November FTW

I'm giving myself exactly 5 minutes to write up, edit and post this sucker, so lemme sum up:

Haven't posted since June.
Don't know where I want to go in the blogosphere, but I know it's not where I've been.
October was a busy fun month full of breaks and parties and canceled classes.
November is stretching before me in a bleak line of colder and colder days, with the next vacation day being CHRISTMAS DAY. Le sigh.
Decided to spice up this month by challenging myself.
This year has been all about challenges, and I haven't been doing too shabby, actually. My flossing streak is unbroken since April.
Packing a double whammy of self-improvement AND distraction from un-fun November, I've decided to tackle four - yes, FOUR - challenges this month:

1. The 30-day squats challenge

http://zuqka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/30-day-squat-challenge.jpg

2. The 30-day ab challenge

http://nsfitbitch.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ab-challenge.jpg

3. The Minimalism challenge:

http://minimalismissimple.com/challenges/30-day-challenge

Inspired by my friend Mary over at !Blog, Adam and I will be jointly working through 30 days of simplifying our lives. This will be mostly fun and easy for us, since our lives are pretty bare bones as it is, living in a foreign country in a tiny apartment and all. Nonetheless, a habit and lifestyle we both want to adopt. (except when it comes to books.... and I don't agree with the picture frames thing either, Mary)

4. NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) - this exists! Who knew?

Well, again, my friend Mary knows ALL, and she was the one to tip me off about a month of writing on one's blog every day, in her most recent post. Adam is involved in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and it sounded kinda fun except that I don't aspire to write a novel. And with this NaBloPoMo challenge, I'm not aspiring to new heights of writing skills so much as hoping to build a habit, find a bloggy voice, and hopefully entertain the few faithful who read this blog.

So for the whole month of November, I'll be posting updates and inspiration for the above challenges, as well as spilling some news on the exciting new paths I'll be taking in the upcoming 2 years.

Carpe November!

p.s. My computer is slow. Oh. So. Slow. So I did NOT make my 5  minute goal (try 30), and now I'm beyond sleepy, and thus not going to edit this before publishing. It's late for November 1st as it is! Zzz.

Turn and face the strain...

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes"

That about sums up my life in one, stuttering word. Which is quite apt, really, considering that the changes I've been trying to implement in my life are happening in fits and starts. 2013 marks the first year of my life where I've even felt the NEED to make New Year's resolutions, let alone actually follow through on them.

Turns out, the reason people usually give up on resolutions after a couple months is because changing yourself is hard. At least, it's been hard for me. I chose some specific goals like, "doing work at work," "staying on top of emails and extracurricular duties" and "eating healthier meals," etc. The motto of my goals can be condensed in one word: Productivity. If I assess my progress honestly, it's depressing. After 6 months, I'm not doing any of those goals regularly or successfully, nor do I feel significantly more productive than before. But I haven't given up yet, and I think it's because of a couple things:

1) there are teeny tiny changes I've successfully made that give me hope for the bigger ones
2) I've found ways to gametize and incentivise my habit-changing - meaning, I've found some actual bits of fun in the process. Huge props go to SuperBetter.com for first inspiring me, and even more to Lift.com for making the habits happen on a daily basis.
3) being a member of a group of similarly-minded folks on Facebook who've got their own goals and struggles. We encourage and share with each other as we push through our triumphs and defeats. It's nice to have companions in what can sometimes seem like a fruitless, teeth-gnashingly-slow undertaking.

So, referring back to #1 up there, I'm going to use this blog as a Change Tracker. I'm going to (try to) mention each change I make successfully, and then the plan is for me to feel really good about myself every time I look at my past posts.

Here's hoping I can motivate not only myself, but some of you reading this as well! Onwards and forwards, comrades!

A boy, a book, a beach

"Spirit of Jeju"