June 2017 By The Numbers

The Mayday Project — Monthly Review

Ryan Ludman
Jul 10, 2017 · 6 min read

The “honeymoon” period of the lusty month of May is over and June brought many challenges, blown in with the dry California heat. I’ve also had many tiny victories over the month, from unexpected surprises to the sheer fact that I’m still here and writing. Since the end of June also marks the end of the first half of 2017, I’ll take a look at some facts and figures regarding the first half of the year.

I’ve been tracking my blood sugar fairly consistently over the past month, capturing my fasting blood sugar first thing in the morning, before eating. My blood sugar has steadily risen over the month, as I haven’t been watching my carbohydrate intake as much as I would have liked. Fortunately, my overall blood sugar as measured by my Hg A1C has gone down by 1.2 points (a 15% decrease) is quite huge. I still have a long way to go to get my blood sugar under control, but I know what I need to do to lower it and and I know I am able lower it with diet and exercise.

This month, I only weighed myself once, at the end of the month. As you can see from the chart below, I am still below my starting weight at May 1, but I weigh more than at the end of last month. Though I am up a bit, my overall weight is trending downwards. Measuring weight is tricky. My weight can fluctuate by several pounds in a day which can be a discouraging way to start the day. However, not monitoring my weight regularly over 30 days, keeps me out of touch of my weight. I think I’m going to stick to a weekly weigh-in just to stay in touch with this measurement.

I recorded my steps for the month of June using my iPhone and Apple Watch. As the heat increased in June (up to over 100 degrees) my outdoor exercise slowed. You can see the number of steps per day in blue compared to the recorded high temperature in red. My exercise definitely trended downward as the outside temperature increased. I don’t mind going to the gym, but it can be very busy at times and since it’s far from home, I can’t really go late in the evening as I would like. This is something I’m going to have to think about. Some options are getting a new gym, working out at home, walking in the early morning hours, or just holding on until the heat breaks and walking when I can.

In the month of June, I didn’t work on my novel at all. I’m still stuck at about 20,000 of 60,000 words and I don’t think that I’ll be able to make my goal as planned. This is a little sad to me as I really hoped to complete this in three months, but it might take a little longer. I have written 12 Medium articles in June with my own drawings, charts and graphs. I’m very proud of what I’ve written and I am happy with my committment. Even though I haven’t worked on my novel, I feel very proud to continue writing, almost every day, and focus on my health and wellness.

Something strange happened on June 19, the article Obsessed: Bullet Journals that I published five days earlier, suddenly got 600 views, then 700 views and eventually it’s been viewed over 4000 times. The number of my followers has increased ten-fold on Medium. Even more poeple are reading and commenting on my articles. Most articles don’t get anywhere near that attention, but that’s ok with me. It’s nice to see appreciation for something that I’m working hard on.

Since I’ve started writing on Medium, I’ve written 42 articles, gaining 463 followers, who have read 5645 these articles times and recommended them 284 times. I’ve been promoted to a top writer in the Health, Self Improvement and Productivity areas. I’m still trying to find my audience, my reading tribe, but I feel really blessed that so many people have read my work.

Just this week I visited Alaska, my 45th state visited in the United States. I still need to visit Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and South Carolina. I have friends in several of these places so I know I’ll have no difficulty getting to these states in the next few years.

This year I’ve six professional musicals and one musical at the local children’s theater. I’m so lucky to have had a chance to see so many great musicals, even though the experiences aren’t always great. I need to get out and see some more children’s musicals as soon as the new season starts, because you know I love them.

After months and months of being in a reading slump (actually since April 2015 after I read A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara) I feel like my slump is over. I’ve read over 28 books this year and I’m still going strong. I’ve made several changes to my reading habits to accommodate reading more books. First, I’ve embraced audio books. Most of the books I listen to are non-fiction, because fiction doesn’t work as well for me on audio. I prefer to listen to books read by their authors, especially if autobiographical. I also listen at 1.25x speed, not to finish quickly, but to keep me interested. Second, I’ve quit books that aren’t working. There are many books out there and if one isn’t working for me half way through, I have to go find one that will. Third, I think I’m giving up literary fiction. I might write an essay about this in further detail. Essentially, I feel compelled to read high-minded, “important” literary fiction books, but they are a lot of work and not much fun. I’m not giving up all literary fiction, but I’m going to read something fun and the opposite heavy, overworked fiction, a book that is relaxing and light. There is so much fun genre fiction out there. I don’t feel like all of my television shows need to be on AMC or HBO, so why do the same for books?

Overall, June was a good month. I didn’t exactly accomplish the goals that I wanted but I discovered some new opportunities and had a lot of great surprises. In July, I plan to meet with a doctor to talk about blood sugar, sleep and general wellness. I have appointments with a dietician, doctor and acupuncturist, and I’m looking to work with more specialists. Finishing June, I feel good. I’m ready to keep going with the Mayday project and continue getting healthier.▪️

The Mayday Project is a personal, total wellness plan. These essays will track my progress and development of the plan. Please follow for tips, ideas, inspiration and what not to do when you’re changing your life.

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Ryan Ludman

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I write personal stories, book reviews, and other essays about productivity, food, and culture.

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