Beaulieu's Book of Betterment

Hello, everyone!

I’ve been keeping a physical journal following my progress using Seductress ZP and Emperor Fitness ST2 ZP, but thought it would be nice to summarize and share it with you all here.

I’ve just finished my first week:

Sunday- I listened to Seductress followed by EF st2 in the morning. I play a team sport, and we didn’t have any scheduled games, but some of my teammates and my coach decided to meet up to play a friendly game in the afternoon. I played a different position than normal, and did really well- some of my teammates even brought up days later! We all went out for lunch afterwards and I thought I noticed several men staring at me (more than normal), especially as I was leaving.

Monday- Rest Day. I woke up before my alarm, in an amazing mood. I had training that evening, and played really well again- my focus was excellent!

Tuesday- Had a great sleep, and woke up before my alarm. Listened to both titles in the morning after waking up. Met with a friend and decided to walk back home instead of taking the train. Had training again in the evening, which went very well again- got compliments from my coach and my teammates.

Wednesday- Woke up very early again. Had an event out of the city that involved socializing with lots of new people. Noticed lots of prolonged eye contact during these interactions. There was one very interesting case- a guy stared at me for a while before engaging me in conversation. He seemed very interested in what we were talking about- lot’s of eye contact- and then suddenly dismissed himself to join another group in a different part of the room as if he had suddenly remembered something. The day ended with making a possible business connection for later down the line!

Thursday- Did not sleep well- was woken up by a massive storm that kept me up for hours. Still woke up before my alarm though, and listened to both titles after waking up. Felt very sleepy the whole morning, but fully ‘woke up’ by noon. Got a lot of work and writing done in the afternoon. Somehow tweaked my knee a bit, so decided against going to optional training on Thursday night. Made plans to start a new running routine (5ks) next week, when the knee feels better!

Friday- Slept really well, making up for the previous night! Was in an excellent mood. Went for a walk in the morning, while the sun was out, and had a very productive meeting in the afternoon, where I was told I’m going above and beyond and am ahead of schedule for my project. Ended up being a good thing I rested my knee on Thursday- it felt much better, and I was asked to step in for another player in a game on Sunday!

Saturday- Slept very well once again, and woke up early. Listened to both titles in the morning. During the week, I read about Ascension Chamber, and decided to add that in after the stack today as well, with some visualization. Had family in town, and went to see a show. After it ended, and we were talking outside the theatre, the lead actor walked by and we made eye contact and exchanged a smile.

Sunday- Woke up feeling refreshed! Had brunch with the family member in town before they had to leave and the restaurant gave me a free ‘dessert’ at the end of the meal, which was a nice treat! Played in the game, and did well, though we lost by one point.

Dreams: I’ve had multiple dreams this week that center on men either asking me out or expressing a romantic interest in me, and me turning them down, which I’ve found very interesting.

Other: I already practice intermittent fasting, but I’ve found my fasting window extended multiple times this week without difficulty. I think I’ve felt less hungry- or rather, I’ve been more easily able to distinguish between boredom, thirst and hunger. I’m typically just needing to reach for my water bottle.

Overall Mood: I’ve felt great this week! Very energized (except Thursday morning), and in an amazing mood.

I’m looking forward to week 2!

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What sport do you play?

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Football (soccer)!

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Nice. Thank you.

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Very nice early results. Eager for updates!

A (slightly delayed) week 2 recap:

I ended up taking an extra rest day at the start of the week, so my listening days were Tues, Thurs, Sat once again.

Monday- Had excellent sleep. The weather has been lovely here the last few days, and I’ve been enjoying my early rises, listening to the birds while I drink a tea and journal! As I planned to go to extra training on Monday evening, I decided to start my running plan on Tuesday morning. Monday trainings are technically for a different team, so I usually play another position and do a lot more running! At training we did a very intense warm up, but then I felt like I didn’t do that much in the end. (Although one move in the warmup aggravated my knee a bit- so at least I know where that comes from!)

