Wellness In Progress: May 2025

[itsfi]

Hello, BIC! We have another month of wellness bingo!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and, for this month, we're adding a few new ways to go about caring for our mental health. Some activities are ones that have been part of previous BIC BWell bingo cards; some are activities from past months, reframed in new ways; and some squares include new ways to care for ourselves.

Whether you elect to check back in with activities you've done this month; whether you'd like to work through the activities in the privacy of your own space; whether you're doing this on your own, with a friend or group; whether you've been on here for a while or this is new to you, welcome! So great to have you here!

For more information on how to go about wellness bingo and for a brief description of the activities described in the squares, check out these posts: 

• How To Play / Participate
• Description of May 2025 Wellness Bingo Activities

Spoiler

@ather @blackkitty2014 @byme4u @caitbird @CorgiMommy @curlychiquita @danielledanielle @Mellmars1185 @peculiarzmakeup @PrettyPaint @Samtian @Shosh85 

Apologies if I inadvertently forgot to tag someone. Please feel free to tag anyone I've missed or anyone you think would be interested. 

[CorgiMommy]

@itsfi thanks I wasn't sure if I would complete everything but with a few dubious assumptions I did. 

My trip was fantastic,  I highly recommend London has a great city vacation. 

[PrettyPaint]

@CorgiMommy I'm so happy you got to go to London! I've never been, but I'd love to go someday. I'm glad the weather was nice while you were there. 

[CorgiMommy]

@PrettyPaint if you love to travel, London is a fun city.   Hope you get there one day

[Samtian]

@CorgiMommy WHOA!!! Congratulations! London sounds like it was so fun! I do hope you post pictures!

[PrettyPaint]

Music: I listened to music (at home and attended a concert). And I supposed I sang and danced too. 🙂

Fun in the Sun: It hasn't been very sunny by me lately, but yesterday the sun finally came out and I took advantage of it. I took a nice walk. It's raining again today, though. 
Emotional Wellness: Admittedly, I might be stretching this one a little bit, but I kind of slacked off a bit this week because I was feeling burnt out. I'm hoping this will make me more productive next week. I also ate a bunch of chocolate. Does that count as emotional wellness?

Digital Detox Before Bed + Read: I have been trying to avoid looking at my Ipad or phone right before bed. I guess this may technically be a screen, but I've been reading on a Kindle Paperwhite before bed. Apparently they emit less blue light, at least. It's too early to tell if it's helping, but it has helped me get back to sleep a few times. 

Oh my goodness - I just realized there is a category for a screen-free day! I haven't checked to see if anyone has accomplished that, but what feat that would be!!

[caitbird]

@PrettyPaint  great job! 🎉I think allowing yourself to slow down and take a little break when you need it definitely counts as emotional wellness!

I know what you mean about a screen-free day, that's definitely going to be a tough one for me 😅 Maybe I will try to work up to it...

[PrettyPaint]

@caitbird Thank you so much! I don't know if I can ever do a screen-free day with work, etc. Maybe when I retire...hehe.

[Samtian]

@PrettyPaint Woo congrats!! No screen free day here haha. 

[PrettyPaint]

@Samtian Thanks! Hopefully I will have a screen-free day someday, but I don't think it will be anytime soon...

[CorgiMommy]

Great job on practicing wellness.  I know what you mean by who could accomplish a screen free day but it happened to me not by choice  @PrettyPaint 

[PrettyPaint]

@CorgiMommy I think your screen-free day totally counts!!

[itsfi]

Woohoo!!! BINGO; Congrats @PrettyPaint!

How fun that you attended a concert! 🙌 

I'm pretty sure you "slacking off' is anything but. I have huge admiration for you for recognizing you were feeling burnt out and doing something about it. Huge admiration. Neither of those are small feats, PrettyPaint. Recognizing it is one thing, the first thing. Doing something meaningful about it. That's more challenging, for so many reasons. I love that you did. So, yes, dialing back and carving time to take care of yourself and to treat yourself, that's spot on emotional wellness right there. 

