[Karen]

I continued with the Longsword Fundamentals today and worked through more cuts for about 1.5 hrs.

[Karen]

I had a really rough day mentally, so I decided to start at the very basics and am working my way through the Longsword Fundamentals. I’m really taking my time with practicing all the cuts.

[Karen]

Things I would like to improve:

– Wake up at a more reasonable time (the pandemic has steadily shifted it later and later)
– Eat less sugar
– Do more consistent strength training
– Incorporate stretching sessions

We’re trying out a morning routine right now:

– wake up by alarm at 8am
– Eat 30 grams of protein without 30 minutes (this one is really, really rough; I’ve never hated breakfast more…so hard to choke down)
– 15 minute meditation
– 10/15 minute flow
– Write in journal/plan day

Evening:
– Minimum daily effort exercise if not done yet (usually this means pushups, squats, something like that)
– Bed at 10pm, lights out at 11pm
– No phones in the bed, only books or journaling

[Karen]

My main blocks related to this, as I see them now, are:

– It is too complicated to learn, I don’t know what I’m doing and never will.
— It is complicated, and it takes a lot of time to learn. I need to break it down in small steps, spend time with each and go as slow as I need to, and repeat often.

– I am not coordinated enough

— I use the cookie jar concept from David Goggins: I have stored previous wins around this kind of topic and take them out when things get rough. In this case, fighting with a rapier and dagger also felt totally impossible when I started, but after a while it felt much easier.

– Everyone else in this course knows more than me and has more experience, so I will not be able to keep up or look stupid. This breeds anxiety and fear
— You all do know more, that’s just true. Keeping up requires putting in the work. And I bet you all also looked awkward when you first started out.

– I will fall behind and become too overwhelmed to catch up.
— Put in the work. Cancel other things if need be. Ask Daniel for help.

For me the main thing to deal with all these blocks is to make sure I approach the course with a lot of integrity: Commit, show up, do the work, make sure I know I’m doing all I can do.

My main supports are Daniel, my teacher, and a close friend. I will involve each of them in different parts if needed.

[Karen]

I use a paper journal to write in everything related to the course: notes, plans, logs. It requires me to slow down and actually be present to what I am trying to do or record.

I’m receiving a new phone soon, and may experiment there with other kinds of apps for tracking or timing. For now, I use Google Task reminders and Outlook.

[Karen]

First of all I want to say that I love Stela’s goals, they were very inspiring!

For myself, for now my course goals are:

– Finish the course
– Hand in all assignments on time and don’t fall behind
– Learn all the cuts, guards, terms, names, concepts, etc. (Doesn’t mean I need to be able to do them all correctly, but just so I actually know what we’re talking about 😆)
– Learn to do flow exercise comfortably and smoothly
– Try everything with honest effort

These might evolve, and I’ll roll with that when it happens.

Longer term goals:

– Feel comfortable with a longsword as a weapon
– be able to spar with Daniel or Paul (teacher) without feeling out of my depth
– be comfortable enough with a sword that it becomes part of my identity

Time budget:

– In this moment I’m planning 1 hr a day Mon-Fri for practice, reading, homework.
– Friday recording day
– Friday call, Sunday call

I will plan more specific ‘when’ week to week because that is work dependent.

I don’t yet have a daily training routine, I’ll have to develop that as we go along. For now, I try and do parts of the flow exercise every morning for about 10/15 minutes.

[Karen]

I would love to see your setup in Notion 🙂

I downloaded it but it has so many options that it’s a bit overwhelming, it looks great though!