Tuesday- Again, great sleep. Very vivid dreams, which I recorded in my dream journal, where other people were commenting on my (lack of) relationship. I listened to both titles in the morning, about an hour before heading for my first run of my new running training program. I set my goal of running 5k. I run during my games and sports all the time, but I’ve never been a very good dedicated runner, but I’d like to improve that! I started a new audiobook that I picked out especially for runs and long walks, and began. I was off to a good start, but about halfway through my knee started to twinge pretty badly, so I decided to run/walk the rest, as I still had training that evening. But I did finish, which I was happy with! Training that evening was a bit chaotic, but very fun.

**Wednesday **- Great sleep, and woke up before my alarm, once again. Had very vivid dreams, possibly influenced by the murder mystery audiobook I’ve been listening to, as I was out solving crimes- I’ll take it. My knee was not super happy with me today, but I did lots of stretches and some yoga and it felt better. I also ordered a knee support just in case. Was sent the proofs of a piece of writing that I’m having published, so spent the day doing preliminary edits on that, which I’ll go over again on the weekend.

Thursday- Slept very well, over 8 hours, but was **extremely ** exhausted all day today after listening to the two titles in the morning. Full body fatigue. I am not a day time napper at all (even as a kid- sorry parents), but I was falling asleep at my desk by noon. Thankfully I work from home at the moment! I decided to listen to my body and not go to the extra training again this Thursday, though I really wanted to.

Friday- Got more than enough sleep, and felt much better than Thursday- all tiredness gone! Another night of vivid dreams- once again related to relationships, although I had a harder time deciphering this one. I’m doing a hiking trip in July, and I’ve been planning some smaller day walks/hikes before then as prep, so I decided to prep some of those and try to plan some dates for them to happen! Did a short-medium walk (6.5 mi total) and met a friend for dinner. It’s been a few weeks since she’s seen me and she mentioned she thought I was in a much happier mood. During that conversation, we were talking about a mutual friend’s wedding I’m attending this summer, and how I don’t think I’ll know anyone there, though I had jokingly asked the bride if there was anyone single she could introduce me to. When I had asked she said pretty much no- most people were married. But during this conversation on Friday the bride texted me and told me she had just been talking about me to one of the (single) guys that will be there!

Saturday- Slept very well. Woke up before my alarm once again. Because of the tiredness on Thursday, I decided to try to listen to the titles in the evening before bed to see if that made a change. Had a productive day- went over my edits and sent in the proof to the editor. Listened to both titles plus Ascension Chamber right before bed.

Sunday- Another night of very vivid dreams- in two distinct parts. First dealing with relationships (very easy to decipher), the second I was some sort of super spy, completing the physical training and all. My team didn’t have a game today, but one of our other teams did, so some of my friends and I decided to go and watch. It was so nice out, I mapped out a walk to the field, and did my first trek of the season. 11 miles! It was on pavement (not ideal), but it was a lovely way to get there. The game was great (a win), and a bunch of us went out for dinner afterwards.

Dreams- As I’ve mentioned- I’ve had very vivid dreams this week. Mostly focused on two themes- relationships and crime/mystery. I definitely can see where these are coming from in my life, though some aspects of the dreams have been much easier to interpret than others.

Other- Just to note, I’ve had some odd experiences with men this last week. I’m really not sure what to make of them, but I thought it would be best to mark it down? On both Monday and Sunday, I had some unpleasant encounters- both somewhat sexual and aggressive in nature. The first one on Monday was definitely drunk, and the second one on Sunday may have also been drunk. I do live in a large city, and unfortunately encounters like these can be par for the course.

A much less terrible experience on Friday afternoon- I was in a park before meeting my friend for dinner, and one two separate occasions, random men sat next to me on a bench, though there were plenty of other available seats (benches completely free). I wouldn’t have minded if they had engaged in conversation, but they kind of just stared at me for a long time. The first time it happened, I moved away from the bench after about 5 long minutes of this man just staring at me, and continued walking in the park. I found another bench on the other side of the park, and minutes later two different guys sat next to me on the bench, stared at me, and then talked to themselves about me. I then left that bench too. Like I said, far, far less terrible than the encounters on Mon and Sun, but it did make me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Overall Mood- I’ve felt really good this week- my friends, teammates, and family have noticed as well.

