The Guild of Heroes

Guildmaster || 21 F || Scorpio ↑ Cancer ☀ "If living life like an isekai anime or a video game allows me to thrive with the shitty hand I've been dealt, so be it!" || adventurecore || fantasycore || herocore || cottagecore || goblincore || ✨LEVEL UP✨

[leavesofolive]

Guys, whatever happens, never let me travel to a fantasy world. I would die immediately. The second I saw something fluffy, regardless of if it was a beastkin person or a dire wolf or an actual, real, live forest monster, I would risk my life to pet the fluff and die smiling.

[theguildofheroes]

It's good to remind ourselves of our dreams, big and small, so that we can strive for them even while they remain hidden deep in our subconscious.

And we won't have to think about them, because we'll already know in our hearts that all of our hard work will lead up to that precious moment when all of our dreams will come true.

                                                  -----------

For whoever needs to hear this: keep going! Step by step, plant your feet into the soil like roots. Allow each and every accomplishment, no matter how major or minor or anything in between, to become the leaves that shelter you from the rain until you begin to find the answers in the patterns the leaves' shadows cast upon the ground.

Keep moving forward while holding your dreams in your thoughts. Keep living and enjoying life and thriving in all the best ways, but don't allow your dreams to hold you back, either.

Because one day, when your dream is finally in your hands, you'll be able to look back and smile, appreciating the journey you've taken to get to that point, and knowing well that you have lived, loved, and shared fully in the bounty of all that this world has to offer.

And that is the most beautiful ending to any journey.

The knowledge that the last step of an adventure is the first step of the next.

[theguildofheroes]

Today’s Side Quest:  So I had to pick up a part-time waitressing job at the local pizzeria since covid stripped most of my income as a massage therapist. But that’s okay! I’m picking up new skills (namely social skills lol) and meeting various interesting, new people!

Anyway, I just started today, but it’s already really fun! I’m actually pretty excited for tomorrow!

[theguildofheroes]

A tip for leveling up your strength attribute (+strength):

When creating an ideal exercise routine, begin by picking one or two areas of focus. Personally, my current focus is on core strengthening and upper back strengthening. Technically, stretching out my pectorals is part of and attached to that second focus.

Next, choose ten total exercises that aid with your goal. Try to balance them out into two groups of five. Set one (the first five exercises) should be more geared towards building functional muscle and strengthening. Body weight exercises, actual weight training, and HIIT-type exercises are ideal for this set. The second set, aka the second five exercises, should be mostly aligned with increasing endurance, flexibility, and honing the strength acquired from set one. Honing strength is just teaching your body how to effectively use the strength you’ve gained so it becomes functional muscle rather than just muscle for show. Yoga, pilates, swimming, and cardio all fall into this category.

REMEMBER THIS WELL!  MUSCLE FOR SHOW WILL NEVER LAST AS LONG OR SERVE YOU AS WELL AS FUNCTIONAL MUSCLE!!!

The last thing to do, is to figure out what your maxes are for each exercise. Starting with set one, complete it by doing as many reps of each exercise as you can. Don’t push yourself until you’re in physical pain. That isn’t your limit, it’s your foolishness. Your limit is when you begin to feel your muscles begin to weaken. The second your form starts getting sloppy, you are no longer giving your best and that is your limit. Give yourself a breather in between each exercise. After all, these are your maxes. Aka, they are the hardest you can push yourself at this point in time. Either do set two later in the day after you’ve recovered or the next day.

After finding said maxes, begin by doing 2 sets of half your maxes. So if your max amount of push-ups you can achieve is 20, start by doing 2×10. If your max is an odd number, say, 23, then take half rounded up. In this case, 23 would become 11+1, or 2×12.

My current set one routine looks like this: ▢  2×20  Weighted Russian Twists ▢  2×15sec  Dipping Plank ▢  2×30sec  Elbow Plank ▢  2×10  Weighted Crunches ▢  2×15  Weighted Frog Bridges

Usually, I follow a rule of  Set One—Set Two —Set One —Break —Set Two —Set One —Set Two —Break  and then I start over again. After completing that pattern once all the way through, I bump up the routine numbers to 75% of my max. Then after I complete the pattern again with the new numbers, I move the numbers up to my max and once again complete that pattern. Then I reevaluate and observe my new maxes and start over again until I’m satisfied with the results.

