Wellness In Progress: April 2025

[itsfi]

April 2025 BWell Card

We're already into month 4, BIC. I don't now about you, but keeping up with some wellness activities has been a bit more challenging lately. Incorporating a few new activities to this wellness bingo board this month to help with a refresh to our self care activities. 

▶️  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

Feel free to check back in weekly, periodically or near the end of the month with your progress on your BWell Card. We love hearing about and being inspired by what you're doing for your self-care.

☑️  How Do I Earn A Square? - Do an activity that fits within the activity described in the square. 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 April 2025 BWell Activities. These are just examples or suggestions, of course; if you have a self-care activity that falls within that description, mark off that square as being completed! Feel free to share your progress and activtities you've undertakend. 

⚠️  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!

[itsfi]

May wellness bingo card has been posted - check out Wellness In Progress: May 2025 

[caitbird]

It's the last day of April (how did that happen?! 😲), and I have managed to check off a few more wellness activities since my last post, though I didn't get to all of them. I did get bingo, though! 🎉

💜practice gratitude - I tried to do this often - I posted in the Gratitude Thread! 🙂 , and here I noted down some things I'm grateful for in my planner.

💜seasonal fruits/veggies - I definitely don't eat as many fruits and veggies as I could or probably should, but I do try to get them in when I can. Pictured are some very tasty strawberries with a bit of mango.

💜hit pause (10 minutes) - I don't know if this counts, but I've been trying to take 10 minutes or so in the mornings to enjoy a cup of tea, and just be mindful and present in the moment as much as possible.

💜revisiting resolutions - It was high time for a resolution check-in, so I reviewed the resolutions I made at the end of last year/beginning of this year and...well...I haven't made much progress on them 😓 I feel like I am always making these grand plans for self improvement, but I fall down on following through. I decided to try making a somewhat pared-down "spring edit" version of my yearly resolutions, since I think I may have been too ambitious with my initial goals. Hopefully having a more realistic list of goals will help me actually achieve more of them, as well as checking in with my progress regularly throughout the year. I'm also going to try making a shorter list of monthly resolutions, starting in May. We'll see how it goes!

Overall, I feel okay about my wellness progress this month - I didn't finish the whole board and I didn't do as much as I would've ideally liked, but I did much better than I had been at the beginning of the year, and I feel like (hopefully) I'm on the right track now. I hope to continue this positive trend in May and future months!

[itsfi]

Your morning tea time 🫖 is a great way to hit pause @caitbird. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the day; wonderful to have that time to just be present in the moment. 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  thank you! My therapist is always talking about mindfulness + living in the moment, and it's definitely something I would like to work on, so I've been trying to take it a little at a time, like with a morning cup of tea 😉

[itsfi]

@caitbird, taking it a little at a time is an excellent way to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine. It allows you to get comfortable with it at a pace and in a dosage that works for you, and that will help with making it a more regular, fluid part of your life. Love that you are putting in the work for it. 💖

[CorgiMommy]

Excellent @caitbird 

[caitbird]

@CorgiMommy  thank you so much! 😊

[caitbird]

@byme4u  thank you so much! I have definitely been enjoying my morning tea moments!

[itsfi]

Didn't clear the board but made my way through a handful of wellness squares. Activities marked with a blue butterfly. 

• Soak Up The Sun (Remember SPF) - I made it a long weekend and went out of town. Visited The Alamo and walked around the Historic Market Square. Had lunch outside - it was delicious! The photo makes the carnitas look a little on the dry side, but they were flavorful with the rice and topped with some guacamole, salsa, queso on a handmade corn tortilla. Yum! 

• Motivational Quote - A good reminder of the value in rest. 

• Practice Gratitude - I didn't do it every day, but most days this month, I took some time during the day to note to myself, someone or something for whom I am thankful or appreciative. 

• Compliment Yourself - In prepping to go on vacation, I did the usual and cleared out the fridge (of most things). This time though, I anticipated that I would be hungry and tired (not necessarily in that order) by the time I would arrive home from vacation, and pulled out soup from the freezer to thaw in the fridge while I was away and purchased a bag of salad so that I could have a quick and easy meal upon my return. It hit the spot as I was, in fact, tired and hungry when I arrived home. I gave myself an "attagirl" as I scarfed down my soup and salad. 😋

• Aromatherapy - I usually pack a mini diffuser with me when I travel and did so on this most recent trip (but I forgot to take a photo of it in my hotel room, oops). This time, I was trying out a new essential oil this time, lemongrass. 

