Day 5 complete 
I had a wonderful day today. Fulfilled from studying the scripture today. I have a tendency to make my mind wonder to temptation but I haven’t given up hope. I know that one day time will pass and I will be where I was before.
Daily Bible Reading
Prayer meditation for 20 minutes
Did some exercise today.
Motivational Verse
Matthew 4:5-7
5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
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Day 5 check in
Today went well. Got some stuff done. I even woke up to my alarm clock and stayed out of bed for once!
I can’t help but notice I’ve been developing some fear that I might still fail. Tbh guys, I have a girl that I’ve been getting closer to, but I haven’t asked the question and I’ve kind of siked myself out over it. I feel like I have to do this to be “ready.” I recognized that it’s taken my mind to act like I’m doing this primarily for her, but I am consistent in telling myself that it is for God!
Bible
Music
Prayer time
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I and your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” ISAIAH 41:10
Welcome @Walnes. Great to have you here! I understand a past like that can be hard to forget. We’ll get through this.
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Day 4 check in
We had a family get-together today, so I was pretty busy. I haven’t done the daily Bible reading yet. If I complete it I will update this post.
Fairly busy and productive.
Daily Bible reading. Not yet.
Took a walk (but got sidetracked in a local hardware store while I was out)
More trip planning. So much detail to figure out.
[?] Being engaged…kinda? Hopefully moreso this evening as I wind down for the day.
Tomorrow’s goals: Again, be more intentional about setting time aside to spend with the Lord. Also, travel to my Mom’s, and make decent progress on SCUBA certification online course.
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Day 6 check in
Today was a bit slower, I found myself lacking energy. I can’t wait for my arm to feel better so I can get back into a normal fitness routine. But I’m going to church this evening for new years eve and then hanging out with friends. I’m feeling good about it.
Bible study
Guys being that I have no idea what time zone you all are in, I’ll just go ahead and say Happy New Year! I think it’s awesome to have gotten a head start on the year with this group and to grow in faith and discipline further in 2025.
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Day 5 check in (a little late, but I’ll pretend it’s the same day)
Traveled to my Mom’s today and had a small New Years celebration. So not a lot of exercise today, but that’s OK.
Productivity - not bad
Daily Bible reading
More or less engaged.
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Day 6
Well, I did it again 
I put off Bible reading until late, and now it’s almost 1:00am. There was a kid in our church who read scripture a couple of weeks ago, and when he came to the word “idolater” in the passage he pronounced it as “I do later”. I don’t think it was on purpose, but it has stuck with me since. I keep putting other things before God. I don’t plan to ignore God, it’s just that I tell myself I’m going to spend time with Him “later”.
Productivity - not bad. I did more SCUBA course work. But I also got distracted a lot by the internet.
Brief cold shower. I need to work my way back up to where I was in tolerance.
Not much exercise
Did not complete daily Bible reading
Not too engaged today either.
Not really a great day, altogether. I hope and pray I will do better tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s goals: (1) prayer/Bible study before getting out of bed. (2) Going to the pool to assess my swimming abilities. I’m scheduled for SCUBA lessons next Friday and Saturday. (3) Keep working on the SCUBA course
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Day 7 check in
Forgot to check in yesterday with new years activities. Still going good. I do feel a little bit sluggish. But I understand that is part of this process. Still not an excuse to slow down other things.
Bible Study
Hang out with an old friend
I added a new challenge this year. I’ve been thinking a lot about my life and I want to make this year for relationships. I don’t mean romantic ones, but rather building back up some good friendships that I have faded away from recently. I also want to help my family get closer. Tonight I’m meeting up with a childhood friend that I haven’t seen in a while and catching up. I can’t wait!
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Day 7
Not bad today. I spent a little time reading and praying before getting out of bed this morning, and have read two chapters this evening. I might change my daily reading goal to focus less on amount read though. And maybe I should develop the habit of having a quiet time with my morning tea/coffee - it’s not always easy to concentrate when I first wake up.
Daily Bible reading - not the entire set I had planned though
Productivity
Exercise - I went to the pool today to practice my swimming skills. I think I’m a bit out of shape. It really tired me out!
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Day 8
Great day! Today I just felt good about my situation, this challenge, and what I have too look forward too. I got my reading done, played some music, and spent good time in prayer.
