Wellness In Progress: January 2025

[itsfi]

2025 is literally just days away, BIC! Let's start off the year strong with making our health, wellness and self-care one of our priorities. We can make it fun, too, with another game of wellness bingo! 

Self-care can be a very personal thing - what works for one person may not work for someone else. Practicing wellness is a process - it takes time and effort. We have our good days and bad days - moments when we are thriving; and others, where we need to pause, take a deep breath (or multiple ones, for that matter), and reset. But even as our self-care journey is a personal matter, support, encouragement and just knowing there's something there doesn't hurt. Wellness takes work. Let's do the work together, BIC!

▶️  How to play:  There are many different ways to take part in this wellness challenge. A few are mentioned in the spoiler below, but if you have a way to approach wellness bingo that works best for you, go for it!

Spoiler

• Treat it like a game of BINGO, except in this BIC-version, you are your own moderator, either (a) selecting which activities you want to engage in or (b) putting them into a random generator tool, blindly pointing at a square, or writing each activity (or each square) onto a piece of paper, placing all of them into a bowl and pulling one out each day you intend to undertake a wellness activity, and then doing that activity.
• You can aim to do 5 activities in a way that earns yourself a BINGO!  5 activities across the same row, down the same column or across diagonally from upper left corner to lower right, and/or upper right corner to lower left. OR
• You can just go about your day picking one activity to undertake and work towards doing all the activities on this B Well card (but see notes on making adjustments below).
• You can choose to go row by row or column by column each week. Thank you, @Mellmars1185, for sharing how you went about your wellness bingo last month. It's such a great approach!

🗒  Monthly Self-Care Activities:

• The self-care activities in the squares change from month-to-month, with some appearing in a previous month's bingo wellness card, and others being new or tailored to the specific month/season. 
• For a more detailed description of the activities in each of the squares above, click on this link ➡️ January 2025 Wellness Bingo Activities
• If you're interested in seeing what others have done for some of the activities being repeated, you may want to take a peek at some of the replies from other members of the Community in previous wellness challenge threads -Wellness In Progress: November 2024 and Wellness In Progress: December 2024.

🌟  Posting Your Self-Care Activities. This challenge is certainly one you can do on your own. It's also something we can take part in together. If you feel comfortable, share about the activities you did to earn each square by replying to this original post - with words, photos, and/or a pic of the bingo scorecard with the activity / activities you took part in crossed out. You can post weekly or at the end of the month, depending on your preference. We love hearing from the Community and have learned about new ways of doing things that we wouldn't have thought of otherwise. 

🎀  Make Adjustments As Needed. We are all at different stages of our wellness / self-care journey. While it cn 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 that you shouldn't engage in, make the adjustments you need to, or just skip that square altogether.

• Be safe. Consider weather conditions or where you are in your own wellness efforts. For instance, the second square in the last row is for a winter walk or hike - if it's storming outside or you're in an area where it is not safe to do this (e.g., weather advisory, shelter-in-place, etc.), then skip this one and stay indoors. Be safe. Also, for some of the activities listed in the boxes, particularly the physical ones, please consult with your physician or health care provider before starting, if and as appropriate, and adjust accordingly.
• Focus on one activity per week vs. one per day. We have BIC'ers who engage in wellness activities in some form every day, some more than one activity in a day. We also have BIC'ers who are starting out on their wellness journey or are coming back to self-care. There's be different objectives for each of us; make this work for you. If there's an activity in a square that you've been eyeing for whatever reason and you want to focus on that for the week, focus on working towards that activity for one day, two days, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 for the week. If there's another activity that piques your interest, give that a try for another week. 

⏲  Duration for Certain Activities. The time periods for certain activities included here are arbitrary.

• For example, the third square in the first row is for "Exercise (20 minutes)" - if you want or can do more than a 20 minutes, go for it. If you're starting out or if you're crunched for time, aim for 5 minutes and work up from there, when, if, and as appropriate for you.
• Same with the "Stretch (20 minutes)" in the third row, second square.
• If you're starting out or are aware of certain conditions that may make either a more challenging effort, please discuss these activities your physician or health care provider before starting, and adjust accordingly.

Excited for another month of wellness bingo, BIC. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year! 

[Samtian]

Not off to a bad start, considering my year has been horrible so far! 

