Day 1516 - Moved Back to the States

Day 1516 Record Keeping
Day 1487 Fixed Meditation (10 min, vipassana)
Day 1362 Writing (7 13 min Pomodoros)
Day 901 Rowing (35 min walk)
Day 642 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO)
Day 292 Social Media (STOPPED)XX
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Ok sleep. 

Moved back to the States.

It's been less than 2 weeks. I've surprised myself being pretty consistent with meditating and writing a lot, despite not recording it. Since I had to sell my rower in Spain (along with everything else), rowing has to officially change. Right now I'm just trying to get up to walking, biking, and maybe some kayaking. It's been hard - we missed one of our flights back and were "only 15 hours late arriving" (as my mother said). This resulted in some pretty massive jet lag. I also got sick for what seemed like the 10th time this year. 

This is a huge transition for me, the end of a full decade of living abroad as an expat.  What with all the change, I haven't had time to really think what I want my workout regiment to be. I'm seriously considering GMB Fitness, an excellent bodyweight program Lydia does with progressions. The more I hear about it the more impressed I am. 

I'm still contemplating reinstating my social media habit. I've put it on hold after reading Cal Newport's book on Deep Work. I definitely want to hold off on it until I get my proposal in. My procrastination protocol is still working like a charm even in this, the hardest writing assignment I've ever had.

One of the biggest reasons we came back was hitting a wall with mastering eating. Eating is a real lynchpin habit to me - it governs energy, aesthetics, health, and is a stepping off point for a lot of other skills I'd like to master.  But in Spain, it hit a wall - there wasn't enough space to store premade meals. Our meal prep was contingent on going to 3 or 4 stores to get ingredients. And that didn't even count for all lunches or any dinners. One of our main schemes with coming back to the States was the knowledge that it would be easier here.

And it has. The last week we went to the store, and bought all ingredients for a week. Easily. Hand chopping salads? Why bother, when they come in bags! You don't even need to zoodle your own veggie, they come pre zoodled! Making lunches has been utterly effortless, exactly what I want self change to be. And Lydia is going further with it. She wants to cook through paleo cookbooks and have a randomized list for dinners, so even the act of making a menu doesn't even come up at all!

I'm beginning to think that moving back was a really good decision strategically. Sure it's definitely easy to lose it with all the easy access to delicious food. But it's also really easy to make changes. I'll miss Spain but right now I think it's already paying off. 

Day 1411 & Happy New Year!

Day 1411 Record Keeping
Day 1383 Fixed Meditation (10 min, vipassana/gratitude)
Day 1258 Writing (3, 13-min pomodoros)
Day 797 Rowing (10 min/ 1700 m)
Day 538 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 188 Social Media (all tweets for week, 53 min)
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Bad sleep. Back from a long much needed break. I attempted to push my writing to finish my proposal before the new year. I failed. I found it incredibly difficult, but, just like my previous year's NaNoWriMo win in 5 days, I found shortening my Pomodoros to 13 minutes much more efficient. It's bizarre, but I would stress out all day about doing 20 or 30 min sessions, and fail to do anything through phenomenal procrastination.

Nevertheless, 13 minutes for some reason was low enough for me to get started and almost addicting. I continued to do more and more as I got into the rhythm of 13 minute sets, often not taking a break, as Pomodoros usually call for. 

I wonder if this could be a potential method for easing into particularly difficult skill pushes...

I want to really spend more time focusing on writing, in what productivity blogger and author Cal Newport calls Deep Work. I'm now reading his book –  Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – which I find quite fascinating.

I'll be doing a 2017 year in review shortly, as well as sharing some thoughts in parallel skill pushes. 

Week Off

The last several weeks have been pretty horrible. A tangled web of bad sleep, low energy, low willpower, and an immense amount of depression have forced me to admit I need some time off. 

If it was any one thing, I think I could work through it. But lack of sleep prevents me from either getting things done promptly or getting up with enough time to get out. This is especially problematic since I think a part of the reason I’m having such issues is due to the lack of sunlight in my apartment.

My HIIT progression has made me quite exhausted, but not as much so as all I’ve been doing to learn about book publishing. And although I have a lot of specific experiments to figure out my sleeping problem and breaking through my depression through pushing meditation, it’s a lot. 

Sleep looks like it will require a metric that incorporates a sleep scale (sleep efficiency and sleep quality) in order to test out specific variables. Depression will involve a modified form of my old dynamic meditation. Both involve extra recording. And I still have my Gotham course, writing assignments, and a looming trip back home.

So, I’m going to do a bit of self care. Today I walked around in the sun, watched stupid tv, and read and learned about random things I’ve been pushing off that have nothing to do with work.

I just finished reading Cal Newport’s book Deep Work. One of the points that stuck with me was the importance placed on actions in the off time - how to stop thinking about work and how to take off in order to come back with renewed vigor. I acknowledge its importance but I absolutely HATE the idea of taking off. Time is a-wastin’, and I always feel like I should have mastered half of this stuff years ago - I’m way too impatient to begin more advanced practices.

But, now, at the end of my first day off, I’m already feeling incredibly relaxed. The delta change is incredible, enough to make me think that Cal’s on to something here.