Category: Fitness Challenges

Reading, writing, and planning: Aries Full Moon Goals

Oct

2022

So the moon will be entering its next full moon cycle for the year probably tonight (at least for me). This means that we’re not quite a third of the way through October—but time does seem to be going a little quicker. I’m hoping that the last quarter of the year goes a little smoother…but I’m also not going to hold my breath on it either.

So what are some of the questions we can reflect on during this time?

Have I been hotheaded, selfish, or argumentative this month?

Have I been going too fast or been impulsive this month?

Have I been brash, blunt, or too competitive?

Have I ignored other people’s finer sensibilities?

Have I had enough fun?

So before answering the questions, I do need to point out that it is the beginning of the month, so I actually going to answer these questions based on 1) how I want to behave during the coming month, but also 2) how I behaved during the past couple of weeks. So as usually I’m going to number the questions 1 to 5 as I answer them.

I would have to say no—I haven’t been hotheaded, selfish or argumentative this month (a couple months ago—yes I was slightly argumentative then). We’re still dealing with a family medical crisis that may or may not resolve the way we’d like it to—so I could be considered semi-selfish in just wanting the whole ordeal over one way or another.
Considering the month I’m currently having and the past two months, I don’t think I’ve been overly impulsive this month nor do I think I’ve been going too fast (possibly going a tad too slow). I know what I need to do—but currently the other issue is taking majority of my concentration and I’m working on ensuring that I don’t impulsively spend too much money.
No, I haven’t been brash, blunt or too competitive—this month. I was slightly brash and blunt a month or so ago—but that particular circumstance called for me being brash and blunt (and I’m still not going to apologize for it either). While I understand the need for competition (to ensure that the best person is hired)—I truthfully think that there probably is more than enough work for everyone who wants it—so I’m only going to try to be competitive with myself—and only the person I was yesterday.
Well I would say this year it would depend on the situation and the people involved. While I do try to empathize with others—I’m also starting to draw my boundaries and stating what I will and won’t do in particular situations. I also realize that sometimes things can get a little tense and sometimes conversations may need to be put on hold.
What is this word fun? While there are hopes that we’re moving from a ‘pandemic’ to an ‘epidemic’—we’re still stuck dealing with the damn SARS-CoV2 virus, and considering the past nine weeks (and counting)—I really haven’t had much fun, and am still working on ways of adding ‘enjoyment’ into my day-to-day routine.

Aries is moves through my sixth house (or my daily work and health zone). This house is where we can sit and reflect on who we are (both in terms of professional/work and personal/health) and decide to work on those aspects that we don’t like.

For the past two years I’d made various ‘commitments’ such as pushing play daily on streaming workouts or committing to intentional movements each day. Well, I canceled my Beachbody-on-demand (and technically my Beachbody) subscriptions this past month—for whatever reason, I’d prefer to pop in a DVD than trying to log into the website…the DVD player relies on power (and not being overly dusty), while streaming workout relies on power plus a good internet connection and the website not being down.

Therefore I’m still in the process of trying to develop a good mix of things I like to do (weight lifting, walking, hiking, and so forth) and making a ‘schedule’ that I can more or less stick with—because life has been throwing more lemons and limes at me than I can use for making various drinks and dishes.

I have a good idea of what I’m wanting to do career wise—it’s a matter now of making a schedule that will work with everything that is going on in life right now—plus I’m still dealing with the feeling of burnout (but not just in terms of career—currently its in terms of everything).

Since I’m pretty sure that this Aries full moon is going to be a very chaotic time, I’m going to limit the number of goals that I’m going to be setting. The goals for the Aries full moon will include:

Write out a list of things I’d enjoy doing in terms of intentional movement (weight lifting, walking, cardio, yoga, and so forth)—and try to devise a schedule.
Have at least two mini-book reviews written and posted on various sites
Work through at least part of a personal/professional development course
Continue reading (and possibly finishing) at least one non-fiction book that I’ve already started.

The motto for this quarter is ‘Progress over Perfection’

Four goals for the Aries full moon–and hopefully four goals that will get accomplished. I know that I have an extra one or two listed above–those are bonus goals…I’m trying to just remember to take things a day at a time, and even then–remember to take things an hour at a time, and if need be a minute at a time.

What personal/professional goal are you working towards this quarter?

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Muscle Burns Fat Advance finished: Second workout program of 2021 in the books

Feb

2021

So yesterday marked the end of Muscle Burns Fat Advanced and I’ve completed my second program for 2021.

As I mentioned in the review page for the program, this was a continuation of the first three week program (Muscle Burns Fat) that I completed basically mid-January.

While I’m not a fan of certain parts of the program (looking at you BOD ropes and Saturday workouts), I did enjoy these programs overall.

Decline alternating press with hip lift. Managed these–barely. MBFA (c) beachbody

I did get stronger–several exercises I managed to lift 20 pounds, when looking back at weight trackers for other programs, I maxed out at 14 pounds.

