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]

Okay, first wellness in progress check-in for April and, not too bad! I had fun with the activities in the squares marked with the green leaf 🌿

• Seasonal Fruits & Veggies: Been going to the farmer's market every other week or so, to pick up some fruits and vegetables. 

• Hydrate: I've been paying extra attention to meeting my daily target for how much water I drink, and have gone back to adding seasonal fruits and herbs to my water. 

• Prioritize Sleep: Was getting over a cold and seasonal allergies so prioritizing sleep was much easier to do. 

• Pay It Forward: While grabbing a bite to eat the other day with a friend, the waiter was curious about my Touchland Power Mist Hydrating Hand Sanitizer. I had just opened a new one and decided he could have it - gotta keep people in the know about Touchland, right?! 😉

• Try / Do Something New-To-You: Oh, this was interesting ... I've never done it before but I tried (with help from some little hands) to do origami. It was an opportunity for both of us to practice patience. 😅 

• Treat Yourself: Oh, I have, and we're not even halfway through April. It seems there are a few sales, events and releases taking place this month (not just beauty products either - seeHow do you Tar-zhay - The Target Thread), and I've given myself some license to pick up a few "nice to have" things. The "Financial Wellness" square will be marked off soon; I've been working on a plan for a low buy / no spend season starting at the end of this month and ideally going through summer. Inspiration for this a financial wellness square was born of a post from @AMK721 a couple (?) of months back and talking about the varied and different forms of wellness with @Samtian and some friends outside of BIC. 

• Exercise (30 Minutes): I went for a few long walks when the sun was out and the weather warmer, and for those days when it's nicer to work out indoors, I've been working with weights a bit at home. That said, I'm very intrigued by @ather's weighted vest (though something under 20 lbs to start off for me), so that is on my list to look into this weekend. 

• Work Towards Letting Go ... of a Bad Habit: I've been making a more concentrated effort to not skip breakfast, especially during the week; I'm better about it on the weekends. I've been working on sitting down to breakfast 3 out of the 5 days, with something more than just coffee. ☕ It's definitely been a work in progress but I was able to get in 3 days this week 👍 - blueberries and nectarines with a drizzle of agave nectar over either oatmeal one day and then over Greek yogurt another, and then a spinach and mushroom scramble one other day. Once the weather warms up more consistently, green smoothies should slot in nicely for the other 2 days.

• Have A Healthy Meal: Went for a salad bowl at a new-to-me eatery. It sure was yummy! 😋 I tried recreating it but it did not turn out nearly as tasty. I'll keep working on it. 

Origami, Take 1 🎬: A lantern, hat, shrimp tail, and bunny. The shrimp tail was a team effort. Same with the hat and I was actually able to offer some help and guidance with this one. 😅 The bunny only looks remotely like a bunny because of someone else's origami and drawing skills. 🐰

There's actually quite a bit of salad in this bowl - it's just buried under all these toppings. 🥗

[itsfi]

@byme4u, I go through phases - some periods I’m good with breakfast during the week and other times, it’s just coffee. I do love non standard breakfast foods for breakfast 😋 Are there certain non-standard breakfast foods you are currently loving?

[ather]

@itsfi  Wow great job! Those origami are so cute! You did so good!! 😍 love them! Wow that salad looks incredible! What was the ingredients? I need to recreate this one too!!! 

[itsfi]

Thank you @ather; credit for how the origami turned out goes to the teacher. I got lost at least once (at least) on every one of the origami pieces. 😂 But it was fun. 

Highly recommend trying the salad. The ingredients are pretty simple (a huge plus!!) but I can't seem to get the spices on the chicken right or the dressing down. 

• red rice - next time, I may try the salad with quinoa 
• chicken breast (with a medley of spices that I haven't figured out - I'm going to try making a southwest seasoning the next time I make this) 
• cucumber 
• tomatoes 
• avocado 
• lettuce - the restaurant where I had the bowl used romaine. I used a variety of lettuces, whatever I had in the fridge - spinach, romaine, little gems 
• dressing - green goddess dressing - I used one from Kraft and it was ohhhhkay. I have since found one I like - Gotham Greens Green Goddess Dressing. I thought about trying to make my own, but for now, it's Gotham Greens. 

[ather]

@itsfi  Aww you must have the best teacher! 

yum! 🤤 that salad sounds amazing! I am going to try it this weekend!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe with me!! Anything with avocado is my fav! 

[itsfi]

She really is very patient with me … well, when it comes to origami. 😂 Definitely give the salad a try @ather - filling without being heavy and oh, so delicious! 😋 

I did an origami piece all by myself this evening (an heart) and she said it was good. Then she redid it into a completely different looking heart. 🤪

[ather]

@itsfi  Omg that’s so funny! 😆 kids are the best! 

[Samtian]

@itsfi Whoo slay! Those origami are so cute!

[itsfi]

Awww, thanks @Samtian. I really don't know how people can do origami just by watching videos or following illustrations - what a skillset to have! There were several moments of sweetly asked "what did you do?" when trying to figure out where I went wrong. 🤣 

[Samtian]

@itsfi awe! We made some in like middle school I think, mine didn't do so well haha. 

[itsfi]

That's cool that you tried it in middle school @Samtian. The first time I heard of or saw origami was when I was in college. 

[curlychiquita]

I love your origami, @itsfi!

[itsfi]

Thank you @curlychiquita! I have a new appreciation for the art.

[CorgiMommy]

I love your origami and that bowl looks delicious @itsfi 

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, thank you. It was fun to try something new. 

[CorgiMommy]

@itsfi did you use special paper to make them?

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, for most of the origami pieces (all but the shrimp tail), I used 6" square, double-sided origami paper, with one side having the print you see and the other side having a solid color. This type is the more common origami paper. 

The shrimp tail was made out of these specialty origami sheets - they have a texture to them, maybe mulberry paper-like. Also double sided with a print on one side and (mostly) solid color on the other side - there are some bits of cream and black scattered throughout. This came in a pack of 12 - 2 sheets each of 6 different prints. 

I picked up these sheets at a local Japanese stationary store; I just noticed they have an online store as well maidoonline(dot)com, but these can be found at amazon, Michaels, Target and Daiso stores. I went through the local store to support the business and because I wanted to find a pack of origami paper with less than 500 sheets - that's a lot of origami. 😆 The larger pack I picked up comes with 100 sheets and about 6, maybe more, different prints. Still a lot of sheets but less so.

[ather]

Today I went for a walk outside with my weighted vest for 42 minutes! I also had my spf on!!!! 

[curlychiquita]

Impressive walk, @ather!

[ather]

@curlychiquita  Thanks! 😊 we do it almost every night permitting weather!