I am so far behind on everything, Grumpy Nation.
But… for the first time since NOVEMBER, my computer desktop at work is finally fully functional. Like, I can use dropbox and WinSCP and not get a BSOD 5 minutes after logging in. So… that’s a miracle.
February is the best month for challenges, even if there’s an extra day this year.
I’m going to combine two previous annual challenges:
1. 2018’s No Devices In The Morning Challenge
and
2. 2017’s Write Every Morning Challenge
I will be taking one weekend day off for the write in the morning challenge, which is good since I didn’t realize February 1st was February 1st until Saturday afternoon.
Everything I said in that 2017 post is 100% true this February as well, up to and including the 8am office hours one day a week.
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
February 5, 2020 at 4:55 pm
I’m sitting next to a very long list of things to do that isn’t even comprehensive, and I’m too tired to do any of them because insomnia ate my brain last night. I think I’m going to give up shortly and rest for a bit so that I can survive the rest of this day, and then come back tomorrow with hopes of crossing off a lot more to-dos.
February 5, 2020 at 4:57 pm
Sleep is always my #1 priority (right after severe illness in my kids and similar emergencies) because if I don’t have enough of that, nothing else is getting done either.
Rest! It’s good and important!
February 5, 2020 at 7:03 pm
My two goals that I have hit every day this year are journaling and getting 10k steps. Both have been so helpful for me!
Sleep is also a priority for me, but that one seems to be a huge challenge. I struggle to get myself in bed early enough, and we still have young enough kids that we are not the master of our own sleep. A certain 2.5 year old came into bed with us last night and kicked me for about 20 minutes at 3 am.
February 6, 2020 at 7:32 am
We had what seemed like Croup at 2am the other night from our 7 year old. But then zie was fine the next day (we kept hir home and would have gone to the pedi, but they had no appointments available). We think maybe it was allergies from cleaning out the dryer vents since Zyrtec + vacuuming + washing everything seemed to help?
Yay hitting goals! And having them be helpful!
February 6, 2020 at 8:43 am
yes, I’m glad I have finally found goals that are doable for me and help me feel better. I am trying this new app, divethru, that has been awesome. It’s a journaling/meditation app, and each session can take 6, 12, or 18 minutes. The difference seems to be the wait time for the meditation parts. The app is good enough that I will pay for it when my month trial ends. The journaling has been so helpful in keeping me stay in a better headspace.
February 6, 2020 at 8:45 am
Nice!
February 5, 2020 at 8:25 pm
Sending you strength and willpower!
February 6, 2020 at 7:21 am
Thanks! I definitely need both!
February 6, 2020 at 1:12 pm
I have been pretty successful so far this semester in doing half an hour of work on a specific “research”-category project each weekday. I’ve been doing it FIRST (or right after my morning class, if I don’t get to work at least half an hour before class, which is often this semester due to childcare issues). I’ve tried this before unsuccessfully – the change this time seems to be batching my emails, so I am not dealing with email for the first time until almost lunchtime, AFTER I’ve spent some focused time doing something more important.
February 6, 2020 at 3:57 pm
Wooo!
February 6, 2020 at 5:01 pm
I have spent a number of hours debating and planning and organizing how I will do work differently this year instead of just living my life like it’s a giant game of whack a mole.
I am feeling a pantry challenge may be in me this month.
February 6, 2020 at 5:06 pm
Whack a mole is an excellent description.
I’ve been contemplating eating down —I went to donate some cans to the boy scouts and realized they’d just expired. I never let that happen! (We did eat those.)
March 2, 2020 at 1:35 am
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