from Survive to Thrive: Week 17

Welcome to from Survive to Thrive: Week 17.

I had a chaotic work week followed by a satisfying weekend that included a clutter breakthrough, fitness challenge prize, and LEGO challenge fun.

Let's review my week...

Clutter Breakthrough

I had a clutter epiphany this weekend at a workshop called "Decluttering for the Mind, Heart, & Soul," led by Elena Sonnino (my life coach) and Kerry Thomas.

Regular readers know that I am working on both a happiness project and decluttering for 2020. I've thought of them as separate activities, but at the workshop I learned about the concept of mental clutter and realized that mental clutter is my primary obstacle - mental clutter impacts my frame of mind/happiness and impacts my ability to clear physical clutter.

When my mind is cluttered, there isn't space for my thoughts to connect in important ways. I think that focusing on my mental clutter will help me make faster progress. Mental clutter primarily shows up for me as negative narratives in my head.

Side note: not everyone has an inner voice in their head! I just learned this recently from a fascinating blog post and interview: https://insidemymind.me/2020/01/28/today-i-learned-that-not-everyone-has-an-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/

I'm going to use Elena's "Thrive" journal (previously discussed in Week 10 when I envisioned my "truest self") to help me focus on mental clutter through tools like brain dumps and weekly intention setting.

My Thrive journal & Sunrise in Your Pocket necklace

Fitness

I finished the 44 miles in February =PR= challenge and picked up my t-shirt prize today. Next up: the =PR= Spring Bucket List challenge, which includes a scavenger hunt and a goal of 100 miles over the next 3 months (culminating in an unknown prize).

the challenge t-shirt
(the back says: a little progress each day adds up to big results)

Fun

Freddy and I did our own LEGO Masters-style challenge today. We used our "free play" LEGO bricks to build an ocean scene (me) and a beach scene (him). It was fun, although he did put some aliens and monsters in my ocean after I was done because he thought it was missing something. The inside of his cottage has cute details in the various rooms that I didn't capture with my photos.

Looking Ahead

This week should be much calmer than last week. I'm looking forward to having time to pick up the pieces that resulted from the recent chaos at work.

My goals for the week are:

1. Get up without hitting snooze every day
2. Do shoulder strengthening exercises 1-2 times
3. Use Thrive journal for brain dump and intention setting
4. Do February Happiness Project reflection exercises
5. Read March Happiness Project overview

See you next week! 

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Accountability: Health Stats

average steps: 9,866

average sleep: 8h 27m

average stress: 31

run/walk: 9.5 miles

yoga: 1 sessions

weight: 116.4

body fat 29.5%

Accountability: Goal Check

Goal: Track everything I eat in MyFitnessPal every day this week

Status: Nope. This was an unrealistic goal given the work meetings I had last week.

Goal: Get up without hitting snooze every day

Status: Achieved!

Goal: Run/walk at least two times

Status: Achieved!

Goal: Do yoga at least two days

Status: Nope - I ended up doing yoga only once this week

Goal: Do shoulder strengthening exercises 2-3 times

Status: Partly achieved. I did the full series once, and pieces of the series on two additional days.