As for eating a bunch of chocolate, ummm, is there another way to eat chocolate?!?? 🍫🍫🍫 😉

[PrettyPaint]

@itsfi Thank you so much. That was a great Curb Your Enthusiasm Episode, by the way. I don't normally watch comedy (or TV in general), but Larry David has always made me laugh. 

Thank you so much for supporting my slacking off. 🙂 I know I need to get back on track next week, but I agree that sometimes downtime is needed and necessary.

[itsfi]

Giving ourselves permission to take a 'time out' is so much easier said than done. Hope you are feeling refreshed from your downtime, @PrettyPaint! Here's to a productive week ahead! 

[jaaayp]

I love this idea of wellness bingo!

I am known as the "wellness queen" among my friends because I 1000% prioritize wellness and self care (sephora being part of it, really lol). No surprise, I got BINGO!!! 😅

• Exercise & Prioritize Sleep: ive gained quite a bit of weight lately since I've been addicted to a new donut place. Been going once a week.... and... eating a lot of it LOL but i always prioritize exercise, I just eat what I want.. unfortunately 😂 that being said, I weightlift 3 times a week normally but I added a walking pad to my home office so been getting 10k steps, 5 days a week. Also picked up at 630AM pilates class on Tuesdays and Thursdays so i automatically have been prioritizing sleep, in bed by 1030 and asleep by 11 (compared to let's binge White Lotus and sleep at 2 that I've been practicing) I've actually lost around 4lbs this month already. 10 more to go...

• Wellness at work: work has been really stressful lately so I actually incorporated meditation back. I meditate in the morning and after lunch to sharpen my mindset and ignore all the noise. I work in a field where meetings take up most of the day and its been a lot. I've actually had a constructive, well meant conversation about my workload with my boss last week and hoping to see some upcoming changes.

• Hydrate: I find this to come hand in hand with a lot of exercising but I've also been trying to incorporate my liquid ivs once a day and that's pretty easy to do because its sweet. I think im becoming addicted lol

• Fun in the sun: I work from home and because I have my own backyard for the first time as an adult, I've been enjoying friday afternoons working outside in the sun (desperately trying to tan). I found this to be really great thing to do. It doesnt feel like work while I'm getting a lot done and it feels amazing to see the sun and get a tan. Additionally, I've taken on a challenge to maintain and revamp my own front yard. It's a LOT of work and my poor nails are suffering but it's been a really, really fun project and I definitely feel an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and accomplishment everytime a small task gets done!

 

[Samtian]

@jaaayp Whooo way to go! Yardwork sounds fun!

[CorgiMommy]

Fabulous job on working on wellness.  I was on vacation near a fancy donut shop and went two days on a row so I know your pain. @jaaayp 

[caitbird]

@jaaayp  wow, you are doing amazing with your wellness! I'm sorry to hear that work has been stressful for you, but I'm glad that meditation is helping and that you had a good conversation with your boss. I hope things improve for you! 💜 Also, fantastic job with exercising and losing weight, you should be proud of yourself!!

[PrettyPaint]

@jaaayp Great job, and that's wonderful that meditation is helpful to you. 

[itsfi]

Congrats on the BINGO @jaaayp; those are some fab self-care activities. You're well on your way to more bingo's as well. 🙌 

Oh, a DIY landscaping project for your front yard, how fun! It'll be all worth it when you're done. 

[Samtian]

Have A Healthy Meal- In our Hello Fresh box we had Salmon on a bed of couscous. It was good! 

Sharpen a Skill- Always trying to better my photography or editing.

Music- Been listening to a lot of music lately.

Wellness at Work- It's getting hot on my line so I've been drinking water and I started getting dizzy the other day so I shut us down early and talked to my boss about it.

Hydrate- Drinking more water at work. I've been trying to cut back on soda and monster. I'm trying Gatorade and Celius.

Aromatherapy- It's been an emotional month so I haven't been doing much of anything, but I did start up my candle warming again.