I managed to beat my AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) score each week with this program. In part because I was getting stronger and faster, and in part because there were fewer lunges (a move I still need to go slow on to have proper form).

I also managed to hold other positions, that again months ago I struggled with. So while I may not have made it through every burnout minute (otherwise known as the Megan Minute) after each round–I lasted at least thirty to forty-five seconds.

When doing muscle burns fat I was hesitant on whether or not I’d be doing another round of the two programs. I can now state that I will be doing a second round of the programs, but probably sometime in 2022 or 2023, as I already have the rest of this year’s workout calendar scheduled.

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Thoughts after completing first round of Muscle Burns Fat

Jan

2021

So last week marked the end of my first round of Muscle Burns Fat.

This was a three-week program that Beachbody released last year–I started it right after I finished my first round of 10 Rounds, and am currently going through the follow-up program Muscle Burns Fat Advance (review coming early Feb).

So, as I mentioned on the page for Muscle Burns Fat that I posted under the fitness tab–I came to enjoy the program towards the end.

I’ve realized that I really do enjoy lifting weights and strength training–though some exercises (such as triceps pushups or dips)–are no-go’s due to my arm bone structure (I have slightly curved arms).

I’m still working on trying to do a ‘normal’ lunge without weights–I have no idea when I will be able to hold weights and do a lunge–but it is something I’m working on.

The main downsides that I felt with the program were the BOD ropes–I hate them (even with going into the next program), it just doesn’t feel like I’m getting my heart rate up with them, and also I get tired of occasionally hitting myself in the leg or arm with them.

Also I didn’t like how ‘static lunges’ were called ‘split-squats’. A lunge is a lunge; if you split a squat in half–you’re doing a damn lunge.

I did get use to the format of the program–it was filmed during the pandemic, so all the cast were working out via Zoom, so it was getting little peaks into people’s lives and homes. I just found it strange and a little distracting at first when a second screen would pop-up at the top of the video.

While it has been awhile since I’ve done 21-Day Fix (and I’m actually going to be doing the live version come March–after I finish both MBFA and then Barre Blend), the formats of the two programs were different.

21-Day Fix has two days of active recovery–Pilates and yoga (days 4 and 7, if I’m remembering correctly), Muscle Burns Fat only has one day of active recovery and that is day 7 (Sunday).

Another difference is that while both have modifiers, 21-Day Fix also had someone working out with the resistant band on a few of the days–muscle burns fat was straight dumbbells.

I did start to enjoy the program towards the end–though I will probably always detest the EMOM (every minute on the minute) workouts, hopefully when I do a second round of the program, I’m either lifting heavier or able to do all the push-ups.

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My next fitness challenge: combining Yoga Booty Ballet with LIIFT4

Sep

2020

So I am going to be finishing up with my first round of morning meltdown-100 next week (specifically on Sept 15^th), and then moving right into a combo/hybrid workout of another two programs—LIIFT4 (which will be my second time going through the program) and Yoga Booty Ballet (specifically using their abs & butt makeover calendar).

I’m combining these two programs for the following reasons: 1) I want to continue doing weight training, and I really enjoyed doing LIIFT 4; 2) I’ve always enjoyed the Yoga Booty Ballet program (and actually this was the first program I bought from Beachbody years ago); and 3) I think they will complement each other nicely.

The workouts in each program are between 30 and 45 minutes—which is basically the current amount of time I want to spend working out (especially in the mornings), and while the yoga booty ballet workouts aren’t ‘live’—I don’t mind doing them on repeat for the next eight and a half weeks.

One goal for this combination is to see if by the end of the program am I lifting heavier than I did at the end of the first round of LIIFT4?? I’m hoping with coming off of morning meltdown 100, I will be lifting a little heavier for some of the exercises (though I also know that there are several that I’ll still be lifting “light” on for quite a while as well). So we will have to see mid-November how much heavier I’m lifting on some of the exercises.

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Expanded Challenge: Now 150 goals to be completed in 2002 days

Jul

2020

100+ Goals to accomplish in 2002 Days

Start Date: July 19, 2020

End Date: January 10, 2026

Well I realized that since we’re over half way through July—that means there are less than six months left in 2020. I’ve come to the conclusion that trying to complete the 101 goals in 1001 days wasn’t going to work. For me it is due to the fact that I will only open the word document every so often—which makes it difficult to figure out which goal(s) I’m doing well on and which ones I’m not doing so well on meeting. Therefore, I am thinking of stretching out the time frame for this project and increasing the total number of goals to 150-200. There are numerous goals that are on hold (traveling), and will be at the bottom of the list. There are two reasons why the traveling goals are going to be at the bottom of the list: 1) we’re still in the middle of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic. Cases aren’t going down really in the US (though there are some states, where they are decreasing—OK isn’t one of them) and 2) several countries (namely the EU) have banned travelers from the US—in other words if you try to fly into any EU country, you may be put right back on a plane for the US, since they’re flattening their curves—they don’t want potential virus carriers showing up and spiking cases.

