This is an accountability post and a running list of my attempt at spending more time with myself, self-discipline, frequent reading, writing, physical activity, less Instagram and more *Arabic… Starting December 1, ending March 31. It’s not intended to be impressive.
*Arabic is the only thing I currently practice daily (704 consecutive days as of 03/02/22) however, that’s on Duo Lingo, for script/Modern Standard Arabic. I need to practice Darija (Moroccan Arabic).
** I DID IT! 4 months of reading, practicing American Sign Language, frequent physical activity, daily practicing of Arabic and by the end, no Instagram use for several weeks. I’m so proud of myself. I should take this down but I’ll keep it here as my reminder that I can do anything I sent my mind to.
MARCH 2022
The plan is to bug the ASL department until someone lets me take one of next semester's classes this semester. Otherwise, practice ASL and Arabic at least once for each, each week. I'll stay off Instagram for another month, read one book and read as much of New Daughters of Africa as I can on a 3 week loan from the Library. Keep up weekly swimming and engage in physical activity at least 2 other days each week.
Summary
Well, I didn’t get to read New Daughters of Africa at all and I swam only once but I stayed off Instagram, read 2 books (Bitter and Deaf Again and practiced Arabic daily on Duo Lingo (over 730 day streak). I also practiced ASL over 20 days and engaged in physical activity for a total of 11 days.
Day 1: Started reading Bitter by Akwaeke Emezi
Day 2: Read Bitter. Emailed another professor to let me into ASL II.
Day 3: Got a seat for ASL II. Swam for 45 mins. Read bitter.
Day 4: Finished reading Bitter. Walked for 20 mins.
Day 5: Started reading Deaf Again for ASL II.
Day 6: Read Deaf Again. Walked 40 mins.
Day 7: Finished Deaf Again.
Day 8: 20 mins work out.
Day 9: REST
Day 10: Completed 14 ASL quizzes for Deaf Again. The semester starts in 2 weeks but I’ll be going on vacation 2 weeks before the end of the semester so I need to keep this pace or finish earlier so I don’t have any school work due while I’m in vacation.
Day 11: ASL, all of 6.1
Day 12: ASL 6.2
Day 13: ASL 6.3 and 6.4. Walked 20 mins
Day 14: ASL 6.5. 30 mins yoga
Day 15: Finished ASL Unit 6 (2 weeks down, 6 to go). 20 mins yoga, 20 mins walk
Day 16: 25 mins walk
Day 17: REST
Day 18: ASL 7.1 and 7.2. 30 mins workout
Day 19: REST
Day 20: ASL 7.3 (3 weeks down, 5 to go - I’m officially 3 weeks ahead of schedule because classes actually start tomorrow)
Day 21: ASL 7.4 and 7.5
Day 22: ASL 1 hr
Day 23: REST
Day 24: ASL 1hr
Day 25: ASL 1 hr. Walked 25 mins
Day 26: Finished ASL Unit 7 videos, did 8.1 (4 weeks down, 4 to go). 20 mins workout.
Day 27: ASL 8.2. 30 mins workout
Day 28: ASL 8.3
Day 29: REST
Day 30: REST * FYI that when I “rest on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it means I worked at my Private Practice.
Day 31: ASL Tutoring and Unit 8 videos. 5 weeks down, 3 to go.
FEBRUARY 2022
Wrote this on Feb 01: The plan is to stay ahead of my American Sign Language (ASL) class and be done with the semester this month, no Instagram AT ALL and remain consistent with yoga or general physical activity. ASL is very demanding so I’m not committing to any reading this month.
Summary
I did it! Completed my fast-track ASL semester and completed over 700 days of consistently practicing Arabic on Duo Lingo. I did not have Instagram on my phone all month. I did take a peek once or twice, because I'm signed in on my work desktop, but cumulatively "looked" at Instagram for definitely less than an hour the entire month... I'm very proud. I wasn't as physically active as I would have liked but I picked up weekly swimming and I'm okay with it. I also wasn't planning on doing any reading this month but ended up reading Where The Crawdads Sing the last 2 days of the month... so overall, I'm just really fucking proud of myself.
Day 1: ASL
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: ASL for less than an hour
Day 4: Finished Feb 13 ASL responsibilities (4 weeks down, 4 to go)
Day 5: Less than an hour of ASL 😂. It’s 5 days in and I’ve collectively spent less time on ASL than any day in January and I haven’t engaged in any form of physical activity. This is not a great start. Still, we meouve!
