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]

Week 3 was a slower week in terms of the variety of self-care activities I attempted.

🎮  Try / Do Something New To You: Mmmm, something new-ish to me. I played video games the other day; or, more accurately, I tried playing video games. 🤣 With a few exceptions, I haven't really played video games since I was in grade school. Let's just say that my hand-eye coordination when it comes to these things could use some a lot of work. hahahaha. Definitely a work in progress. I got a good laugh at my efforts. 

☕  Warm & Cozy Drink: Chai latte with almond milk, extra spices. 

🛌  Prioritize Sleep: I've been sleeping early and longer than I normally do this past week / weekend; I've felt more tired than usual so I've gone to bed early. Not quite how I expected to earn this square but I get to check it off, and am feeling better, so win-win.

📚  Book / Audiobook / Podcast / Movie: I'm giving audiobooks another go this month, choosing one I feel may be better suited to this medium. If I can stick to my reading / listening schedule, i can probably finish late this week / early next. 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Fantastic wellness week, that chai sounds amazing, and video games sound fun! I’m glad your sleep is going well! I can relate to the tired feeling with more sleep sometimes! And an audio book sounds awesome it’s great to be able to pause and come back later. Great work ❤️ @itsfi 

[itsfi]

I want to give the audiobook platform a fair shake @peculiarzmakeup. We'll see. I do miss being able to underline / highlight sections of the book that I enjoy. I imagine there may be a similar feature (there's a "clip" component that looks like it could be promising) but I need to do a little more research there. 

[CynthieLu]

Checking in with my progress mid month

@itsfi this is my first time filing in your cards, it makes me appreciate the work you put into this, thank you! And I gotta say, I actually do much better with wellness with a motivator and tracking tool like this. This cute card is pretty handy.

I feel like I'm on track to complete a few more of these this week. I feel really good about how things are going. 😊💪

Some of these tie right in with my resolutions this year so that helped too. 🎉

[peculiarzmakeup]

Amazing job with those achievements for your wellness this month ❤️ is there anything out of the completed squares that you enjoyed embarking in the most? I feel like it is so helpful to have these things in mind as well! 🙂 @CynthieLu 

[Samtian]

@CynthieLu Great work! It's really fun coloring them in. 

[itsfi]

Nice work @CynthieLu! You accomplished a lot the first half of the month  Was there a particular activity square you enjoyed a lot or found really meaningful? Excited to see what squares you'll check off in the latter half of the month! You got this! 👊

[CynthieLu]

Thank you 🙏 I think this challenge was great motivation. I needed the light push. @itsfi 

Getting back into some active habits like stretching and exercising have been the most enjoyable(-ish.) For example, the only time in my day to fit in stretches and exercise is by waking up an hour early to fit then in. Eeep! But my sense of well-being and generally feeling less stiff is so completely worth it.

Forcing myself to start unwinding and getting into bed earlier is a task and a work in progress but I do want to keep getting a full night's rest when I can. 💤 

[Samtian]

Too bad it's too cold out for walking haha .

• Practice Gratitude- When I look at my babies I am full of gratitude sometimes I even tear up because I love them so much lol. Precious and Stevie
• Declutter- I've already got 3 things so far this year. Not being afraid to toss if I don't like it. 
• Prioritize Sleep- It has been a rough month for us like I mentioned before. I've had 3 rounds of vaccines, with a separate one the same day as another ( I felt like I had been rowing for hours), and I have one more round left. So I've been sleeping quite a bit. 
• Book/Movie- Last year I made a list of movies I wanted to watch, never got to like any of them. I found my partial list and tried to look up what ones I could stream for free. So earlier this month I watched one of them. Wanted Man ( do not recommend) and I read another chapter of Bourne Ultimatum. Chapter 4. 

[CynthieLu]

Your fur family is so blessed to have you taking care of them and loving them so much @Samtian 🧡💛

Those vaccines sound powerfull, I hope your arm recovers, being sore is literally a pain. 

[Samtian]

@CynthieLu Thank you! Just had my last one yesterday so I can finally recover lol. 

[Shosh85]

@Samtian  Awe, I love how much you love your fur babies! They certainly are adorable and so lucky to have you as their human! 😊

Sorry to hear about all the vaccines! I don't know which ones you got, but I do know that some of the shots I've gotten in the past make me feel like I got hit by a truck 😩 At least it forced you to get a little sleep!😴 

You're making such great progress! Keep up the  good work! 🙌😃

[Samtian]

@Shosh85 Thank you! They are my world! 

😅I actually ended up having to get the post-rabies vaccines. The whole thing has been extremely stressful. You'd think it'd be easy to find info on them, but in Idaho it wasn't. It was a mess. I did get a Tetanus shot with the 3rd rabies shot. 

Thanks, I'm trying! 

[Shosh85]

@Samtian  Oh ouch! I've never had a rabies shot, but I remember the tetanus shot- those hurt! Did you get bit by something?

[Samtian]

@Shosh85 I was actually attacked by a feral cat on my way to work one morning. The anti-bodies they give are the absolute worst. Oh it was fire. Literally felt like my thigh was on fire. One for each puncture wound. Rabies was nothing, just sore. But I have been really tired and sick since it happened. But that could also be from an infection I'm on antibiotics for as well. They give the shots on days 0,3,7, and 14. Strict timeline about it as well. 

[Shosh85]

@Samtian  Oh man! I'm so sorry to hear that! My family and I have rescued a lot of ferals, (I even kept one) but have never been attacked by any! Oh, I can't even imagine what that must've felt like! I'm so sorry you have to go through all that, that does not sound pleasant at all! 😧

[itsfi]

Awwwww, the kitties!!! 😻😻 Well, hello Precious & Stevie, and a happy new year to you both and your brothers and sisters. They're so beautiful, @Samtian! You and your mom did such a wonderful thing taking them in and caring for them. Truly lovely. Look at them, all comfy and cozy on the couch. At home.

"Not being afraid to toss if I don't like it." - that's a challenging one, for sure. Do you have a process to toss something? Or, is it try it and if it's not for you, it goes?

Ouch. Even though I'm happy you are getting sleep, I'm very sorry it's been so rough. One more round. Hang in there!

[Samtian]

@itsfi Thank you! Mom regrets it daily but not me lol. She actually took in one a few months ago, he's been really sick and hasn't been doing too good but she's head over hills for him. 

Yep I give it a try and if it's not for me it's gone. Part of my pan it/use it project. 

Thank you! Last one on Saturday. 

[peculiarzmakeup]

Fantastic wellness week, your gratitude for your kitties is so sweet 🥹 they are adorable! It’s great you got to try out a movie and read a book, thank you for the disclaimer on the movie 🙂 I’m glad you were able to get some rest in that’s so important 🩷 @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@peculiarzmakeup Thank you! I adore them all so much. Yeah nothing was posted about the movie in the does the dog die website so I had to do it all.