So the world has been in the grasp of the SARS-CoV2 virus for seven months (probably a little longer than that for the countries that are neighboring China), and we’re still learning about the virus each day. While there are several vaccines that are being pushed into various clinical trial phases—a real contender may still not be ready for another 6 to 18 months. Vaccine development is a slow and tedious process that the world is currently rushing because everyone wants to get back to ‘normal’. Hate to break it to everyone but the ‘old normal’ needs to be left in the past and we all need to work together to develop a ‘new normal’.

Truthfully, even if there is a vaccine out by the end of the year—I will probably still continue to shelter in place and wait at least an additional 8 to 12 months before I’m willing to get the vaccine (just to see how efficient the vaccine(s) are). Though based on the current news, we could end up with needing seasonal shots, as it has been shown that with people who “recover” from SARS-CoV2 the antibodies against the virus slowly disappear over time.

So I’ve been self-reflecting over the past six months (though maybe not that much during April—I was too pissed at the world for how bad the pandemic was getting, and now that we’re into July, I can say I’m still pissed but trying to get back into a routine of doing other things that I can control the outcomes of)) and have decided a few things:

Try to organize the challenge list into categories

If needing to restart (and I am)—any day of the week can become day 1 again

Balance is needed

I want to balance using my strengths (learner, intellection, input, achiever, deliberative/ideation/arranger) with working on my weaknesses (communication, self-regulation, bravery, zest, love)

The only person I should be competing with is who I was yesterday

Always strive for progress over perfection

So below are my goals—but broken up into different categories (such as professional development/career, personal development, both personal/professional development, travel, health & fitness to name a few categories). I’m going to extend the time frame to 2002 days (which is not quite 5 ½ years—but considering 2020 has started the decade off with a global pandemic—this a good time frame).

I’ve also decided that since I’m basically restarting the challenge (instead of just extending it), that some of the things I’ve accomplished so far this year probably shouldn’t count towards it (such as reading 12 personal/professional development books, and the fact that I would be on day 42 of Morning Meltdown 100, tomorrow—the last 59 days of the workout would count towards my 2000 days of Beachbody workouts-just not the first 41 days).

More goals may be added over the years as I re-evaluate this list and see what may need to be removed, what has been finished, and where I think I could possibly push myself more.

Professional development and career:

1. Transition into an industry position (probably remote/online or freelancing at this point to start); there will be several posts on this goal

2. Learn a programming language (python or R—ties in with #6)

3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:

4. Dream Job Hack

5. Medical Writers Organization

6. Data Scientist Syndicate

7. Project Management Consortium

8. Management Consulting Firm

9. All other courses—see additional lists in the journal.

10. More interacting on Linkedin

11. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages

12. Commenting on posts

13. Giving/Asking for recommendations

14. Start writing my own posts

15. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals

16. Renew professional memberships

Both Personal and Professional Development

17. Become fluent in Spanish

18. Become fluent in German

19. Become proficient in French, Norwegian, or Swedish

20. Read at least 300 personal/professional development books

21. Finish the books on scientific writing

22. Start building up a portfolio of work (writing/data analysis/plus other ideas)

23. Develop a daily writing habit (tied with several goals below)

24. Write a letter to my future self

Personal development and hobbies

25. Paint and frame at least one original painting

26. More photography

27. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)

28. Update photography pages on blog

29. Make my own jewelry

30. Learn to cross-stitch

31. Get a new sewing machine

32. Make a new quilt (or this may wait until I move)

33. Make a set of drapes for the bedroom (for backdrop for any zoom calls)

34. Start a new afghan (write a post on finishing the other)

35. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)

36. Start writing a book

37. Learn Photoshop

38. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)

39. Create my own coffee-table photography book

40. Learn basic sign language

41. Start a virtual book club

Finances

42. Create monthly budgets

43. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly

44. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)

45. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)

46. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities

47. Continue doing the small surveys as a way of earning a little extra cash

48. Finish the various financial e-courses, and decide when/how to start investing

Fitness & Health

49. Get into the best shape of my life

50. Multivitamin and supplements daily

51. Manage at least 2000 days of Beachbody workouts

Finish the following programs (some will probably be more than 1 or 2 times)

52. Morning Meltdown 100 (will probably do this 2-3 times, as I’m currently doing this program right now—07/19/2020)

53. Yoga Booty Ballet—Abs & Butt

54. 10 Rounds

55. Barre Blend

56. Insanity Max 30

57. LIIFT4–all three phases (have already done this program once)

58. 22 Minute Hard Corps

59. T20

60. Insanity

61. Insanity: Asylum 1

62. Insanity: Asylum 2

63. 4 weeks of Prep

64. 6 weeks of the work

65. T25 (have already done this program once)

66. Brazil Butt Lift

67. 21-Day Fix (Already done this program once)

68. 21-Day Fix Extreme (Already done this program once)

69. Country Heat (already done this program once)

70. CIZE

71. Muscle Burns Fat

72. Muscle Burns Fat Advanced

73. 30-Day Breakaway (this is a maybe—it’s running based)

74. 9-week control freak

75. Shawn Week

Plus any other possible Beachbody program that is coming out that I may want to add.

76. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes

77. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes

78. Hold a two-minute forearm plank

79. Hold a 90 second plank

80. Meditate nightly

81. Start jogging (as another way to try to keep my mental health up)—may tie this in with #73

82. 60-80 oz of water a day

83. Stretch daily

84. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)

85. Get at least 10,010,000 steps (breaks down to 5K/day)

Blog and Social Media

86. Finish YouTube for bosses course

87. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course

88. Finish blog to biz course

89. Launch a YouTube channel

90. Launch an online course

91. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day

92. Rebrand myself (?)

93. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+

94. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+

95. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+

96. Publish at least two blog series

97. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)

98. Blog

99. Instagram

100. Facebook pages

101. Twitter

102. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows

103. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows

104. Various top 10 author lists

105. Various top 10 book series lists

106. Launch a podcast

Spirituality

107. Full/New Moon Goals

108. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)

109. Weekly (or daily) tarot/oracle card readings

110. 15 minutes outdoors in the morning (coffee only) weather permitting

Others

111. Keep at least 3 plants alive

112. Design a science based board game

113. Create and update digital vision board

114. Reorganize my storage unit

115. Put in at least one flower garden around the house (backyard, and/or front yard)

116. Help put up partial privacy fence in backyard

117. Start downsizing clothes and creating different “minimum” wardrobes (work/professional/casual; home/casual/working out)

118. Develop at least 10 different 100-day challenges

119. Start downsizing rest of my belongs as well—would like to probably be able to live comfortably in a smallish size apartment (or house) where ever I move for the next job.

TV shows to binge watch

120. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)

121. Grimm

122. The Librarians

123. Once Upon A Time

124. Blacklist

125. Numbers

Goals on hold due to the global coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak (either because they require traveling, going into a large store, and/or being around large groups of people):

126. Re-pierce my ears

127. Go to at least 1 scientific conference

128. Present at a scientific conference

129. Go to at least 2 professional networking events

130. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job

131. Visit at least 3 new countries

132. Visit at least one new national and/or state park

133. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument

134. Visit at least one new zoo

135. Visit at least one new aquarium

136. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports

137. Visit at least one new city

138. Visit at least one new state

139. See the northern lights

140. Attend at least one blogging conference

141. Attend at least one author-reader conference

142. Swim with whale sharks

143. Parasailing

144. Run a 5K (connects back to goals #73 & #81)

Once I move:

145. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs

146. New couch & chair for living room

147. New dresser for bedroom

148. New mattress & box spring for bed and/or a new bed set

149. New TV & stand

150. New desk/craft workstation

So I now have roughly 150 goals to accomplish in 2002 days. Some of the goals may be accomplished well before the 2002 days are up—others may be up to the end (namely the fitness workouts and steps). So how will I accomplish these 150 goals??? Well, there are 25 goals that are “on-hold” until the virus is under control (goals #126-150)—so these may not be looked at for the first 500+ days (though I will probably be checking the stats on the pandemic more often).

In terms of the other 125 goals—I already have some ‘habits’ in place—I have set up monthly calendar/check-ins for my steps, daily workouts, and spending, plus I do a monthly money check-in when I set up payments for various bills. So what I’m going to be doing is adding in additional trackers (e-courses, photography, tarot/oracle card readings) and seeing tracking that ways helps me move through things better. Also in terms of the e-courses, I’m going to be trying to take better notes so that I can post little recaps on the blog as well (all of this will also help me possibly finally design and keep up with editorial calendars as well).

But above else, I need to remember the following phrases: Aim for progress and not perfection, work hard in silence, let your success by your noise, and make it happen, shock everyone.

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Take Three of the 101 goals in 1001 days

Nov

2019

So in one of my many self reflection periods this past month, I realized that I hadn’t been looking at my 101 goal list and seeing how close I was to any of the goals (with the exception of my step goal). I also realized looking at the list, it was all jumbled together and that made it hard to see which goals could “feed” off of each other in terms of the daily/weekly/monthly goals that I should be setting to reach them.

Therefore, I took the time and rewrote my list—this time grouping things into different categories. I’m going to be hitting restart on the time, to where if I start on November 2, 2019—I should then be finishing up around July 29, 2022.