Day 6: ASL all day, 15 mins yoga
Day 7: Started Feb 27 ASL classwork
Day 8: 20 mins yoga. Finished Feb 20 ASL... 5 weeks down, 3 to go
Day 9:
Day 10: Swam for 45 mins
Day 11: ASL
Day 12: ASL, yoga
Day 13: ASL aaalll day (this is my life now)
Day 14: 20min walk. Started March 6 ASL
Day 15: Finished Feb 27 ASL classwork... 6 weeks down, 2 to go
Day 16: REST
Day 17: 45 mins swim
Day 18: Laser hair treatment, can't sweat for 24-48hrs
Day 19: Had 24hrs of an emotional whirlwind, saw a townhouse I liked online, got my realtor to get us a reservation, saw it and fell in love, indicated interest and got all paperwork... unfortunately, all of Austin fell in love with it too and my money was too short for the bidding war. I'm still incredibly sad by this and have decided to give up on buying for now.
Day 20: Yoga 30mins. ASL all day
Day 21: Finished March 6 ASL (7 weeks down, 1 to go). Started March 13 ASL classwork
Day 22:
Day 23:
Day 24: 45 mins swimming
Day 25: Finished my first semester of ASL 2 weeks early - while taking a compacted 8 week semester, instead of 16 weeks. There's no reason I didn't finish on the 22nd or yesterday but I deserve the rest I got and I'm VERY proud of myself!
Day 26: 45 mins Full Body Conditioning *Reached out to my advisor to see if the school will let me take one of next semester's classes this semester, for another expedited 8 week semester... I'm an overachieving hazard to myself!
Day 27: 45mins Intro to Ballet. 45 mins Intro to Pilates Reformer. Started reading Where The Crawdads Sing
Day 28: Finished reading Where The Crawdads sing. 30mins walk
JANUARY 2022
*Wrote this on Jan 1: The plan is to finish reading New Daughters of Africa (failed!), practice Darija for at least 20 days (picked up ASL instead and was consistent so, win?), spend less than 24hrs of screen time on social media (win) and engage in more strenuous physical activity (idk who I thought I was).
Summary
I practiced yoga for 23 days, practiced Darija only 6 days because I signed up for American Sign Language certification and practiced it almost everyday once I started classes, read up to 40% of New Daughters of Africa (got up to only 17% last month lol), clocked 674 consecutive days of practicing Modern Standard Arabic on Duo Lingo and spent less time on ig at 19hrs and 30 - better than last month but way more than I would prefer. Overall, I’m kinda proud!
Day 1: Invited 21 friends to join me for
30 days of Yoga With Adrienne. Borrowed New Daughters of Africa again and started reading from my 19% completion. Practiced Darija. Did an entire, fucking hour of yoga!
Day 2: 30mins of yoga. Practiced Darija Day 3: Read NDoA. Practiced Darija
Day 4: Read NDoA. 45mins of yoga. Darija
Day 5: 30 mins of yoga. Signed up for a semester of American Sign Language! Why? Not too sure. I also signed up for an 8 week semester, instead of 16 weeks. Why? Not sure, but I'm convinced it will end in tears, my dears.
Day 6: 30 mins of yoga. NDoA. Got laser hair treatment today so I can’t do anything strenuous for at least 24hrs :(
Day 7: REST! Downloaded ig (screen time 2hrs 35)
Day 8: 45 mins yoga, Arabic, NDoA. Deleted IG (4hrs 8)
Day 9: 30mins of yoga, NDoA
Day 10: 20 mins of yoga, NDoA
Day 11:30 mins of yoga, NDoA... a consistent queen!
Day 12: 25 mins of yoga. Started ASL classes today and completed Jan 23 responsibilities. Arabic might suffer yet again because I don't have the bandwidth to learn and complete my Sign Language weekly tests while learning Arabic. At least, I'm still practicing daily on Duo Lingo, sometimes only for 2 minutes but listen... I'm trying.
Day 13: 24mins of yoga. Practiced Darija. Started Jan 30 ASL work.
Day 14: NDoA, 20mins of yoga, ASL
Day 15: REST
Day 16: 45mins yoga, Darija, ASL, read January edition of Aramco World
Day 17: NDoA, ASL aaaaalllll freaking day! IG 56mins, don't look at me 😂
Day 18: Finished Jan 30 ASL class work (2 weeks down, 6 to go), 20 mins yoga, NDoA, IG 2hrs 32
Day 19: 50 mins of yoga, Started Feb 6 ASL
Day 20: 45mins swimming, NDoA - it will be “collected” tomorrow… I’m at 40%. Not great but definitely better than last month.