Looking forward to the week ahead. I may pop in and do some daily updates in addition to the long weekly recaps as well.

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Just stopping by to say that I love the title of this journal.

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Thank you so much!

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Include me in that number too. This is a very interesting and easy read.

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Week 3 Recap-

Monday- Great sleep. Woke up 45 mins before alarm, but still very well rested. Got some writing done, did some research, and discovered a new fun series of historical recipes to try out. No training this evening, as the field was closed. Listened to both titles before bed.

Tuesday- Woke up very well rested. Timetabled and organized myself for the next few weeks, and decided to make a trip out to do a long distance walk next week while the weather is still so nice. So next Wednesday will be my first 20+ mile walk in a long time! Very excited. At training we played one of our teams in a friendly- we were winning by quite a bit (5-0) at the half, so we swapped around some players to make it a bit more fair. On the walk back (we were talking about the average age of the team), one of my teammates made a comment that she thought I was about 7-8 years younger than I actually am, and she was very surprised when I told her my age. I was quite pleased with that!

Wednesday- Had an appointment at 9am on the other side of town. Instead of going through the rush hour commute on public transportation, I decided to wake up a bit earlier and make it a nice morning walk instead! It was about 5 miles, and absolutely lovely. In the afternoon and evening I had 2 video calls with my friend and cousin (and my cousin’s new baby, who I haven’t met yet)! I finished my running/walking audiobook today, and started a new one. Listened to both titles in the evening.

Thursday- Great sleep. Some vivid dreams, which I recorded in my separate dream journal. Had a very productive work day, working outside my house. I even finished all my tasks a bit early. I had brought all my training with me, as I anticipated I would have to rush from there to practice that evening, but I ending up having an awkward amount of extra time, so I decided to walk a bit to a few stations closer, pick up a water, and then head to practice. Had a really nice afternoon walk (5mi) listening to my new audiobook, then had training. Definitely did not eat enough today to support my activities, though. The place where I was working had a no food/beverage policy, so I finished my IF eating window earlier than normal as well. Thursday trainings are 2 hours, and by the second hour I could feel myself lagging a bit. Nothing horrendous, but something I need to keep in mind!

Friday- Slept very well. Met with a friend for breakfast, before I set out for what was going to be a 15 mile walk. Parts of the walk were nice, but the path ended up going through industrial areas a lot of the time, so it wasn’t as refreshing as I would have liked. Also, they seemed to have redone the path recently so most of it was hard pavement which was not what I was wanting or expecting! I decided to cut it a bit short at 12 miles and took a bus the rest of the way home, as I needed to save my feet for my game on Sunday and for my big walk coming up! Still invigorating, though- and very much enjoying the audiobook. Decided to postpone my last listening day til Sat night.

Saturday- Vivid dreams last night, recorded in my dream journal. Felt very well rested in the morning, and well recovered after Thursday and Friday’s activities! Took Saturday as a rest day, although I did get some work and organizing done. Listened to both titles plus Ascension Chamber before bed.

Sunday- Woke up early and ready to go! So nice to have a game again this week, even though it was just a friendly. We had a few people drop out last min due to illness/injury, so had to borrow some players from one of our other teams. We played in a new formation and tried some new plays- some good, some… not my favorite. Despite this, I think we did a pretty good job, especially in the first half. I made some excellent plays as well, which I was very happy with. We ended up with a draw, but I think I can see the path to a really good season starting in the fall, especially if we keep training during the summer.

Dreams- I feel like my dreams have been interesting this week. I’ve had dreams that have felt so realistic they almost feel like memories, in addition to dreams that are very vivid but with obviously unreal scenarios. The memory-like dreams have been a bit difficult to record, as sometimes it’s hard in the moment after waking up if it was a dream, or if it actually did happen!

Overall mood - I’ve felt really good with both titles. I definitely think listening in the evenings before bed is the way to go for me, as well. I do think however, I may need to watch myself on not overdoing in terms of physical activity while on EF St2. I have a tendency towards doing that anyways, so it may be amplified further. I’ve also had some serious considerations of/with myself in regards to how I present to others- both to people I am romantically interested in and in general.

On to the washout period, and we’ll see how it goes!

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