Professional development and career:

1. Transition into an industry position (tied to latest self reflections post); there will be several posts on this goal

2. Learn a programming language

3. Finish various e-courses that I’ve bought, but in particular:

4. Dream Job Hack

5. Medical Writers Organization

6. More interacting on Linkedin

7. Sharing articles from various biotech pages, and other science pages

8. Commenting on posts

9. Giving/Asking for recommendations

10. Creating monthly/weekly/daily calendars for above goals

11. Go to at least 1 scientific conference

12. Present at a scientific conference

13. Go to at least 2 professional networking events

14. Renew professional memberships

15. Move to a new (or maybe not new) city for job

Both Personal and Professional Development

16. Become fluent in Spanish

17. Become fluent in German (or maybe French)

18. Read at least 100 personal/professional development books

19. Finish the books on scientific writing

Personal development and hobbies

20. Paint and frame at least one original painting

21. More photography

22. 365-Day Challenge (aim for 365 different pictures)

23. Update photography pages on blog

24. Make my own jewelry

25. Learn to cross-stitch

26. Finish my latest afghan

27. Show case crafts on blog (possibly a weekly update?)

28. Start writing a book

29. Learn Photoshop

30. Write in journal daily (answer questions/prompts from journaling books and free thought)

31. Create my own coffee-table photography book

32. Learn basic sign language

Finances

33. Create monthly budgets

34. Credit card debts down and hopefully paid off monthly

35. Declutter the house (way of earning extra cash)

36. Savings account up another 20K (hopefully)

37. Talk with financial person about short-term investment possibilities

Travel

38. Visit at least 3 new countries

39. Visit at least one new national and/or state park

40. Visit at least one new national and/or state monument

41. Visit at least one new zoo

42. Visit at least one new aquarium

43. Fly out and/or land at 3 new (to me) airports

44. Visit at least one new city

45. Visit at least one new state

46. See the northern lights

47. Attend at least one blogging conference

48. Attend at least one author-reader conference

49. Attend Beachbody Coach Summit 2020

Fitness & Health

50. Get into the best shape of my life

51. Multivitamin and supplements daily

52. Manage at least 250 days of Beachbody workouts

53. Manage 5 push-ups on my toes

54. Manage 10 push-ups on my toes

55. Hold a two-minute forearm plank

56. Hold a 90 second plank

57. Meditate nightly

58. 30-day Zumba challenge

59. 60-80 oz of water a day

60. Stretch daily

61. Go one weekend a month with no social media (no scrolling through social media pages; may still post on the sites)

62. Get at least 14,014,000 steps (breaks down to 14K/day)

Blog and Social Media

63. Finish YouTube for bosses course

64. Finish YouTube course creation for bosses course

65. Finish blog to biz course

66. Launch a YouTube channel

67. Launch an online course

68. Get blog traffic to 500+ views a day

69. Rebrand myself (?)

70. Get Instagram followers to constant 800+

71. Get pintrest followers to constant 400+

72. Get twitter followers to constant 1000+

73. Publish at least two blog series

74. Editorial calendars (monthly/weekly/daily)

75. Blog

76. Instagram

77. Facebook pages

78. Get Fit with Jessi to 1000+ likes/follows

79. Get becomingJessi (or new name if I change) to 1000+ likes/follows

80. Various top 10 author lists

81. Various top 10 book series lists

Spirituality

82. Full/New Moon Goals

83. Create my own altar (wicca/pagan)

84. Weekly tarot/oracle card readings

Others

85. Keep at least 3 plants alive

86. Design a science based board game

87. Create and update a digital vision board

88. Re-pierce my ears

89. Reorganize my storage unit

Once I move:

90. Get a new sewing machine

91. Make a new quilt

92. Get fabric and foam and make new cushions for chairs

93. New couch & chair for living room

94. New dresser for bedroom

95. New mattress & box spring for bed

96. New TV & stand

TV shows to binge watch

97. Hawaii 5-0 (latest remake)

98. Grimm

99. The Librarians

100. Once Upon A Time

101. Blacklist

So that is my update and “organized” 101 goals in 1001 days. This time I’m trying to balance things out—personal and professional development, career and then just odds and ends. Hopefully with it being organized, I will be better at tracking how close I am to completing certain items and which items when completed will flow into another one being started.

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Aquarius Full Moon Goals, a few days late…..

Aug

2019

So the moon has transitioned into its full moon stage (either last night or the night before last—depending on where you live in the world). This means that we’re half way through August, and pretty soon we’re going to be entering the last few months of the year. I’ll be happy when the temperatures cool down—I’m getting tired of the triple digits combined with the high humidity.

So the moon has transitioned into Aquarius, and there are questions that one can ask themselves during this time (again, all questions come from “Moonology: Working with the magic of lunar cycles by Yasmin Boland).

Have I been pragmatic to the point of losing the romance of life?

Have I been living too much in my head and not enough in my heart?

Have I been trying to do things my way, just for the sake of it?

Have I been trying too hard to befriend people, and for the wrong reasons?

Have I allowed myself to move forwards this month?