Bible time
Prayer
music
“The Lord is on my side: I will not fear. What can man do to me?” PSALM 118:6
@MrSam105 very good idea. I’ve learned you can’t focus on quantity with scripture. Only quality. A while ago, I read the first 9 books of the bible myself and just focused on quantity, and I ended up not catching on to many things. I turned around and restarted using a podcast with it. Father Mike Schmitz goes into detail and makes scriptures so much easier and understandable. I’m only 6 books in, but I’ve raised my understanding exponentially when disregarding quantity.
January 03, 2025 Friday
Day 8 complete
I had a wonderful day today. I didn’t do nothing at all. Just used the time mostly to reflect. I have been taking time today to reflect on what to do with my time now that I am out of this habit.
Daily Bible Reading
Prayer meditation for 30 minutes
Did some exercise today.
Motivational Verse
Hebrews 4:12 (KJV) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Day 8
Not a bad day. I think I prayed some before getting out of bed, although I was fairly groggy. Did some scripture reading with morning coffee, some more this evening.
Daily Bible reading
Productivity - more swimming practice, more online SCUBA coursework, more job hunting
Exercise - this swimming is exhausting!
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Well guys, I had a setback this morning.
I woke up to my alarm, but I didn’t want to get out of bed yet. So I brought my phone over and started scrolling. It only takes like 15 minutes flr algorithms to put something across that is triggering. I get overly confident and went against one of my strategies of keeping my phone out of bed in the morning. I feel the same building up, but I know I have to keep that under control. I’m being optimistic in saying I made it 9 days comfortably, I just lost focus this morning.
Proverbs 24:16 “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again…”
I reflect and gain some confidence when I realize I never quit, I always turn around and say “I’ll start again”
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January 05, 2025 Sunday
Day 10 complete
I had a wonderful day today. I didn’t do nothing at all. Just used the time mostly to reflect. I have been taking time today to reflect on what to do with my time now that I am out of this habit. I am taking each day at a time time to motivate myself to be stronger.
Daily Bible Reading
Prayer meditation for 30 minutes
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Day 10.
I didn’t check in yesterday. It was a bad night. The day was OK, but in the evening I relapsed. Up half the night edging. Then spent a lot of time sleeping today to recuperate. Anyway, for today so far:
Daily Bible reading - I did some reading earlier, and I plan to wrap up the day reading scripture.
Productivity - not great. I applied to one job. Moved some stuff out of my old office.
Exercise - nope
Hopefully tonight and tomorrow will go better.
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Day 10
Things did not go in my favor today either. We had a bad snow storm leaving me without much to do at work or at home. After being bored at work all day, the phone use continued at home, and I sucked myself into it. My focus has been rough the last few days. I have to kick myself in gear once again.
The good news, immediately after relapse, I pulled myself up and got a workout in, devoted some time to God, listened to scripture, and played music.
Prayer time
Bible study
workout
music practice
I’m definitely in kind of a rut. I could use some prayers to help my focus. I’m praying for you all now. Tomorrow is a new day
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Day 11
A little better today.
Daily Bible reading
Productivity - ok…had a visit with my mother and grandmother today, and tried to work out my prospecting trip plan some more.
Exercise - again, no. I was pretty tired out and took a nap this afternoon.
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My check in for yesterday Day 11
Had a decent day. Still kind of feeling the shame from the past. I’m working on it.
Bible podcast
Prayer time
Very light workout (testing to see if my arm is good to go again)
Relationships, played a game with my parents this evening. Went well
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Day 13
I didn’t check in yesterday. It wasn’t a bad day, I was just busy. Part of that was because I was visiting family and had something going on at my Church. Part of that was because I was playing a game on the computer in the evening. Anyway, here is today’s check in:
Daily Bible reading
[/] (Half a check mark) Productivity - OK, but I slept until 10:30 this morning and napped this afternoon. I had some kind of flu-like thing over the weekend, and I don’t know if I’m still fighting that off, or what. Maybe just getting lazy. I don’t think I applied to any jobs today. I did work on moving some things out of a storage unit, and worked on putting together a piece of equipment for prospecting.
Exercise - I feel like I have been slacking on this. I opted for stairs instead of the elevator in the indoor storage facility twice. Other than that, not much exercise.
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