Books I'm Taking to South Korea

I’m in Korea! 

This and the next few posts are written and scheduled in advanced because … I have no idea what the transition is going to be like. More on that in the future.

Since today is my book post day, I thought I’d share which physical books I’m taking with me to South Korea!

Audiobooks! AKA Bookish Fitness

I live a rather sedentary life.

I read, I write, I do a lot of stuff on the computer.

Most of that involves me sitting butt-in-chair and getting stuff done.

But this year, I combined my love of reading with my desire to be more active, all thanks to the wonder that is AUDIOBOOKS!

I am not a naturally active person, like some people are. I can be perfectly comfortable doing nothing and lazing around in bed all day. But I know my endurance and my ability to go out and explore my city and surroundings has sharply declines after moving home.

I'm facing returning to the classroom as a teacher. I'm going to have a class full of tiny people after me for attention all day at work in just a few weeks.

I need to keep up.

So I took up running to increase my general fitness and endurance.

But running is BORING!

I don't care how pretty the areas in which I'm running can be - after about 2 days of it, I'm bored.

So I decided that every run, which I would go on for about 30-45 minutes, 

I would listen to an audiobook.

Now, I may look crazy, jogging down the street and giggling madly at what a character has just said, or wrinkling my eyebrows and wondering how she's going to get herself out of this mess, but I'm NOT bored.

(And I'm not boring so if someone passes me on the street, 

maybe they can be as entertained as I am.)

So far, I've been listening to The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson on audiobook on nearly every run I've gone on this year (otherwise I'm listening to The Hamilton Mixtape.)

I've listened to just over 13 hours of this book so far, more than I've listened to any audiobook in all of 2016.

And because I only listen to this book while I run, I want to go for runs to find out what happens next.

I set it up to be more excited to run, which is amazing because I'm still not the boggiest fan of running.

I suggest you try it out.

1. Choose an audiobook that you will only listen to while exercising (walking, jogging, aerobics, whatever).
2. Make a schedule of when you will exercise, and follow through!
3. Once you get into it, it is so easy to just keep going because you like the book. Fitness is a bonus!
4. When you finish one book, pick the next and repeat! It gets you moving, and reading. Two birds, one stone and all that!

So what do you think? Can listening to a book, make a reader a runner?

I sure hope so! It's going good so far.

30-Day Challenges 2017

This year I've decided that I want to do a 30-day challenge (ish) every month, just for fun. This is not so much a resolution as it is an experiment to challenge and change some of the habits I have that can really bug me.

These challenges are not so much 30-day challenges as monthly challenges. If the day has 31 days like January, it's a 31 day challenge, and February is a 28 day challenge, and so on.

Nerdy Fitness Motivation

For the new year, I decided to take up running and started a beginner's training program. Every other day I get out and run. 

A few days ago, I was challenged to run for a full 20 minutes without walking and I was struggling.

"Just don't stop," I told myself. "You can slow down, speed up, whatever. Just. Don't. Stop."

But while I was running, I had some time to think. Why should I not stop? What was keeping me going? Health? Fitness? Endurance?

Some of that. 

But a strange thought occured to me as I ran - 

"You would have never made it as a Power Ranger if you let your self stop."

What?

See, when I was young (and still now, really) I loved Power Rangers. While other girls in my class wanted to grow up and be the first female president, I wanted to be the first female red ranger.

But child-me never actually did anything towards that goal. So now that I'm getting up and active, I find that childhood, nerdy dream, to be a great motivator to get out, even when I am not feeling it.

After all, if I ever get chosen by Zordon, abducted by aliens, or called to defend this world from threats internal and external - I should be able to run for at least 20 minutes.

So for the sake of the Earth, I get out and run.

What about you? What gets you out there, running/writing/dreaming?

What's your nerdy motivation?

New Year Goals: Life, Books, and Writing

I started this blog in mid-January, so my New Year's Resolution post is a bit late in the month, but really that just means I can give more info about my goals, right? Right...

Anyway, I usually don't make grand Resolutions with a capital "R" at the New Year because I never really plan on tracking my progress and therefore it's a pointless exercise. Not so this year! For 2017 I'm making a few Resolutions for myself because I have a system in place to track my progress and hold myself accountable. Without further ado, let's get into it!

First: I've started this blog and I want to develop and maintain a schedule of posts so that something new is up every week. 

I've decided to start ambitiously and go for 3-4 posts a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. However, keeping that schedule is not my resolution because things will change this year and I want to allow room for my growth and development without having to scrap a resolution entirely. So long as I put up something new every week from no through 2018, I'll consider this resolution accomplished. 

Second: I want to build my fitness and continue to workout at least 3 times a week in a structured manner.

Again, I'm being very lenient with this goal to allow myself to change how I workout over the course of the year. I've started the year doing Yoga daily through Yoga with Adriene's Revolution calendar. I do not expect to be able to maintain daily yoga for the whole year, though I would like to build a regular practice. 

I've also started running with the C25K app and am already half-way though that 8-week course. I hope to continue running regularly and building my endurance, but I'm not going to lock myself in to running 3x a week if I find another cardio that I enjoy more.

Basically, as long as I'm doing some workout regime that gets me active at least 3 days a week, 

I win!

Third: I want to get my physical TBR down to 0.

Over the years I've accumulated quite a few books but because I move so frequently, I want to get rid of that weight that I carry around in the form of physical books. Last year I went through and donated about 5 medium sized boxes full of books I didn't plan to read/re-read and that got me down to 15 unread books on my shelf. I want to finish these 15 books and then read physical books as I get them.

This challenge has a shorted time-frame than a year because I move overseas in February and I want to be able to leave without leaving unread in storage. So far I've cut my 15 books down to 8 and I hope to keep going! (Though honestly I'm losing a bit of momentum already. Help!)

 I'm not tackling my e-reader yet because... there's probably over 100 books on there I haven't read yet.

Fourth (and final): I want to submit some of my writing for publication.

Notice that I didn't say that I want to get published, because really whether I get published or not is out of my control. What is in my control is submitting my work for consideration. So this year I want to submit something for publication at least every three months, so 4 pieces in total for the whole year. This goal is to get me back into my writing groove and explore short stories more as I have wanted to do for years.

So that's it! My 4 goals for 2017. 

What do you think? 

Do you agree with my focuses for the year? 

Is it too much, too little?

Do you make lists like this?

Comments and discussions down below! Let's chat!