So if I were to number the above questions 1-5, I think that my answers would be as follows:

Have I been too down to earth or rational lately? It depends on what one is talking about—how I see the world? Yes, I’m way to pragmatic in seeing that the world is going to hell in a hand basket right now. I’m sure that there are people who say that I’m not being rational in how I’m handling my career transition (taking a reboot break), especially since there are signs that a recession could be coming. But I’ve always been a rational person, who likes to have an idea of any and all outcomes before deciding on doing something (hence why I’m still at home and working at my alma mater—I overthink and become paralyzed and stuck).
This is a toss up—I’m usually over cautious (being in my head), but at the same time I’m trying to do more things that I enjoy (and that currently don’t pay the bills—photography, reading, being outdoors).
This depends again on context—what are we talking about. With my job—I do things as written in the protocols. With my life—everything is up in the air, and it’s hard to do something a certain way if you have no idea of what you’re doing.
I’m not someone who makes friends quickly, so I can safely say that I haven’t been trying to befriend people for any reason lately. I know that networking is an important part of job searching and career advancement. While I have an extensive network, I know that I need to actually start putting the work into those relationships—and this something that I’m going to focus on during my reboot break (though I will start doing a little more daily beforehand).
I am slowly making progress on planning my reboot break, and am proud that I’m sticking firm with stating that I’m not signing an extension contract for my current position. I know that there is something more out there, I just have to be willing to move forward to find it—and the best way to move forward is to intentionally “close” a door—that way you have no choice but to move forward.

The Aquarius full moon is a time to find balance between having a few real relationships and being the super person of the month. It is also the time to reflect on things, and figure out how to let go of the things that are no longer helpful or nurturing.

In addition to being within Aquarius, it is also important to see what house the moon is passing through as well. Currently it is moving though my sixth house, or my daily work and health zone. Again, it will be time to reflect on things and figure out how to strike a balance that will bring some peace to one’s life.

Things that one can contemplate during this time:

Giving up bad habits.

Restarting an exercise routine.

Going slow and steady at work.

Fix the habits/routines that are no longer working for you.

Start meditating.

Take up yoga.

So it is fitting that I’m passing through the daily work and health zone—I know that I’ve let my fitness and health routine fall short a lot (I know I’m eating way to many sweets), and I know that there are a million other things I need to be working on as well. If I were to make a small list of goals for the Aquarius full moon they would include:

Evening meditations—I’ve been good at managing at least two to three minutes. I’d like to work back up to doing five to ten minutes. Also I should try to figure out a way of meditating during the day (instead of going for a walk to buy chocolate, I should try to find a quiet spot to just sit and be for awhile).

Getting back into a workout routine. While I may not be able to manage a daily workout—I’ll aim for trying to workout two or three days a week, and work up to doing a daily workout.

Work on my reboot break and transition plans—journal any and all ideas. I have to remember that this is my path to walk, and what may seem strange to others may just work out perfectly for me.

jessimatts No Comments AstrologyFitness ChallengesFull Moon GoalsLifestyle ChallengesPersonal Developmentprofessional developmentspirituality AquariusFullMoonAugustFullMoonFullMoonGoalslittlebylittleMoonologyprogressnotperfectionsmallstepsbetterthanlargeleaps

Capricorn Full Moon Goals

Jul

2019

Well we’re a little over halfway through July already. The moon is moving into Capricorn today (or maybe it was yesterday or tomorrow for you). I’ve realized that while I can make lists—trying to make the master list is one of the things that almost put me into an anxiety attack. So, I’m going to try to do one this weekend—but I will call it a brain dump (and see how I emotionally process that).

So, since it is the eve of the full moon, one can look at “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland and find a series of questions that you can ask yourself during this time:

Have I been ambitious to the point of ruthlessness?

Have I been obsessed with work to the detriment of my personal life?

Have I been hard-headed, hard-nosed, or just too hard on others?

Have I allowed my head to overrule my heart?

Have I been planning my life enough? Or too much?

So if I were to answer the above questions (again, numbering them 1-5), I think my answers would be as following:

No, I don’t think that I’ve been ambitious to the point of ruthlessness. I’m pretty sure that people will tell you that I’m not ambitious enough, and that I currently go with the flow. I know that to make it in industry (at least move up the ladder or between companies, and to have good mentors), I need to become a little more ambitious that what I currently am. I also know that currently I’m not in a good mental space to really care of how ambitious (or not) others perceive me to be—there are too many other problems in the world, and I don’t rate this very high on that list.
I don’t think I’ve been obsessed with work to the detriment of my personal life. That is one nice thing about having to clock my forty hours—even if I wanted to go over on the weekends—it probably wouldn’t be approved, therefore why bother. I will also be the first to admit that I really don’t have much of a life (I feel like I’m currently in the middle of a midlife crisis, with trying to figure out what the next career stage is going to be). Currently in terms of my personal life—I’m my own worse enemy here.
No, I don’t think I’ve been hard on others. I really don’t interact with that many people in my current position, and I’m also the bottom of the totem pole in terms of hierarchy within my little unit anyway.
Yes, I have let my head overrule my heart—while I really want to adopt a puppy, I’ve realized that I should wait until I either have moved (or am closer to moving), so that the puppy will be more or less totally raised in an apartment. I feel like it would be easier than having one that is used to the yard, and then having to all of a sudden be satisfied with two or three walks a day on a leash.
Here, I actually think that I haven’t been planning my life enough. I’ve always been more to go with the current or flow and not try to battle my way upstream. This however has resulted in me taking several different positions that I probably should have passed on. I’m now trying to plan my life a little more—but going back to question 1, I have to try to do it in a way that it doesn’t induce an anxiety or panic attack.

