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! 

[itsfi]

Love it when it all comes together @peculiarzmakeup! I'm excited for your look. 

Add the Psych theme song to your getting ready playlist and voila, that's a trifecta with 🎶✨Song of the Day and Music Thread!✨🎶 😉

[Mellmars1185]

@peculiarzmakeup Amazing wellness week! Twister is a fun and creative way to get in your stretches. I haven't played for years. It would be interesting to see how I preform so many years later. What fruits have you been eating? Do you have a favourite fruit?

[peculiarzmakeup]

Thank you it is a fun game but definatley more challenging for me now. I love grapefruit it’s my absolute favorite, I like pineapples, and the rest are good but I love citrusy fruit but I have to space it out a bit it’s refreshing! What fruits do you like? @Mellmars1185  ❤️

[Mellmars1185]

@peculiarzmakeup Oh yes Grapefruit is so fresh and I like the sweet and tartness. I like adding frozen blueberries to my yogurt and smoothies. I like bananas for smoothies too. During the winter I buy cantaloupe and pineapple because the whole family eats them. In the summer, I like local strawberries. In September I enjoy picking apples and of course eating them 😊

[peculiarzmakeup]

That all sounds so lovely I totally forgot of smoothies when I I get home I’m going to start making some that will be a goal. Oh apple picking is so fun it’s so nice to be out in the element of nature and just connect like that. Thanks for sharing yours 🙂 cantaloupe is so good too it has to be in season it’s a hit or miss where I’m at but it is so so good too! @Mellmars1185 

[Shosh85]

@peculiarzmakeup  Awe, I love all of this! Nice job practicing self-care!
I haven't played Twister since I was in elementary school...... but I've never played it with my siblings...... we don't like touching each other 😂

[peculiarzmakeup]

thank you! My sister is 11 I’m 20 years older almost 20 so it’s a different bond it’s nice she keeps me running around that’s for sure! It was fun but I couldn’t play that long 😂 @Shosh85 

[Shosh85]

That's super sweet @peculiarzmakeup! I am the youngest of 6 and my oldest sister is 14 years older than me..... but we still don't like touching, especially not like that 😜😂

[peculiarzmakeup]

😂😂😂 that is so relatable I’m the oldest of 5 she’s the only one I’d play with and we are like at opposite ends of the board so I don’t accidentally kick her that’s too funny ❤️ @Shosh85 

[Titian06]

I haven't played twister since I was a kid, @peculiarzmakeup !  I'm so envious of siblings who get along. ❤️❤️❤️

[peculiarzmakeup]

My sister is a lot younger then me so her and her friend were like “play play” haha thank you ❤️ @Titian06 

[Shosh85]

Today was a two-fer 😉

 Went on a winter walk while sippin' on a warm cozy drink ☺️

I still had a gift card I got for Christmas, so I got myself one of my most favorite non-caffeinated drinks; a Caramel Apple Spice - sooo good! 😋

[Mellmars1185]

@Shosh85 What a nice winter combo! I love getting Starbucks gift cards during the holidays. I find that walking in the winter has been so helpful to my mood. Especially since getting outside is a bit harder. Great work!

[Shosh85]

Thanks, @Mellmars1185! It's definitely nice to have something to keep me warm while walking! ☕️

[peculiarzmakeup]

Amazing two in one! I would also say you’re doing hand care too! That’s awesome and yay hope your Carmel apple spice was delicious 🍎❤️ @Shosh85 

[Shosh85]

Thank you, @peculiarzmakeup! My hands are always the first thing to freeze, so I always make sure I got some gloves with me 😉

[itsfi]

Now this is a great way to multi-task and get in some self-care @Shosh85! 😀

[Shosh85]

@itsfi  Yup, I'm all about multitasking! 😉 Getting my steps in is definitely more motivating when I got a warm & cozy drink in-hand! 😊

[itsfi]

Week 1 was a pretty good week for self-care activities. One of my goals for the year is to prioritize sleep and that includes upping my digital detox before bed to an houw. I focused mainly on trying to firm up a digital detox / body care / skin care wind down routine and was able to check off a few different squares as a result. Using some habit stacking (Habit Stacking Thread 📚)  to help solidify these into a routine. 

Stretch (20 minutes): I've been doing this in the mornings, to kick start my getting ready routine.

Digital Detox (30 minutes before bed): If I can keep to all these routines, I'll hit my 60 minutes digital detox before bed, but just two of the four pictured has gotten me to 30 minutes. More importantly, it has made ffor a better experience with falling asleep and sleeping through the night. 

Hand/Nail Care: I've combined this with using the HigherDose PEMF mat. I'll first massage cuticle oil to my nails and then do hand stretches for 15-20 minutes while lying on the mat.

Aromatherapy: While on the PEMF mat, I've been lighting a candle to create an extra relaxing mood. I've been rotating through a few different candles, including the Maison Margiela 'REPLICA' By The Fireplace Scented Candle 5.8 oz/ 165 g (gratis).

Exercise (20 minutes): I've been doing a combination of yoga and cardio (spinning or elliptical). 

Hydrate: I was good for most of this week, fell below what my target a couple of days, but not too far below.

Tool Time Self-Care: We're 6 days into the new year and so far, I've done 4 days of the NuFACE NuFACE® Mini+ Petite Facial Toning Device (oh my gosh, I couldn't believe this@PrettyPaint 😂), with tonight being day 5 if I remember. I'm wondering if my skin would do better with something other than the activator gel - there's been some tingling (without using the device). I have some aloe vera gel that I'll try using in lieu of the activator gel.

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi What a truly inspiring routine! You have done a great job at being consistent with your self care this year so far! Your wind down routine seems very relaxing and enjoyable. Do you find that this helps you sleep better? Is that the Sephora hairband I see in your yoga photo? I have been wondering how to use it 🤔

[itsfi]

Awww, thanks @Mellmars1185! I've been working on little things here and there with my wind down routine - a longer version and a shorter one. We'll see how that goes this year, lol. I do find it helpful to have a routine that gets me to shut off / shut down from my computer, phone and focus on myself and on good, quality sleep. I've been sleeping better for the most part; a few things have contributed to it, one of which is winding down and trying to get my mind to slow down so it's not processing through so many things when I'm trying to get to sleep. 

Yes, it is - I had bangs last year and the headback helps to keep the ones that don't quite make it into a ponytail off of my forehead when I'm going through my skincare routine. I also use it occasionally when I'm using a mask - wash off or sheet mask. I have other headbands but like to reach for this one - reminds me of BIC.