site banner

Wellness Wednesday for August 26, 2026

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

2
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

New Year's resolution check-in:

  • Went to the gym three times last week and again yesterday evening. There's obviously something wrong with my squat form: the last two times I did squats, my lower back gave me hell that night. Last night was no exception, and it's still quite stiff this morning. Will have to drop down to a lower weight to correct my form. I can deadlift 1.82x my bodyweight, squat 1.33x and bench press 0.77x.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.

How goes it @self_made_human, @thejdizzler, @birb_cromble, @ThomasdelVasto and @falling-star?

On a meta note I am impressed that we are continuing to do these nearly 8 months into the year!

  1. Work: Quantifying images this week which I find to be extremely tedious. Accepted the position to start in May, so have a firm deadline to graduate, which is nice.
  2. Fitness. Another week another 63 miles. Weight is dropping slight (at 166 again) which is good. Feeling prepared for the marathon. Hours: 8.1 running, 1 swimming.
  3. Intellectual stuff: Started reading Lenin, finished Feast and two of my Spanish books. Hoping to get one more good blog post in this month. Spanish Immersion hours last week: 6.** Blog posts this month**: 2
  4. Finances: No ZIM divvy, but will definitely be below 4k for this month. Beginning to house hunt in Baltimore. Monthly spending so far: 3657.
  5. Dating. Second date sunday, have a third date coming up with the same girl on Thursday at my house! Really want to completely quit porn and masturbation and I think this potential relationship is giving the motivation to actually do so.
  6. Tarot. Discussed my old roommates romantic life, and how I should wrap up my PhD.
  7. Socializing: Long run with my friend Jeff on saturday, potluck later that day, and helping new roommate move in last week.
  8. Screen time: 1.9 hours. Too much scrolling.
  9. Meditation: 5 minutes 3x last week. Would like to make this more of a priority.