topic Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025 in Wellness Warriors

Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Thu, 01 May 2025 06:29:20 GMT

Hello, BIC! We have another month of wellness bingo!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and, for this month, we're adding a few new ways to go about caring for our mental health. Some activities are ones that have been part of previous BIC BWell bingo cards; some are activities from past months, reframed in new ways; and some squares include new ways to care for ourselves.

Whether you elect to check back in with activities you've done this month; whether you'd like to work through the activities in the privacy of your own space; whether you're doing this on your own, with a friend or group; whether you've been on here for a while or this is new to you, welcome! So great to have you here!

For more information on how to go about wellness bingo and for a brief description of the activities described in the squares, check out these posts:

@ather @blackkitty2014 @byme4u @caitbird @CorgiMommy @curlychiquita @danielledanielle @Mellmars1185 @peculiarzmakeup @PrettyPaint @Samtian @Shosh85

Apologies if I inadvertently forgot to tag someone. Please feel free to tag anyone I've missed or anyone you think would be interested.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Thu, 01 May 2025 05:11:14 GMT

Welcome to Wellness Bingo for May 2025!

▶️ How To Play - There are several ways to go about this wellness challenge, including, but not limited to:

Go for BINGO, 5 consecutive squares, whether they be 5 squares in a row, in a column or diagonal
Pick a row or column and work your way through the activity noted - you can aim to do a square a day, moving on to another row or column each week.
You can pick a different square you want to work on for each week
Select activities that interest you or challenge you and work towards checking off those squares
Choose at random what self-care activity you want to engage in for the day

For a more detailed description of the self-care activities listed in the squares or examples of how you might go about those activities, check out Description of May 2025 Wellness Bingo Activities.

⚠️ Make Adjustments As Needed - We are all at different stages of our wellness / self-care journey. While it can be good to challenge ourselves, sometimes, it's best to take make adjustments. I'm not at expert at this at all, and if there's an activity that is not something you are ready for, or one that you should not engage in, make the adjustments you need to, or just skip that square altogether.

Be Safe. Consider weather conditions and your health and physical condition before engaging in any activities listed. For activities you're unsure of, especially the physial ones, before starting an activity, consult with your physician or health care professional before make any adjustments, if and as appropriate.

Duration For Activities. As you will see, some activities include in parenthesis a time period. These are arbitrary and should be taken as a suggestion. If you are able to safely spend more time performing the activty, go for it. If it's better to start out with a shorter time period, do so. If you're starting out or are aware of certain conditions that may make it more challenging to engage in the activity listed, please discuss with your physician or health care provider before starting, and adjust accordingly.

Practicing wellness is a process, one that takes time and effort. Sometimes it's about finding what works for you, while other times, it's all about hitting your stride and maintaining your routine. We have our good days ... and our bad ones. Self-care can be a very personal effort - what works for one person may not work for someone else. And, that's okay. It doesn't hurt to have some support and encouragement along the way. Or just knowing that there are others working towards wellness. Wellness takes work. Let's do the work together, BIC!

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Thu, 01 May 2025 05:09:49 GMT

Description of May 2025 Wellness Bingo Activities

FIRST ROW:

Catch up with a friend: Life goes by pretty quickly and we're all busy with so many things. Still, there's something about spending quality time with a friend. Whether it's in person over coffee, for a meal, a walk, spin class, a shopping trip or mani/pedi, or over text or by phone, reach out and connect with someone near and dear to you.

Have a healthy meal: Whether it's home-cooked, store-bought, delivered or you're dining out, sit down and enjoy a nice, nutritious meal.

Learn a new skill (or sharpen an existing one): Have a skill, craft or talent you've been wanting to try? Or, that you've been working on, be it for a week or years? Devote some time this month learning a skill or building on and developing an existing talent or passion.

Brain Teasers: We often associate exercise as self-care with involving some form of physical exertion, but just as we need to work on keeping our bodies healthy and strong, we need to give the good ol' noggin a workout as well. Think puzzles, soduku, logic games, crosswords, some activity that exercises your mind.

Music - Listen, Sing, Dance: Do one, all or any combination of these activities with your favorite tunes. Use music to jumpstart your morning, put some pep in your step in the afternoon, and/or help you to slow down and unwind in the evening. Discovered a fun new tune or have a go-to? Let us know here and/or on the .

SECOND ROW:

Exercise (30 Minutes): Move that body. This is about you, so be sure to adjust according to your body's needs and condition. If you're taking a class, please let the instructor know of any body issues to learn the necessary adjustments you should make.If 30 isn't your number, go with what is a good amount of time for you to exercise given where you are on your physical wellness journey, do what is right for you. As always, check in with your physician or health care provider, if and as necessary.

