Week 1 of 52 week challenge

Current Crow pose ability at Sellicks Beach

I received my BestSelf journal just before the new year so was able to start planning the new year. So far the journal is great, but will be a lot better when I am back at University and busy again. While I am holiday I am trying not to be too hard on myself while still completing goals. I have managed to keep up the daily journaling and could really see this becoming a habit.

So far I have conquered 2 cycling goals this week. #18 and #19 (Ride 10km and 20km, respectively). Last week I ordered a new bike trainer to help with improving my rides. I ordered the CycleOps Fluid 2 during the January sale at wiggle.com in the hopes of joining Zwift. I received the trainer this week and realised that my speed and cadence sensors weren’t bluetooth and had to order an ANT+ dongle. So unfortunately I was not able to use it with Zwift (and had already started the 7 day free trial). But alas, I rode while watching the new Sherlock and managed 20km. I realise 20km isn’t much for the avid cyclists out there, but new to cycling and still in the recovery phase of a broken fibula from November. So progress is progress 🙂

I also started yoga with doyouyoga.com (goal #6) and have combined this with goal #23 (daily mindfulness meditation) and have so far completed this daily. I am loving. Luckily doyouyoga had a new years sale on so I was able to jump on that. I have also decided on a specific goal of completing Crow pose/Kakasana (pictured, also called Crane/Bakasana) with the aim to be able to do Firefly pose/Tittibhasana by the end of the year. This might be too ambitious a goal, but it will be fun to try. Above is my current level. Still need to be able bend at the hips more and get my knees into my armpits for the

I have also made progress with #7 (started myfitnesspal), #27 (daily smoothies) #38 (IMDB top 250 movies – watched Oldboy) #39 (2017 golden globe movies) #41 (read 12 novels – currently reading the God Delusion) #44 (this blog) #45 (learn french – 18% through busuu) and #49 (daily instagram photo).

So not bad for the first week…

Last time I ventured back into art

The last time I ventured back into art was in 2015. This is what I came up with:

Self portrait 2015, Pencil on paper by Garreth Kestell

Always struggle with eyes and so decided to do them last. But by the time I got this far I realised I liked the drawing without the eyes. It had a bit of an Kevin (Elijah Wood’s character in Sin City) feel to it.

I am hoping that by the end of the year I can look back on this drawing and have improved, I guess only time will tell…

“Cheated” already

Looks like I “cheated” already. Completed some of the goals before 2017 even started! Obviously I started the blog before 2017 so ticked challenge #45 (Start blog) off the list. Have now updated the goal to include weekly updates of said blog to make up for it.

I also went for a swim this morning and managed to swim a full kilometre without stopping and so knocked challenge #8 off too (Swim 1km without stopping)! It was such a mental struggle but kept pushing and made it. I now understand why pools can be so cold too, definitely warms up quick while you are swimming for more than a few minutes. Was such a different level of tiredness too. I have been knackered from a half marathon or a gruelling CrossFit hero WoD but this was something different. No matter how much a beginner swims, whether it be 100m or 1,000m it is the breathlessness that is the struggle. It goes against every instinct to keep going. I still have to breathe every stroke because I can not handle the feeling of needing to hold breath while puffing. Something to improve on I guess!

Oh well not complaining, less to do next year…

Art runs in the family

“Renditions” 2016 Encaustic and Oil (91 x 91cm) by Glenn Kestell

The artwork above is one of my personal favourites by my brother, Glenn. Glenn is an fully fledged artist, and as you can tell, a bloody good one at that. You can see some of his work above, but also here, on his Instagram, his Facebook and even purchase artworks here.

My father was (now a Professor at RMIT in Melbourne) an engineer who excelled at technical drawing and taught all of us kids how to draw at a very young age. I’ve always loved art, but no where near as much as my brother. I have great respect for my brother following his passion and becoming an artist, because the life of an artist is not an easy one. But he is doing what he loves and that is more than most people can say.

Unfortunately I have stopped drawing. I had a long hard think on why I had stopped. It was partly because of time, and partly because I am competitive. I don’t draw because I cannot compete with the likes of my brother, I am not good enough. But that is an absolutely ridiculous reason, and so I have decided to take it up again. The only way to get better is to keep it up, and hey, I might get some enjoyment out of it and that is what really counts.