• Resolution I mentioned in the Happy New Years! What are your resolutions for 2025? 🎇🎆 and 2025 - THE NO-BUY, LOW-BUY, BUDGET-BUY ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT THREAD 
• Cook- I made a delicious street cart bowl with pita bread from Hello Fresh, it was amazing and delish. 
• Try- I'm trying to learn Indonesian. I was looking up easiest languages for English speakers to learn and a lot of them were the Romantic languages (French, Italian) but I struggle remembering things and languages with masculine and feminine versions are too much for me. I read Indonesian is phonetic language so that's what I am starting with. It's a very very slow process. I think I have like 5 words remembered lol .  
• Hydrate- I drank a whole Cirkul bottle one morning. 
• Listen- I listen to music usually to and from work. But occasionally at lunch when people near me are too loud for me. 
• Started my year off with a Créme shop corgi mask, posted in the 💕😌 2024 Masking Challenge 😌💖 

[Shosh85]

@Samtian  Well look at that, you've almost got yourself a "BINGO" 😉 Nice job! I'm super impressed you're trying to learn Indonesian! I'd love to learn a different language, but just don't have the time or patience for it these days 🙃

[itsfi]

Woah @Samtian, that's fantastic you're learning a new language. Impressive, too. 5 words is more than no words and it's 5 more words than most of us here know. You'll get more words in. And maybe, one day a trip to Indonesia???!!! 😍  Ahhhh, your Hello Fresh meal sounds delicious - it's really been a good one for you, hasn't it? How often do you cook a Hello Fresh meal?

I'm sorry this first week hasn't been great. Sending hugs and wishes for this week to be better.

[Samtian]

@itsfi Thank you! Indonesia would be lovely to visit! Hello Fresh has been great! We are trying to do 2 boxes a month, 3 meals each box. So not very often. They say bad things come in 3's. We are at our 3, but 2 of us aren't out of the clear yet, so hopefully nothing else gets added to our plate!

[peculiarzmakeup]

Okay so it’s not only me? I feel like this has been the worst week, I’m there with you hoping it will get better for you and me too haha you accomplished a lot despite this week! Your food sounds amazing. Love that you tried something new and hydrated and awesome use of mask time. I hope you have a better week! You deserve all the smiles ❤️ @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@peculiarzmakeup It really has been a bad week! I do hope it gets better for you! I normally just drink soda and monsters so the water was a bit weird but I was thirsty when I woke up lol. 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Same for you! 
this might cheer you up 

Monster energy tabs haha 

thank you I appreciate you! Hoping same for you! @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@peculiarzmakeup Oh my gosh that is so awesome!

[peculiarzmakeup]

Thank you 😊 ❤️ I love monster too! @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@peculiarzmakeup I was heartbroken to learn they discontinued my favorite flavor, the Aussie Lemonade. I don't even like lemonade lol. 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Oh no! I totally get that I’m like that too but if it’s in a good drink then yes I know the monster rehab has an iced tea lemonade that’s my fave I haven’t had it in a long time let’s just say I get extremely talkative more then usual which is way too much haha 🤣 @Samtian 

[Mellmars1185]

This past week, I started jotting down in my Daily Planner what wellness activities I would like to accomplish. I find it has really helped me to be intentional about my choices.

Jan 4 - I was able to get in a stretch activity after work and I followed it up with a winter walk. It was freezing outside that day but I was able to try out the new winter boots I got on a Boxing Day sale!

Jan 5 -  I made time for nail care. I had an event to go to the following day and getting this done the day before was great because my nail polish looked fresh for my event. It is still on and I am hoping it lasts through the beginning of my work week.

Jan 6 - We went to see The Lion King musical. I would consider this do something new because I have not seen this musical before. It was downtown and I was able to get a few photos. I also got some more winter walking in this day.

Spoiler

^Before the show

^Got a photo in front of the Sephora at Union Station! 

Next week I will continue to plan my days to try and fit some more activities in! I hope everyone has a great week! 💞

 

[itsfi]

Your boots look fabulous @Mellmars1185! That's so cool you were able to see The Lion King Musical - I love musicals. 💗 You are on a roll with the winter walks! 

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi Thank you so much! I want to see the Wicked movie this weekend. Maybe I can get another square!

[itsfi]

Ooouh, that would be a fabulously fun way to pick up a square @Mellmars1185! 🎥 🍿

[Samtian]

@Mellmars1185 Great progress! Is that Union Station in Canada?

[Mellmars1185]

@Samtian Thank you! Yes it is in Toronto 😊

[peculiarzmakeup]

That is a splendid photo frame worthy it’s so cool! It’s amazing how mindful are with your practices it’s so funny because someone actually told me to a get a journal today I feel like that’s so helpful! These are great activities I’m glad you had fun and got some self care in as well although it was cold! Great wellness! ❤️ @Mellmars1185 

[Mellmars1185]

@peculiarzmakeup Thank you so much! Oh what a coincidence. Is using a journal/planner something you think you would like to do? 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Yes! I remembering having one in school but I think it would bring more intention to things just like you mentioned which is a beautiful way of looking at it ❤️ @Mellmars1185  

[Shosh85]

@Mellmars1185  Sounds like you've had a lot of fun! I mean, Sephora and The Lion King in the same week?!.... I'm jealous! (I remember seeing The Lion King in the movie theater and watching my dad cry when Mufasa died 😂)

Nice job checkin' off those boxes! 🙌👍