Wellness at Work: Self-care at work (e.g., office, home, remote location, etc.) will mean different things to different people, but a few examples of what it looks like might include (but is not limited to):

- Pack a healthy lunch and/or snacks

- Stretch - if you spend most of your day in front of a computer, focus on your hands, arms, core, lower back, etc.. If you stand all day, focus some extra time stretching out your legs, calves, ankles, lower back, etc.

- Take your lunch break - don't eat at your desk while working

- Make sure your workspace is ergonomically sound

- Get fresh air

- Stay hydrated

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate: As the weather warms up, remember to keep yourself hydrated every day, whether that means eight 8-oz glasses of water, half your body weight, or some other amount.

Prioritize Sleep: yes, the sun stays out longer and sometimes we do as well. Be sure to be mindful of getting enough sleep.

Fun in the Sun: Enjoy the sunshine and outdoors. Remember sunscreen and even a hat! Here are a few examples of warm weather outdoor activities:

- having a picnic with family and/or friends
- going for a brief walk with a coworker during lunch or for coffee break
- gardening - fruits, veggies, herbs, plants, flowers
- going for a walk before or after dinner with your pets, neighbors, friends, family

- if dining out, consider a table outside

- going to the park, public pool, neighborhood or street festivals

THIRD ROW:

Speak kindly to yourself: Whether it's an "awesome work today" with a pat on the back or a "you did your best" or a "you look great!" or "we'll get this; just gotta keep trying!" speak kindly to yourself.

Practice Gratitude: What or who are the things or people you are grateful for? Some examples for practicing gratitude, include but are not limited to:

- Making an effort / carving out time in your day to be (more mindful) of the people, events and things in your life this week that you are thankful for
- Letting someone know in an email, text, in person, etc. that you are grateful/thankful for them or for something they did
- Writing in a journal about the people, things you appreciate

Free Square: This is your square to check off for doing something related to your wellness, or, doing nothing at all (which, for some of us, may be one of the most meaningful forms of self-care).

Body Care: This can be in the form of exercise or be beauty related. Some examples include:

- Yoga

- Pilates

- Going out for a run

- Stretching

- Exercising

- Getting a massage

- Using a body gua sha

- Exfoliating / using a dry brush

- Moisturizing your skin from head to toe with a body oil or cream

- Using a hand mask or foot mask, or both!

Emotional Wellness: Emotional well being is important. There are any number of things that can cause our emotions to spike or wane. Emotional wellness is not about being "on" or having it together all the time, but sometimes it feels like that's the case. Being emotionally strong, emotionally well is about how we handle the ups and downs that life throws at us; building mechanisms to respond to life's twists and turns and having tools and resources to help with that.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published an article entitled "Emotional Wellness Toolkit" that included "6 strategies for improving your emotional health" and PDF of an emotional wellness checklist that I found interesting. I won't be able to post a link to the site but if you type the following into your search engine - "NIH Emotional Wellness Toolkit", you should be able to pull up the article which includes a downloadable checklist.

This is just one approach. If you have others, please feel free to share.

Please note that neither I, nor to my knowledge (without inquiry) Sephora, are affiliated with the National Institutes of Health.

FOURTH ROW:

Checking In With ... Yourself: When was the last time you checked in with yourself? The brand Calm has a blog article entitled "10 mindfulness questions to help you check in with yourself" that is worth a read. I've listed the questions below. Go through at least 1 question for the square. There's more information in the article and if you're interested in checking it out, type the following into your search engine - "calm.com and check in with yourself" and the article should appear in the results.

1. “How am I feeling right now?”
2. "What does my body need at this moment?"
3. "What self-care action can I take today?"
4. "Is there anything I need to forgive myself for?"
5. "What am I grateful for today?"
6. "What are my needs that aren't being met?"
7. "What accomplishments can I celebrate today?"
8. "How can I be kinder to myself in this moment?"
9. "What's one thing I can let go of that’s not serving me?"
10. "What brings me joy, and how can I incorporate more of it into my life?"

Please note that neither I, nor to my knowledge (without inquiry) Sephora, are affiliated with Calm.

Stretch (30 Minutes): Go for a full body stretch or focus on one or more body parts. If you sit in front of a computer all day, consider spending a good chunk of this time on your hands and wrists, along with your neck, shoulders and core. If you stand all day, maybe you want to focus some extra time on your legs and back.

Plan a screen-free day: Note that the emphasis is to plan for a screen-free day. If you can give it a go this month, great. If not, try to do it some time next month. If a full day seems daunting to you, try half a day. Or, if that feels too much of stretch, start small and go for an hour. The idea is to unplug from our phone, laptops, etc. Of course, if you're expecting a call or if a call comes in that is important and you need to take it, take the call.

