Working Towards Wellness: January 2026

[itsfi]

Happy New Year, BIC! Let's start 2026 with a fresh, fun and fierce month of self-care à la wellness bingo!
If you're new here (to BIC and/or to wellness bingo, welcome!! If you've taken part in a round of wellness bingo before, welcome back!

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 will have our good days and bad days - moments when we are thriving; and others when we need to pause, take a deep breath (or multiple ones, for that matter), and reset. 

Working towards wellness is a life-long, evolving process that takes into account our individual needs and circumstances. Self-care is not about perfection, but progress. Likewise, wellness bingo isn't about winning or being the first to get bingo or clear the board. It's about finding what practices we can incorporate into our daily / weekly / monthly routine to support, maintain and/or improve our quality of life. All while having some fun along the way. 

Getting Started

To help you get started with this month's game of wellness bingo, here are a few links that may be of interest to you:

How to Play / How to Post 
Description of Wellness Activities

• Rows 1 & 2
• Rows 3, 4 & 5

Looking forward to hearing about your wellness practices this month. Please join in as you feel comfortable. 

[CorgiMommy]

Debt free is awesome,congrats @Shosh85 

[Shosh85]

It definitely is! Thanks so much @CorgiMommy! 😃

[curlychiquita]

Congratulations on paying off your student loans, @Shosh85! That feels so good!  I love Stephen King books, too.

[Shosh85]

Thank you so much @curlychiquita!  I never knew how much Stephen King had written until I started collecting! 😃

[AdellVagsA]

Happy New Year and great energy for January! Wellness bingo sounds like such a fun way to stay motivated  having little wins each day really helps build habits that stick. I’ve been reading about different ways people pace themselves with health goals, like combining regular routines with things like intermittent fasting, and this article had a really clear breakdown of the 17/7 fasting approach if anyone’s curious: https://betterme.world/articles/17-7-intermittent-fasting/ .Looking forward to seeing everyone’s progress this month!

[itsfi]

Oh my goodness, thank YOU, @AdellVagsA, for your kind note; it put a little extra pep in my step this morning reading it just now. 😊

I'm happy you found this month's thread. Sending well wishes for good health and happiness in this year, filled with the types of self-care that are the most meaningful to you.

[eshores]

Hi, I sorta lurked on here last year and played along some at home but thought I’d try it this year this month.

Healthy meal and hydrate - we eat healthy most of the time but are trying some meal subscriptions to see if they work better for us time and money wise. Breakfast we do at home ourselves, toast, a peanut butter yogurt berry bowl for me, and toast, eggs and proteins for my SO. My SO has Factor for 4 meals  and we got Home Chef for a couple of nights for dinner. 

I’m not good with drinking plain water. We got a sparkling water maker and I’ve been trying to drink two glasses with my lunches and dinners. It’s been working but it could be because it’s a new thing. It would be a lot easier if it were coffee or iced tea or wine. 

Brain teasers hurt my brain. My SO does the nytimes crossword puzzle every single day. I try to do it with him on the weekend sometimes but I’m bad at it. Like really really bad. 

Digi detox and check ins - the digital detox time has turned out to be really good for my SO and I to check in with each other. Our work schedules can get crazy when it comes to having time together during the week so we’ve been trying a digital detox together a few nights a week. 

Body care - I spent part of the long weekend decluttering and omg the number of forgotten about tubes of body creams in half or over half used bottles I found is crazy. I won’t need any body care products for a century. I recruited my SO to help me and moved most of the unscented ones to his side of the counter. 

[Samtian]

@eshores Welcome! How does your SO like the Factor? 

[eshores]

@Samtian @nuinui933 he likes it alot, it's the meal service he's like the most. He says the food is the best of the ones he's had, everything has good flavor to them. He said some of the ones he's had in the past the protein can sometimes have a cardboard taste and the vegetables can have a rubbery feel. He says you can fix it if you wrap the vegetables in a damp papertowel and then heat it up that way but if the meal has sauce and it's all mixed together, you can't do that. If you have more questions let me know, he said he's happy to help answer them. 

[nuinui933]

@eshores 

Thank you.

[nuinui933]

@eshores 

I'm curious about this too.

[curlychiquita]

That’s great, @eshores! The sparkling water maker sounds interesting! I still drink coffee but I drink it black and I hear that it’s actually healthy.

[eshores]

@curlychiquita thank you

[itsfi]

@eshores, whoa, you got in some great self-care activities; that's fantastic. I lol'ed at your lurking comment; that's what I did when I first found this community.  Welcome!

Oh, I spy a BINGO!! Congrats! Crossword puzzles are not easy so kudos to you (and your husband) for doing them. You'll get through the overflow of body care products, just have to keep chipping away at it. This is a good season to work on using them up too! I think it's great you're involving your husband in this - you help him with crosswords, he helps with using up body creams. 😉 

[eshores]

@itsfi thank you

[curlychiquita]

Progress so far.

1) The “I feel like I’m getting sick” ended up being the flu and I was sicker than I’ve been in a long time. 🙄

2) I did finally get back to the gym, but I just walked. I think I’ll feel well enough to do the stationary bike tomorrow.

3) I went to the first meditation class last night! It was similar to the guided meditation you’d do at the end of a yoga class. I still enjoyed going to a spa and smelling the sea salts while doing it.

4) I need to prioritize sleep, so I was doing that over exercise given the choice.

5) I’ve been reading a lot! I do that a lot usually, though. I’m always at the library.

Looking forward to checking more boxes! 
@itsfi 

[Samtian]

@curlychiquita Nothing wrong with just walking! Far more than I've done 😄 

Sorry you've been sick. 

[curlychiquita]

Belated thank you, @Samtian! I’m all better but still even coughing sometimes a little! 

[itsfi]

I'm so happy you are feeling better @curlychiquita; there were some intense colds and flus going around last month & this month and it sounds like you caught one. Good that you were able to rest and prioritze sleep! Keeping my fingers crossed 🤞 that the meditation classes progress and get better for you as they move along. That's awesome that you make reading such an integral part of your everyday. I really need to get back into it again; or, t least find a happy middle ground for myself.

[Samtian]

Week 2-Carnations. 

The carnation, as the birth flower for January, symbolizes determination, warmth, love, fascination, and distinction.

[itsfi]

I absolutely love that you included details about the meaning of carnations @Samtian! 💗 And woohoo on the digital detox before bed 🙌 and hydrate!!! Look at you, checking off some self care activities that are not the easiest. #inspiring  Congrats on your BINGO!