Day 21: 45mins yoga, ASL
Day 22: ASL
Day 23: ASL aaaaallllll day, 13 mins yoga
Day 24: ASL for 6hrs after an 8hr work training. I actually went to sleep at 2am on the 25th and only got 4hrs and 30mins of sleep. This is not sustainable... I regret it!
Day 25: Yoga for 25mins. Finished Feb 6 ASL. Started Feb 13. Slept for 6 hours. I'm trying to stay 2 weeks ahead so that when I eventually slack, I'll have time to catch up. Anyhoo, 3 weeks down, 5 to go. Pray for me.
Day 26: 25mins yoga. I'll be sleeping loooong tonight!
Day 27: Happy 35 me! 20 mins yoga
Day 28: 40 mins yoga. ASL
Day 29: ASL
Day 30: 20 mins yoga. ASL
Day 31: 55mins yoga. ASL aaallll day, started Feb 20 responsibilities with just a few videos left to turn on for Feb 13 responsibilities. Deleted IG. Ended strong!
DECEMBER 2021
Summary
I read 4.2 books, read 3 professional publications, sent handwritten snail mail to friends, did some form of physical activity for 23 days, was on IG for 21 days (made posts/stories for __ days) and my approximate, cumulative use of “social” screen time for the month was about 33 hours and 53 minutes. I’ll do better for screening out just IG use next time but I basically lost an entire fucking day to my phone in a month where I used my phone less than normal 😲. Overall, I think this is a great start but the plan is to do better.
Deets
Day 1: Epic FAIL! Did my last Instagram giveaway, tested positive for Strep Throat. No work out, no reading, no Arabic, too much social media (6hrs 31mins)… mostly due to said giveaway and being home sick but still a massive fail.
Day 2: Didn’t work again, sick! Read all of The Days of Silence, 30 mins of restorative yoga (Down Dog app… the one with the puppy logo), way too much social media (6hrs 52mins) rounding up giveaway.
Day 3: Started reading Nearly All The Men In Lagos are Mad. 30 mins restorative yoga. A little less social media but still too much at 5hrs 52mins.
Day 4: Finished reading Nearly All Men In Lagos Are Mad. Way less social media because (1hr 10mins), deleted Instagram. 30 mins restorative yoga.
Day 5: Finished reading Attached. Redownloaded Ig (37mins) to ask if anyone wants snail mail. Physical activity - cleaning… this counts, don’t @ me lol
Day 6: Deleted Instagram 1hr on socials. Read Counseling Today Oct, AramcoWorld Nov and started Started The House of Spirits. 15mins yin yoga.
Day 7: 30 mins Chair yoga. Read House of Spirits(HoS)
Day 8: 30mins Hatha yoga. Read HoS
Day 9: 15mins Yin yoga. Read HoS
Day 10: 1hr trail walk. Downloaded ig (to create a reel lol)
Day 11: 10mins Hatha yoga. Posted reel. Borrowed a digital copy of New Daughters of Africa (NDoA) from my Library and started reading it even though I’m barely a quarter through the dense HoS, NDoA requires slow reading and needs to be returned soon. Self-imposed tragedy is my native tongue.
Day 12: Deleted ig. Continued reading HoS. 15 mins upper body workout. Welp! It’s day 12 and I’m yet to practice Darija… not even shwiya 😭
Day 13: 15mins High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Read HoS
Day 14: 30mins Full Yoga practice. Read HoS and NDoA
Day 15: Read HoS
Day 16: Read HoS. 20 mins chair yoga, 1 hr walk
Day 17: Finished reading HoS
Day 18: 20 mins Yin yoga, Read New Daughters of Africa (NDoA)
Day 19: Read NDoA I’ve decided December is for reading and January will be for Arabic. Once I get into a rhythm with Arabic, I can merge it with reading in February. Downloaded ig, 5hrs 48mins 😭
Day 20: 15mins restorative yoga. IG 2hrs11
Day 21: 10mins walk, 20mins yoga. Read NDoA. IG 3hrs 6
Day 22: IG 32mins. 15mins full practice yoga
Day 23: IG 13mins
Day 24: IG 24mins. Read NDoA. 1hr walk
Day 25: IG 12 mins. Read NDoA
Day 26: Started reading The Namesake. Read NDoA. IG 21mins. 50mins walk
Day 27: Read The Namesake. IG 25mins… deleted IG. Loan for New Daughters of Africa expired… I was only 19%in 😅. I’ll rent it again once I’m done with Namesake and have it be the only book I read in January while I focus on Arabic
Day 28: 30 mins Gentle Yoga. Read Counseling Today Nov.
Day 29: 30 mins Gentle Yoga. Read Namesake
Day 30: finished reading The Namesake
Day 31: 30 mins of yoga