So the Capricorn full moon is also going to be traveling through my third house (or my communications zone). This is the zone that deals with basically the people you see more or less on a day-to-day basis: friends, coworkers, and siblings. Also it reminds us that there is a to-do list that items that needed to be taken care of. Luckily, I can’t think of any major disagreements that I’ve had lately—I know that not everyone agrees with my idea of a “reboot break” but I’m going to do it anyway—I’ve decided that since I’m going to be 39 this year, it’s about damn time that I start putting myself first a few times.

So my goals for the Capricorn full moon period will include:

Continuing to work on my drafting my “reboot break” and also working on my transition plan to move from academia to industry.

Read (finish) at least one personal or professional development book.

Finish my second round of Country Heat.

Slow steps towards progress are better than trying to make running jumps and ending up falling behind on everything. I’m slowly figuring out ways of coping with my anxiety and stress, and as I continue to find better solutions to the triggers of both—I’ll continue to make more and more progress towards all of my other goals.

Motto for now: Progress not perfection.

jessimatts No Comments Fitness ChallengesFull Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development babystepsbacktofitnessCapricornFullMoonMoonologyreadingchallengeRebootBreakInPlanningTimetomakeachangetransitionplantomake

New Moon Goals in Review: Update on the Aries goals

May

2019

So the moon will be moving into Taurus this weekend (as a new moon), and we are somehow in May and the year is flying by. We’re a third of the way thorough the second quarter of the year, and that means it’s time to look back on the goals that I set for the month of April (in terms of the new moon).

So my small list of things to focus on during the Aries new moon included the following:

Making a 12-month plan. This is going to encompass both personal and professional area of my life.

Recommit to a workout program

Work on my eating habits (I do know that quite a bit of my bad habits stem from both stress and poor sleeping). Notice I didn’t say diet—but habits. I’m trying to work on basically having things in moderation and working on serving sizes.

Read a book on positive thinking (I’m pretty sure that I have one or two on my large to-be-read e-pile; but I’ll look at amazon and see what I either have or I will purchase a book or two).

Then finally, continue to try to mediate nightly. I’ve realized lately that my mind still races a little too much when I do try to mediate and I call it quits after about two minutes. Also I’ve realized that my racing thoughts have also made it a little difficult to do an accurate and decent tarot/oracle card reading—I may need to meditate for a few minutes before attempting to do a reading.

So how did I do with each one?

The 12 month plan is somewhat made, and will be continuously revised throughout the year. I’ve realized that I overthink things, then try to make numerous lists to help with the overthinking and that just puts me in the middle of a massive week long anxiety/stress attack. I’ve also realized that when it comes to deciding on my career—I need to start looking towards different companies—I can’t keep saying that I’m going to be a research scientist in “X” years or months if I don’t have an idea of where I would like to work.

I managed to make it a week with a workout program last month. Part of the issue was that another dog in the house (and one who likes it if everyone is in the same area at the same time), and I wasn’t always certain how the wifi/internet were going to be holding up. I am going to start back with a program (though it may be going between different DVD workouts if possible—our wifi/internet service can be spotty at best lately).

My eating habits are slowly getting better—though I spent way to much money again on campus this month, and I bought way to much sweets. The weight is slowly going down (I did weigh myself and I am down compared to the beginning of the year; but I’m still at one of my heaviest at the same time). I do know that I need to start eating more veggies during the day (when I managed to drink my shakeology daily I was getting a good amounts of veggies in that), and it probably wouldn’t hurt to eat a little more fruit either during the day.

The one book that I finished reading this month could be slightly on positive thinking—it was actually on how nice it can be to slowly declutter your life and realize how few things one actually needs to survive. This is something that I’ve slowly been starting to do, and it does take time and constant evaluation of things to ask yourself if you really need to spend money on “X”, “Y”, or “Z” and if you need the thirty or forty different t-shirts you have hanging in your closet.

In terms of meditating nightly—this is something that I am still working on daily. Some days are better than others in terms of being able to quiet my mind. I know that isn’t the total point of meditating, and that I should just be able to acknowledge my thoughts and let them pass—but sometimes I’ve found that I sleep just a little better if I can try to quiet my mind before bed. So there are times when I’m then meditating again after reading before falling asleep.

