranging tutorials because I have no idea how to work any of my fancier scarves that go with my black trench and feel the fool every time I step outside.
MEDIA CONSUMED:
Steven Universe (eps 61-65)
Supergirl (1 ep while working out)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2 eps because we have it on Plex now)
Pandora Radio: @MØ (~1 hr)
Writing Excuses (season 10, ~12 hrs)
I use media in two very different ways: one is to passively inspire, to lull my brain into rest and to restore/reboot. The other is to actively engage my brain, to challenge myself to grow and be better. And when I was building my list, I realized that I wasn't treating these types of media consumption as two separate needs, but lumping them in together.
To make matters worse, looking back on the week I clearly undervalued the work actively engaging with the podcast was doing. I exhausted my brain between the podcast, studying 3 different budgeting systems, and researching the tax code. It is easy to dismiss the weight of mental energy can carry on the body, and I hadn't realized just how hard I overworked myself.
So I'm going to have a new division for the next week, one that puts eLearning/Podcasts in the appropriate "work" headspace and not in the passive entertainment bracket XD. I'm also bringing back my media hour, because I need to read more and need to value that time.
MINDFUL EATING + MOVEMENTS:
Mocha Rubbed Pot Roast
Curried Broccoli Soup
Bluefin Sushi Friday w/ an aunt
30m Walking-Video
I fell off my breakfast wagon T___T. I think making the Roast + Soup on the same day took up all my will to cook for the rest of the week; I need to be better at pacing myself and not trying to do too much all at once. The Pot Roast was amazing, btw, and is definitely something I will be doing again in the future even if it made the apartment smell for a day XD. But the soup needed a lot of work to be salvaged-- most of the curry cooked off and the leeks added a texture I did not like even with the immersion blender, so I added soy sauce and more curry to get some salty profile. Frankly, even with the additions, I don't think I'd enjoy the soup without putting the shredded pot roast inside. I'm going to tinker with the recipe next month and try taking out the leeks + put in cheese instead -- the soup needed more fat than the coconut could provide.
CREATING:
~1K in Subnatural
More outlining + brainstorming Subnatural changes
I came up with like 10 short story ideas thanks to the exercises in the Writing Excuses podcast
The 1K in Subnatural is deceptive-- I did a shit ton of writing work this week, to the tune of roughly 16-18K in notes. I'm trying to figure out if GYWO counts writing exercises officially before I figure out what my actual word count for the week is. I remain pretty fired up on Subnatural and have a much better idea of where I need to be going; next week I'm back to writing in the novel itself so that should be pretty rad :D
HABITAT:
6 loads of laundry AND put it away
Filled Space Saver bags!
Vacuumed
Started on paper purge
We are not going to talk about how behind I got on dishes because I have dealt with the whys and don't want to shame myself for that. I will focus on what worked-- I kept pushing my laundry off to another day and ended up doing all of it in one day. I'm very proud of myself for sorting it after & not only redoing my dresser drawers, but also filling up the space saver bags I've had for over a year now. Got extra blankets/pillows in one giant bag + I have 2 bags going for clothes that I want to keep but a) don't fit right now or b) aren't seasonably appropriate.
Paper purging is grueling and arduous for me. I hate to get rid of paper that might be important but my brain doesn't separate important bills from that one note I wrote about the FR AH market five months ago. I have overcome a lot of my clutter-loving instincts, but only with keeping up with the paper purges. Surprisingly the bullet journal is helping a lot with this-- I have one place I put my notes + I toss the post-it notes when I'm done. Single best minimizing of paper clutter I've found yet!
THOUGHTS:
It is as if the successes + misses for last week switched-- my habitat work faltered as I withdrew utterly into creativity. Course corrected too far one direction and lost sight of what worked the first week I guess! It is easy to wallow in shame over getting behind on dishes, but that does little to root out why and actually fix the situation and it certainly does not get the dishes actually clean. Week 2 is always a difficult time in any kind of lifestyle change because you aren't relying just on passion to motivate you to keep up with the changes-- you have to nurture self-discipline and you need to overcome those lazy urges that want you to just sink back into the easy path of apathy and inaction. So although this was a tough week, it was something I needed to go through to work out what is important and WHY it is important.