• Free Space - For this wellness square, I decided to not take my laptop with me on this trip. There's only been one time when I've gone on vacation and didn't take my laptop with me, and even then, I took my personal laptop and work phone. Not so this time; it was just my phone and Kindle.

• Hit "Pause" (10 Minutes) - Spent anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes stretching each morning while on vacation. It was nice; well, one morning it hurt to stretch, but I did feel better afterwards. 

• Quality Time with Loved Ones - It's nice to just chill and relax with the ones you love. 

[itsfi]

@byme4u, thank you. It added a lovely spa like touch to the room. 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  awesome job! I'm glad you got to take a vacation and it sounds like it was a nice time! Ooh, just thinking about how hard it would be for me to be away from my laptop for long makes me realize I definitely need to do better with cutting down my digital device time 😅 a goal for next month, maybe!

[itsfi]

@caitbird, it's all a work in progress, especially vacation. I'm not great at it. Don't get me wrong, I love them. Learning to be better about and about disconnecting (as much as possible) when it does happen. I planned on doing some reading during my flights to/from and it just didn't happen. I got in maybe an hour or two when I was waiting for my flight home. 

lol, so funny you mention that - there's a square in May's wellness bingo card that relates to a screen-free day. 😁

[caitbird]

@itsfi  yes, reading is another one for me that's hit or miss. Don't get me wrong, I love reading - always have, I was a voracious reader as a kid - but these days, sometimes it just doesn't happen, despite my best intentions. Definitely one of my ongoing goals is to read more, as and when I can!

Haha, yes, I saw that square for May and was like, serendipity? 🤔😂

[itsfi]

Yeah, it happens for sure @caitbird. Last year, reading was a great way to relieve stress and add joy to whatever I was managing or going through. I went though a lot of books. This year, I’ve found that I’m more inclined to doing other things for relieving stress, etc. It’s nice to have different options and like so many things, there’s a time and place for it. I’m sure you’ll get back to reading more at some point. It all ebbs and flows. 

lol, when I first read your comment on unplugging more electronically, I had literally just finished finalizing the wellness bingo card and I thought “that’s awesome that it’ll be beneficial for at least one person!” 😊 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  this is so true, reading really is one of those habits that ebbs and flows for me these days. It seems to go in cycles a lot of the time - sometimes I'll read a lot, and sometimes hardly at all. I'm trying to be more accepting of that and just let it happen as it happens and not worry about it too much.

Haha, I'm sure all the wellness bingo squares will be beneficial for lots of us! But yes, I could definitely stand to unplug more...😅

[itsfi]

I get that about cycles @caitbird and about working towards being accepting of it. There’s a part of me that wishes I could just devote to 20-30 minutes every night or more, something consistent, but that hasn’t really been something that suits my schedule or lifestyle. At least not now; maybe another time. So now I try to focus on quality (vs quantity) time with my reading - when I do engage in it, am I fully present with reading? Do I get out of it what I wanted or hoped to? If not, why not? 

On my most recent trip, I didn’t get to read on my flights but it turned out that I got something better with how I spent that time. I didn’t plan on chatting with the people sitting next to me on both legs of my trip but both those conversations were meaningful to me beyond just the subject matters that we discussed. It gave me some perspective on things that have been on my mind. 👍🏼 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  quality vs quantity is always a good goal with how we spend our time! I actually got myself a reading journal to try to encourage myself to read more, as well as be more engaged with what I'm reading. Have I used it yet, no 😅 but when I have a moment to sit down with it, I think I'll enjoy the exercise.

Your experience with having unexpected but meaningful conversations with your seat neighbors on your flights is a good reminder to my constantly overthinking, over-planning self that sometimes when things don't turn out how we planned, it can be for the better. 🙂 I hope you got what you needed out of those conversations!

[CorgiMommy]

I finished the board!  The white dots are the most recent.

Financial checkup - this is tough as the month wasn't kind to me.  Needed a new hot water heater and a/c.  But I did curb my other spending and have a plan going forward.

Practice gratitude - I reflect at night on what the day has brought me

Pay it forward - went to Costco and brought things for our local food bank

Work towards letting a bad habit - i have a sweet tooth, I am working on eating less by have no sweets days during the week

Compliment yourself - looking for the good in how I am feeling