All in all, I think that I may actually have a plan (more or less) in place for trying to get things accomplished over the next coming year. I’ve realized that every April/May/June I fall into a mild bout of anxiety/depression and while I can usually pull myself out of it—it also has a habit of potentially causing other problems (namely not working out and eating too much junk food). I’ve also realized that I need to do the search for companies to work for on a smaller scale (so that I can keep my anxiety under control), and have decided that I’m going to aim for three to six at a time—have several documents/pages of notes on them so that if I get to the point of interviews I know what I’m talking about.

jessimatts No Comments Fitness ChallengesNew Moon GoalsPersonal Developmentprofessional development AriesNewMoonGoalsReviewdayatatimedayatatimeweekatatimefitnessupdatemeditationupdatementalhealthupdateNewMoonGoalsReviewpersonaldevelopmentprofessionaldevelopmentsometimesminuteatatime

Book Review and list of different 30-day challenges together in one post.

Apr

2019

So one of the books that I finished in February was “The 30 Day Challenge Book: 500 ideas to inspire your life” by Clare Hudson. This book was divided in to different areas such as intellectual & educational 30 day challenges, social, relationship & kindness 30 day challenges and then self improvement, inner life and meditation 30 day challenges (just to name a few chapters).

So one thing I decided was that I’d go back through the book and list the different 30 day challenges that either I found interesting or would be helpful to try. I know that there are certain ones that I currently won’t be doing (such as running, following a specific eating trend [vegan or vegetarian], or going to a religious service), or that I’ve already been doing (hitting 10K steps/day, watching the sun rise, or bird watching). But the following is a long list of different challenges that I will slowly start incorporating into my life:

Dance every day (for 10 minutes); I can do this in the privacy of my room. Just turn on the ipod and dance freely without anyone watching or judging.

Celebrate small accomplishments. I use to do this with my fitness/nutrition—I’d break things down and once I reached a milestone there would be a certain reward. I need to get back in the habit of doing it again (will probably work wonders for the fitness/nutrition and also the job searching/transition).

Keep a general diary or journal. Again this is something that I use to be good at doing, but feel out of habit doing daily. This will probably help with the anxiety and stress more if I plan to sit and write at least once or twice a day in a journal (either paper & pen or digital).

Create a new daily routine for yourself.

Give up waiting around for the ‘right’ time. I know that I’m guilty of this (especially in terms of the job search/transition). So this is something that I need to continuously work on.

Doodle.

Try free drawing.

Spend 15 minutes a day coloring. I actually started this one a couple of months ago, but then got busy with life and quit. But I do enjoy coloring, so I may pick this one back up again.

Design tattoos.

Keep an idea book for 30 days.

Write a blog post daily (and it doesn’t always have to be published right away).

Teach yourself photography.

Photograph one beautiful thing a day

Photography theme for a month

Create an online course

Film the progress of your 30-day challenge

Make jewelry

Make rubbing of interesting surfaces & textures

Make a sculpture from random objects

Bucket list of 30 things in 30 days

Revamp your garden

Learn copywriting

Recycle your stuff

Read a poem a day

Learn how to say common phrases in different languages

Learn a new word a day

Research prominent women throughout history

Learn about a different historical person each day

Learn about politics

Learn about a new country a day

Put a pin on the world map & learn about that place

Find out how different cultures express themselves through art

Use the Khan Academy

Teach yourself economics

Learn about prominent scientists throughout history

Learn the periodic table (I had at one point memorized most of it as an undergrad—but that has been quite a few years ago). J

Learn computer programming (I’ve actually bought several different little e-course bundles to learn how to do programming—I just haven’t gotten around to sitting down and going through them yet).

Do Sudoku or crosswords. I use to do the Sudoku puzzles all the time, but haven’t done one in awhile. This is something else to get back in the habit of doing.

Read an article on a different subject (or different articles on the same subject but with different points of views).

Pick a subject you’re interested in & develop really niche knowledge within that subject

So these were the ideas from the book that I’m going to slowly start working on (probably just one challenge here and there), in addition to the ones that I’m already doing (steps, bird watching, working out at home).

So in terms of 30-day challenges—I am slowly teaching myself photography. I am trying to get out on the weekends to take new pictures, and if I spot something during the week, which catches my attention I’m going to snap a picture of it with my iPhone. I’m coming to the realization that photography today means more than just using a camera—it means using both a camera (can be either digital or one that actually uses film), and the camera on the phone. It also means learning how to use different programs to process and edit the pictures as well. In other words—it is a challenge that will take longer than 30 days to master—it will take years. Luckily it is something that I’m really enjoying doing.

jessimatts No Comments Book ReviewsFitness ChallengesLifestyle Challengesmoney saving challengesPersonal Developmentprofessional development 30-DayChallenges500different30daychallengesBookReviewcreativitychallengespersonaldevelopmentchallengesprofessionaldevelopmentchallengesThe30DayChallengeBook