This method of exercising takes diligence, but if you aren’t willing to work for it you won’t meet your goals in the first place. Results don’t happen overnight, but this is definitely the best method I’ve found that works efficiently. Eating whole, nutritious foods (aka cutting out most of the sugary processed foods) will speed up the process and help keep the results longer, but doing both exercising and eating well is what will always work best!

Have fun leveling up!

[theguildofheroes]

Recently, I’ve been accomplishing many things! I’ve been learning Japanese, relearning algebra (because I’ve forgotten most of it but I’ll be damned if I continue on in disgrace like this, I’ve got a reputation to uphold), and breaking down and analyzing one of my favorite books, The Great Gatsby, as a project for my main blog.

When you have the time, it’s always a great idea to use it wisely and learn something new! Academics, cleaning tricks, how to take over the continent with nothing but an old wine cork and a rusty screw, cooking, or really any new skillset!

[leavesofolive]

Blessed Ostara everyone!!

[theguildofheroes]

Good News™     My grandma and I went to the Amana Colonies today! I absolutely adore that place. Such cute small villages with all kinds of fun homesteading and cottagecore goodies! Who says Iowa has nothing interesting to do? lol

Bad News™     I totally forgot to take pictures.

Good News™     I had an amazing day and came home to a golden lit bedroom with an aesthetic vibe because my mom did the half-open the curtains thingy and then cracked open the windows and it's like 65 outside so it feels like a late summer afternoon in here. Plus I found an olive leaf scented room spray and a cute woven picnic basket so like I feel like I just stepped into a Greek cottage in a quaint renaissance town.

[theguildofheroes]

Today’s adventure is learned to crochet!

I have overcome the first few challenges, but when I got to the third row my first reaction was “how the fuck do I do this...?”

...which was immediately followed by figuring it out only to drop the stitch in my excitement. Time to start over lol

[theguildofheroes]

Current dilemma:

So my grandmother has decided that she is dragging me out of the house to go on a small road trip on Tuesday no matter what. And don’t worry, with covid we are always super duper careful in my family, masking up and social distancing and whatnot, but it’s true that staying inside with no sunlight or change of pace is horrid for both mental and physical health. So I have no issue with getting outside and am actually pretty excited about it.

The problem is, due to a mix of covid-related circumstances and the fact that it’s still early march and most places are still thoroughly covered with snow with no plant life as far as the eye can see, all of my usual options aren’t available.

Usually, I’d choose a fun bookstore or a yummy cake shop to try, but most are closed due to covid. Same with museums and coffee shops. Botanical gardens aren't in bloom yet, and it's too cold to go hiking at a national park still (and again, nothing is growing yet anyway). Farmers markets are only on Saturdays, not Tuesday when we are going somewhere, and again, the summer one with the actual good shopping hasn't started up yet. A cool art place, an apothecary or tea shop, a nice french-style cafe, somewhere witchy, or a cute shop with stuffed animals or pretty spring clothing would be good too, but those are also all closed.

I think once spring comes into power things will get easier, since I’ll be able to hold socially distanced tea times in my garden and the hiking trails should be reopened by then. But for now, I’ll have to find something interested to tie me over!

[theguildofheroes]

The snow is finally melting! That means I can return to practicing the way of the sword and self-defense soon!

[theguildofheroes]

Side quest complete: I finally got to trade rose water to my friend! I’ve got my dragon carrot seeds now~! Yay!

[theguildofheroes]

Side quest of the day: I need to brew a bottle of rose water so I can trade it to my local friend for some dragon carrot seeds.

[theguildofheroes]

Live life like an adventure. Every task accomplished gives you experience. Every person met opens new dialogue and quest options. Once you level up enough in a certain skill, you can upgrade and learn something better. Gain better equipment from putting effort into side quests and farming the system until those little copper pieces turn to gold.

If you have to live partially in a fantasy of your own design to survive and thrive with the hand you were dealt, so be it. You are the only person who can choose how you view the world around you. And for all of those people I’ve heard repeatedly say, “There’s no adventure left in this world. Everything has been done or explored already,” I call bullshit. Because even though our generation’s adventures won’t be dragon slaying or taking down the demon king in some black castle, there are still plenty of problems in this world that need fixed.

And how else would any good story start?