Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Stress Less

Well voting is still ongoing for my March challenge. But because I LOVE challenges and am a HUGE SUCKER and also Freeze Yer Buns is basically over, I am also taking on a challenge from Chile- The Stress Less Challenge.

February has been a bad month for me and the stress has brought a return to bad habits like eating a couple pre-packaged frozen dinners. Bad for me, bad for the earth. I attribute this to stress and bad time management. Of course, I am not entirely to blame- I couldn't really anticipate having to be away from home last weekend, but I still spend too much time tooling around on the computer when I could be ... doing anything else.

I have also been doing other very bad things including skipping meals, not exercising, not doing any yoga, and having bad sleep and nightmares because of it.

Chile is asking that we all take 30 minutes a day to do something to de-stress whether it is exercise or yoga or meditation etc. I'm going to formalize this a bit more.

For the month of March I'm going to do some cardio exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes 4 days a week. Cardio helps clear my mind, it helps me sleep better at night, and it's healthy. It's also really important for me because I have cholesterol issues.

I am going to do yoga for a minimum of 30 minutes once a week.

I am going to eat three meals a day Mon-Fri. Saturdays and Sundays are excused because I love brunch.

I'm going to take five minutes before bed every night to think about what I'm thankful for. I am shamelessly stealing from Erin here but it sounds like a good thing to do. And I'm hoping it will lessen the nightmares. (Last night I dreamt I had both leukemia and HIV and that I was literally a few days away from dying. Pleasant no?)

I am going to restrict my internet use to two hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays. So I can still use my computer to say, write the novel that I've been putting on the back burner forever and ever, but I can't use it to aimlessly wander the internets all day.

I think that's all. It's going to be difficult for me to accomplish, but I have high hopes that it will lead to an improvement in my quality of life, and that it will free up time for me to do things like write or read books or practice guitar or cook.

4 comments:

Chile said...

I'm glad you're joining me, but one little reminder here, arduous. Be careful setting up so many goals at once. I don't want you to stress out and beat yourself up if you don't meet them, okay? Your goals are admirable. Just remember they are goals not dictates. Just my three cents (inflation, ya know).

Cindy said...

Cardio also improves my mood for some reason, not that I am often in a bad mood. I love running, in the sun or in the rain. Not only do you get exercise, you get the natural endorphin high :)

Plus, how else can I burn off my box of cheese crackers?!

ruchi said...

Hah! Good point Chile. It would be sad if the stress less challenge led to more stress!

Cath@VWXYNot? said...

That's so spooky - I dreamt I had lymphoma this week. *shudder*.

Your plan sounds great. I resort to junk food when I'm stressed (like all of this week) and I need to stop...