Arts - Crafts - Hobbies: Do you enjoy drawing, coloring, knitting, crocheting, sewing, gardening (remember to dress for the weather, and to include SPF)? Do you find it relaxing to visit a museum, cook/bake, take photos, decorate the house, learn a different language, work on puzzles, a DIY project, crafts, go antique shopping, collecting, scrapbooking, etc. Spend some time this month doing the arts, crafts and/or hobbies that bring you joy, make you happy.

Digital Detox Before Bed (30 Minutes): Working my way towards being more consistent with this again. I've been doing a more abbreviated routine for my skincare in the evenings because I've been on my computer for longer periods of time after dinner, but I'm going to try in the coming weeks to come up with a better balanced approach to my digital detox before bed - make it more.

FIFTH ROW:

Pamper Yourself: Do something that makes you feel celebrated, appreciated, cared for. Treat yourself.

Quiet Time - Meditate - Journal - Breathe: Carve out 5+ minutes to reflect on your day, whether at the start of it, in the middle of it, or at the end of it.

Seasonal Fruits & Veggies: Incorporate seasonal fruits & veggies into your meals and snacks - if you don't have seasonal fruits and vegetables readily available to you, go with the ones you have. Make a delicious salad, juice, smoothie, meal, or just munch on them by themselves.

Spring Stroll (30 Minutes): If it's safe to do so, head outside and get some fresh air. Ahhhh! Go for a leisurely (or fast) walk or hike. Depending on the weather where you live, you may need to bundle up before heading outdoors - for some of us, it's still chilly (and possibly wet or snowy) this time of year - or it may be best to just stay indoors. Remember sunscreen, to stay hydrated, and for some of us, to be prepared for battling seasonal allergies.

Read - Audiobook - Podcast - TV/Movie: Carve out 15, 20, or 30+minutes to unwind with a good book, podcast, TV show or movie.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

PrettyPaint — Thu, 01 May 2025 16:17:00 GMT

@itsfi Thanks so much for the tag. I love the new categories, and your formatting is beautiful. I really appreciate you doing this for everyone here. 💗

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

CynthieLu — Thu, 01 May 2025 16:28:44 GMT

Thank you for kicking off another month of wellness! @itsfi 🌷🙏

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

byme4u — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 18:37:22 GMT

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

Mellmars1185 — Thu, 01 May 2025 22:15:28 GMT

@itsfi Thankw for the tag and keeping this wellness challenge going. I am looking forward to participating this month. I am also looking forward to reading what others come up with for their wellness challenge and learn feom eachother!

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

CorgiMommy — Fri, 02 May 2025 01:23:35 GMT

@itsfi thanks for including me, looking forward to working on my self care

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:03:19 GMT

@CorgiMommy, you're welcome; thanks for sharing your self-care activities last month.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:04:31 GMT

@Mellmars1185, love hearing what folks are doing for their wellness activities; always inspiring and motivating. Looking forward to hearing about what self-care looks like for you this month.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:06:17 GMT

@byme4u, yes, yay for another month of working on self-care; love your enthusiasm! Excited to hear what activities are part of your wellness approach this month!

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:08:21 GMT

@CynthieLu, you're welcome. The BIC beauties have provided some great and motivating self-care activities.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Fri, 02 May 2025 22:13:46 GMT

Awww, thank you @PrettyPaint! I know we all have a lot going on; wanted a space to stay connected and motivated with our own wellness. It's fun learning about different self-care techniques.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

blackkitty2014 — Sat, 03 May 2025 16:40:34 GMT

I think I can achieve some of this challenge @itsfi 😘

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

CorgiMommy — Mon, 05 May 2025 01:04:15 GMT

you are welcome @itsfi this is keeping me sane as life has been crazy

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Wed, 07 May 2025 02:41:47 GMT

Yaaay @blackkitty2014 😊! I imagine that many of us have a lot going on in our lives, a lot to manage. Even marking off one square, engaging in one bit of self-care, can be meaningful, helpful.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Thu, 08 May 2025 20:40:34 GMT

First check-in for the month. While I wasn't able to score a bingo, the self-care activities I engaged in this week (which are marked on the wellness bingo card, below, with a pink heart 🩷) were helpful and needed.

Have a healthy meal

Cross Logic app

from NIH Emotional Wellness Toolkit

Have a healthy meal - Made a salad with some frozen ham (from Easter dinner last month), beets, cucumber, eggs, and tomatoes 🥗 🍖🥒🥚🍅 Lightly tossed the greens (mix of little gems and spinach) with olive oil and balsamic vinegar before adding the toppings. Washed it down with an iced matcha green tea.

Brain Teasers - Been playing Cross Logic on my phone about once a week. More often in the early days. 🧩🧠

Music - Listen, Sing, Dance - I’ve been hearing Lola Young’s Messy quite a bit as I’ve been out and about, so I put that on play a few times when I’ve been home. Planning to look for some chill music for downtime and journaling. Will post to when I find something that fits what I'm looking for.

Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate - I’m very happy that I’ve been hitting my water intake target for most of this past week. 👍🏼

Emotional Wellness - I read through the NIH article and determined that the “Get Quality Sleep” is the one that is my biggest hurdle of the 6 strategies presented in the article. I’ve made significant improvements in this area over the last 18+ months but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

The first recommendation for better quality sleep on the "Get Quality Sleep" section is “Go to bed and get up each day at the same time.” I’m much better at the latter - I tend to get up around the same time every day, the majority of time without an alarm. This often occurs even if I don’t go to bed at the same time every night. My circadian rhythm gets an A+ in that regard, I guess. 😉 Getting to bed at the same time isn’t as consistent, but it's something I've been trying (and will continue to try) to work on for the rest of the month (and the ones to follow until I can get it down).

Stretch (30 Minutes) - Decided to break up my stretching this week - 10 minutes in the morning before starting my day; another 10 minutes after lunch, focusing mainly on my hands, wrists, neck and shoulders; and another 10 minutes, focusing on my legs while waiting for dinner to finish reheating. Some nights I added some additional stretching by way of yoga.

Pamper Yourself - I had a gift certificate for a Thai massage 💆🏻‍♀️ and decided this week was the time to redeem it. It was one of those times where you don’t know how much you needed something until after it’s been done. Ahhhh…

Spring Stroll (30 Minutes) - Had a few errands over the past weekend and decided to do all the ones I could by walking to the various places. Plan on doing the same this coming weekend. 👟

Hoping to continue with a couple of these activities and work on marking off a couple other squares as we head into the middle of the month, including getting outdoors (and remembering sunscreen) as the we're supposed to see some warmer temps over the weekend. I have a few new sunscreens I want to try out so the timing is good; will post thoughts on those SPFs to at a later date.

Looking forward to hearing about and drawing inspiration from everyone's wellness activities.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

PrettyPaint — Thu, 08 May 2025 23:10:50 GMT

@itsfi Mmmm your healthy meal looks delicious. So colorful! I haven't heard of the game Cross Logic. I currently don't have any games on my phone that I play, unless Duolingo counts! 🙂

That's fantastic that you're staying hydrated!

I'm the same with the sleep issues. I always wake up for good around the same time each morning (5:45/6am) regardless of when I get to bed. My main issue is waking up throughout the night and not being able to get back to sleep. I hope you're able to continue to improve your sleeping patterns.

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

itsfi — Sat, 10 May 2025 04:10:36 GMT

Thank you @PrettyPaint; when I'm out and about, I sometimes walk by restaurants with outdoor seating and see these pretty salads that people have ordered. They look delicious, but it can get expensive if I were to order one every day, so lately, I've been trying to make a salad a few times a week, either for lunch or dinner, and have been experimenting with different salad toppings, lettuces, dressing, etc. Unless I'm making a green goddess salad, I've found that having some color to the salad makes it more appetizing - whoever said we "eat with our eyes first" was on to something; at least I can say that about myself most of the time. I think for me the key has been to have some variety of things to choose from in my fridge and cupboards, but not too much variety. 🤣

I'm so impressed you’re learning another language. Count that Duolingo for your wellness bingo - either as a brain teaser or learning a new skill / developing an existing one. Oh, I've been more focused on my hydration since having a couple of experiences this year with being dehydrated. Ugh.

I hear ya on getting up in the wee hours of the morning and not being able to get back to sleep - it's horrible. I know for me that stress can be one of the causes of that. While I can try to manage that, it's still there. Recently, though, I have noticed that having certain foods before bed or later in the day seem to help with me being able to get back to sleep if/when I do wake up - either (a) a banana or some mango mid-to-late afternoon or (b) having a bowl of oatmeal or yogurt, both with berries (and, sometimes a drizzle of blue agave syrup) about 1-2 hours before bed. I've been doing more of the latter and have noticed that when I do have a small bowl, I don't get up in the middle of the night as much or when I do, I'm able to fall back asleep (which for the longest time I couldn't).

Re: Wellness In Progress: May 2025

PrettyPaint — Sun, 11 May 2025 18:12:01 GMT

@itsfi I need to get better with stocking better salad options. The produce by me hasn't been too impressive lately. I feel like half the time I buy veggies, they get wilted far too quickly. I'm not sure if I have actually tried a green goddess salad. I've purchased the dressing, but I'm guessing the actual salad it a bit different.

I'm glad the Duolingo counts. I do feel like foreign language study has to be great for cognitive health.

I'm sure stress is a big factor in my sleep issues as well. That's really fascinating that you've found a correlation between certain foods and sleep habits. Do you think it's mostly the inclusion of berries on the yogurt or oatmeal that helps? I know I've read that tart cherries help with sleep.