MEDIA CONSUMED:
Steven Universe (eps 61-65)Supergirl (1 ep while working out)Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2 eps because we have it on Plex now)Pandora Radio: @MØ (~1 hr)Writing Excuses (season 10, ~12 hrs) I use media in two very different ways: one is to passively inspire, to lull my brain into rest and to restore/reboot. The other is to actively engage my brain, to challenge myself to grow and be better. And when I was building my list, I realized that I wasn't treating these types of media consumption as two separate needs, but lumping them in together.
To make matters worse, looking back on the week I clearly undervalued the work actively engaging with the podcast was doing. I exhausted my brain between the podcast, studying 3 different budgeting systems, and researching the tax code. It is easy to dismiss the weight of mental energy can carry on the body, and I hadn't realized just how hard I overworked myself.
So I'm going to have a new division for the next week, one that puts eLearning/Podcasts in the appropriate "work" headspace and not in the passive entertainment bracket XD. I'm also bringing back my media hour, because I need to read more and need to value that time.
MINDFUL EATING + MOVEMENTS:
Mocha Rubbed Pot Roast Curried Broccoli SoupBluefin Sushi Friday w/ an aunt30m Walking-VideoI fell off my breakfast wagon T___T. I think making the Roast + Soup on the same day took up all my will to cook for the rest of the week; I need to be better at pacing myself and not trying to do too much all at once. The Pot Roast was amazing, btw, and is definitely something I will be doing again in the future even if it made the apartment smell for a day XD. But the soup needed a lot of work to be salvaged-- most of the curry cooked off and the leeks added a texture I did not like even with the immersion blender, so I added soy sauce and more curry to get some salty profile. Frankly, even with the additions, I don't think I'd enjoy the soup without putting the shredded pot roast inside. I'm going to tinker with the recipe next month and try taking out the leeks + put in cheese instead -- the soup needed more fat than the coconut could provide.
CREATING:
~1K in SubnaturalMore outlining + brainstorming Subnatural changesI came up with like 10 short story ideas thanks to the exercises in the Writing Excuses podcastThe 1K in Subnatural is deceptive-- I did a shit ton of writing work this week, to the tune of roughly 16-18K in notes. I'm trying to figure out if GYWO counts writing exercises officially before I figure out what my actual word count for the week is. I remain pretty fired up on Subnatural and have a much better idea of where I need to be going; next week I'm back to writing in the novel itself so that should be pretty rad :D
HABITAT:
6 loads of laundry AND put it awayFilled Space Saver bags!VacuumedStarted on paper purgeWe are not going to talk about how behind I got on dishes because I have dealt with the whys and don't want to shame myself for that. I will focus on what worked-- I kept pushing my laundry off to another day and ended up doing all of it in one day. I'm very proud of myself for sorting it after & not only redoing my dresser drawers, but also filling up the space saver bags I've had for over a year now. Got extra blankets/pillows in one giant bag + I have 2 bags going for clothes that I want to keep but a) don't fit right now or b) aren't seasonably appropriate.
Paper purging is grueling and arduous for me. I hate to get rid of paper that might be important but my brain doesn't separate important bills from that one note I wrote about the FR AH market five months ago. I have overcome a lot of my clutter-loving instincts, but only with keeping up with the paper purges. Surprisingly the bullet journal is helping a lot with this-- I have one place I put my notes + I toss the post-it notes when I'm done. Single best minimizing of paper clutter I've found yet!
THOUGHTS:
It is as if the successes + misses for last week switched-- my habitat work faltered as I withdrew utterly into creativity. Course corrected too far one direction and lost sight of what worked the first week I guess! It is easy to wallow in shame over getting behind on dishes, but that does little to root out why and actually fix the situation and it certainly does not get the dishes actually clean. Week 2 is always a difficult time in any kind of lifestyle change because you aren't relying just on passion to motivate you to keep up with the changes-- you have to nurture self-discipline and you need to overcome those lazy urges that want you to just sink back into the easy path of apathy and inaction. So although this was a tough week, it was something I needed to go through to work out what is important and WHY it is important.