2017 52 challenges in 52 weeks

I am on holidays with next to no cash and so I am getting pretty bored. In my boredom I read Mark Zuckerberg’s most recent post on Building Jarvis. In this he details how his personal challenge for 2016 was to build a simple AI to run his home and tells of how much he has learnt and grown along the way. I was inspired, and it is what finally got me started on this WordPress blog.

You see I find holidays boring because I struggle without purpose. During medicine we get pushed pretty hard, there are numerous deadlines and always ways to better ourselves. There is something to strive for, I have drive. I use that drive to push me to exercise, be productive and it is integral to my happiness. When we start holidays it is great, initially, but after a while the drive is gone. This is good, because without the drive I can finally relax – after all that is what holidays a for right? Yet I get conflicted because without the drive I do nothing, I lose purpose, lose happiness and fall into all too familiar patterns of depression. Anyway, this got me thinking of ways to ensure that I always have some sort of purpose to ensure I can keep a healthy amount of relaxation with happiness intact. This got me thinking about challenges.

In thinking of challenges I came across a number of helpful articles on challenges and I stumbled across this LifeHack article on Seven 52 Week Challenges for an Incredibly Productive Year, which lead me to Kincavel Korner‘s blog post on 52 things in 52 weeks. In this blog series she has posted 52 achievable challenges each year for the last FIVE YEARS! This was exactly the kind of inspiration I was looking for and so I have decided to do my own.

52 challenges in 52 weeks

Challenges complete (18/52)  Challenges in-progress (4/52)  Challenges abandoned/failed (30/52)

Fitness goals:
1. Sign up for a triathlon for the end of the year
2. Weights 2x/week e.g. weights 104x in the year (0/104)
3. Increase upper body strength and appearance – monthly portraits (0/12)
4. Weekly weigh ins – aim for body fat %12 currently 18% (wrong way!?)
5. Start on creatine
6. Start yoga –doyouyoga? Stretch, roll and core daily (4/365)
7. Start myfitnesspal
Swimming:
8. Swim 1 km without stopping
9. Swim 1.5 km without stopping
10. Swim 2 km without stopping
11. Work on a pace of 2:00/100m (best pace for the year: 1:46/100m)
12. Swim a total of 150 km in the year (23/150km) unrealistic goal
Running:
13. Run 5km without stopping
14. Run 10km without stopping
15. Run 15 km without stopping
16. Run another half marathon too soon and injured self 2:11
17. Run a total of 500 km in the year (203/500km) – too many injuries
Cycling:
18. Ride 10km without stopping
19. Ride 20km without stopping
20. Ride 30km without stopping
21. Ride 40km without stopping
22. Ride a total of 500km in the year (372/500km)

Health goals:
Mental health:
23. Continue mindfulness meditation everyday (4/365)
24. Keep a journal/continue the BestSelf diary (4/365)
25. Make sure to invite a friend up to Barossa or visit Adelaide at least once a month
Food and drink:
26. Limit junk food to once a month (0/12)
27. Protein smoothies everyday (4/365)
28. Cook something new once a week (0/52)
29. Use a new vegetable once a month (0/12)
30. Take a cooking class

Medicine goals:
31. Learn something new every week
32. Complete the Doctors in Training program
33. Aim to get higher than 50% of cohort in progress tests
34. Refresh 2^nd year subjects weekly e.g. cardio/resp/renal/GIT/MSK/neuro
35. Attend the medicine events, e.g. pub crawls, dinners
36. Look into 4th year overseas elective options

Financial goals:
37. Keep to a budget and aim so save at least $5000 – saved $4000 so close

Entertainment:
38. Watch IMDB’s top rated movie list (83/250)
39. Watch the 2017 Golden Globe movies (3/20)
40.See the 2017 Marvel movies (3/3)
41. Read 12 novels (3/12)
42. Complete an escape room

Hobby goals:
43. Draw something once a week (0/52)
44. Start a blog and post weekly updates in a blog (0/52)
45. Learn French by completing Beginner A1 in busuu (18/100)
46. Try the 0 trash in 30 days challenge
47. Start a compost heap
48. Start a vegie garden
49. Take a daily photo and post to Instagram (3/365)
50. Make cups out of beer bottles
51. Keep succulents/cacti
52. Make a new 52 week challenge for 2018