Wheel Work, Week 4

 Jan 22-28, 2018

Health: I have been getting almost enough sleep, and have managed my various challenges well. My teeth are healing well, and I have to eat slower to chew things more carefully and I feel that will soon have an effect on weight, because I am doing what you are supposed to do and taking my time to eat. I also cannot eat hard crunchy or sticky chewy foods kind of at all any more, and that's good because pretty much none of them add any nutritive value to my diet. I have not gotten as much movement and exercise as I would like, so this is an area I will concentrate on in the near future, to build up my stamina and feel like I am making forward progress on my fitness and health. 3/5

Communication: I feel like I dropped a couple of balls this week, but that I followed up on others, that were not easy ones to catch. I did communicate to my boss that I would not be able to work one of the days, and that was good, but I also failed to confirm pick up times until the last second, and I am aware that this habit is a poor choice. I will work on that moving forward. I did ask for acknowledgement and validation of my work at home this week, and have received exactly what i needed there, reinforcing how healthy and positive actual honest communications can be. 4/5

Original Art by Mel W.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/madebymelw

Balance: I have managed to accomplish a few long-term goals this week, most notable the blitzing of the garage. I did get quite stressed out by issues before Council, but as soon as that was over and dealt with, I felt a huge weight come off. I did fewer things for fun than I wanted to, but I feel like I am in a hard-work phase that doesn't yet feel like a slog (even though, honest to god, it really is). 4/5

Resources: I have done a decent job balancing my energies with the amount of work I need to get done in a day, and I have spent very little money (losing my wallet helped). I paid bills on time, I feel like I am doing really, remarkably well as far as this category goes, and that is a new feeling for me. I think switching the focus from just funds to resources like energy and space and time has helped me remember there is more to a good life than a positive bank balance. 5/5 

Creativity: I have been blogging, but not really creative this week. Bare minimums, and honestly I do feel I have neglected the making of things while I have been working through backlogs of organisation of things. 1/5

Environment: Here is where I feel I have done the best this week. I have blitzed the garage, allowing me to finish the sort in there and have things cleared up for the arrow-making workshop in a few weeks; and I have a plan of attack for my room, and actually for the rest of the house too. I feel like I can put in 2 or 3 solid hours of work a day and within a week or ten days, we will all have a much more cohesive and comfortable environment. Also the work I am doing is encouraging the others to do more than they had been, and every little bit is helping the whole. This work has been a long time coming, but it is very rewarding to see the progress every day. 5/5

Contribution: I feel like I have been carrying exactly my load at work, and if a little more than my load at home, it hasn't been too much. I have a definite sense of getting done what needs doing, and no sense of bitterness or unfairness that I seem to be the driving force behind the doing. It isn't like the old house, where I felt so much like an unacknowledged Sisyphus. I finished a task, called in the roomies and recieved exactly the validation and celebration the work deserved, and that was absolutely marvelous. of course it helped that I knew what I needed and was willing and able to ask for that validation, but it was still an acknowledged and appreciated contribution. 5/5

Legacy: While I have not put much work into this category, I did have a very productive conversation with my son, and feel like in some other ways I have left a mark on people's lives. That is a good feeling, but I feel an incoming Hard Question, which I will have to ask soon, and reap what I sow there. It will serve to make me a better person, I just need to be prepared for the answers, in terms of having the time and energy and clarity to work through the issues those answers will raise. In a way I am looking forward to being in a place where I can ask. 2/5

Overview: 31/40 Another good period, with lots of work in specific areas, and those I have not invested in, I know I am holding back from for the right reasons. I feel like I am starting to stretch into who and what I have the potential to be. I am definitely reaping the benefits of the habit building programs of Habitica, even if I don't fully follow the game-side, the checking in has helped me see where I am meeting my expectations and what areas I need to work on.

In the words of RuPaul, "If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else." Amen. I am worth my own best effort.