Working Towards Wellness: July 2025

[itsfi]

Hey BIC, let's kick off the latter half of the year with some wellness bingo! Whether you're just starting out wit focusing on your self-care or you're a seasoned pro at it; or, you're somewhere in between, with your good days, and your not-so-good ones, welcome! (See spoiler below ⤵️ "How To Play" for more details)

We're each on our own personal self-care journey, one that, if you're like me, varies - some days (weeks, months, years) are better than others. Wellness is a process - it's about progress, not perfection. It takes work. Much of that work falls on us individually, and our efforts towards self-care, as it should, but that effort is and can be helped, inspired, encouraged, and supported by others, be it friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, or the members of  this Community. Wellness takes work - let's do the work together, BIC!

How To Play:

Spoiler

The short-and-sweet of it is to just jump right on in, by undertaking one or more of the activities described in a square. Once you've performed the activity, that square is yours - check it off however you like. Just remember, be safe and make adjustments, if and as applicable.

This game of wellness bingo is about YOU and YOUR WELLNESS. If you want to try for BINGO (5 squares in a row - across, down, diagonal), go for it. If you want to pick activities that are already part of your wellness activities or are ones you've been interested in trying, have at it. You can also choose to go about this by picking a row or column to focus each week, or for the entire month. Tailor your approach to meet your self-care needs and the time you have to give towards it in a particular day, week, or month. 

More information on "How To Play" can be found here ➡️ Ideas For How to Go About Wellness Bingo

Posting:

Spoiler

If you feel up to sharing about the self-care activities you undertook, please do, no matter the number of activities! We love hearing about what worked or what didn't work for you. And, we're always down for picking up some real life tips, tricks and techniques. To post, click "Reply" in the lower left hand corner of this original post and write away in the box that will appear. You can list the activities you performed, with or without your thoughts on the activity. You can if you choose, attach a copy of the wellness bingo card with the applicable squares marked off. 

Looking forward towards working towards another month of wellness with you, BIC!

[CorgiMommy]

Congratulations on getting near the end of your student loans @ather .  

Glad you are feeling better and can get back into your routine. 

[ather]

@CorgiMommy  Thank you!!! 😊 it feels like it’s taken a lifetime! 

[Samtian]

• Financial- Partially went over it, got discouraged and stopped haha.
• TV- Started watching The Gilded Age, and am in love.
• Soak up the sun- We've been slowly working on painting the house in the evenings and weekend mornings.
• Social Wellness- Lots of chaos at work, so I've been talking with coworkers more often and I'm finally going to a Union meeting tonight.

[CorgiMommy]

Great job working on wellness plus i am really impressed that you are painting your hone yourself! @Samtian 

[Samtian]

@CorgiMommy Thank you! I have a friend, she gave us the first pain cans free,her and a few of her kids help out as well. It's therapeutic. 

[itsfi]

BINGO!!! And you're so close on a couple more. Great job, @Samtian! Financial wellness is one of those where doing it in doses is so understandable. Baby steps. Slow and steady with the house painting, especially with how hot it gets where you live. 

from Shutterstock

[Samtian]

@itsfi Thank you! Yeah we were in a crane the other Sunday getting trim done, and we had to help steady ourselves on the roof, and before 10 am the roof was hot!

[itsfi]

Whoa 😳 @Samtian. I feel like weather in a lot of spots has been abnormal. Today is the first day I’ve seen sun at this time of day. It’s been a bit grey in the mornings for weeks and rained a good bit yesterday. I decided to run a quick errand earlier this morning and ended up having to use the hood on my raincoat and find cover under an awning for a little bit. 😳🌦️

[Samtian]

@itsfi Wow! 

[CorgiMommy]

 Almost finished the board, snagged a few bingos!

Music Therapy -  road trip = radio blaring and we are singing along!

Childhood Favorite - went out and caught fireflies before the mosquitoes came out

Social Wellness  -  purposely went out and met new people at a recent event 

[itsfi]

Nicely done @CorgiMommy. Loved the radio blaring on the road trip!!! Sounds like you had a fabulous time. 🙌

I think I owe you a bingo shout out from your last update. And this one too! 

from giphy

photo credit: aws

[CorgiMommy]

@itsfi thank you.  We had a blast especially during the real boring parts of the trip. 

[Samtian]

@CorgiMommy Best kind of music therapy! I want to see fireflies so bad. Congrats on the bingos!

[CorgiMommy]

Thanks!  Fireflies aren't as prevalent as they use to be.  It is a shame as they are fun to catch and make light up.  I always release them back  @Samtian 

[itsfi]

Mid-month check in; self-care activities over the last week marked with blue X. Working on getting back to basics and keeping self-care top of mind in practical, daily ways.

Music-therapy: The Summer Cheek Challenge 2025: A Song & A Slay is creating more room for listening to music and working through my blushers, bronzers and highlighter. I'll post my music playlist for the month to the 🎶✨Song of the Day and Music Thread!✨🎶 in a week or so.

Have a healthy meal: Healthy-ish? I tried making Japanese curry with, for the first time, tofu. It was okay. Next time, I will try marinating or seasoning the tofu first. 

Explore a New-To-You Spot: On one of my walks, I stumbled upon a new-to-me coffee shop and a nearby park. I didn't have time to check out either the day i happened upon them so I went back this week, picked up a coffee and made my way to the park. Sat down at a picnic table, sipped my coffee, did some people-watching, and took some photos of the landscape and some products.

Stretch (30 Minutes): Broke up my stretching throughout the day for most of the week -  a10 minute full-body stretch first thing in the morning, 10-minutes in afternoon focused on my arms, wrists, neck and shoulders and 10-minutes while cooking dinner or watching TV, focused on my hips, calves and ankles.

Seasonal Fruits & Veggies: I've been making a big salad for dinner most nights during the week, with a protein and lots of veggies.  I've been making a yogurt & fruit bowl for an evening snack a few nights a week. For seasonal fruits, @ather mentioned a raspberries and blueberries combination with yogurt, which, interestingly enough, I've never tried; until a few days ago, that is. Topped it with some toasted almond slices and a light drizzle of blue agave nectar. Delish!!

Prioritize Sleep: Yep! I've set an alarm on my phone to signal when I need to start calling it quit on my screen time and focusing on winding down. Setting an alarm for this is new-to-me but it's been helpful - there's been more than a few nights where I've had a more challenging time logging off my computer or putting my phone to the side, or when I've extended my time in front of those things. The alarm has been a good signal that it's time to turn my attention to other things; namely, my own self-care.

Spiritual Health & Wellness: This may be a little of a stretch but I'm checking this box with the second and last third of my summer digital detox  before bed routine - it's a 30-minute routine, with the second 10-minutes involving stretching or yoga and the last 10-minutes or more focused on working to be still and slowing down all the thoughts racing through my brain. I've been able to do a stretching routine that ends with me in the savasana (corpse) yoga pose and leads into the last 10 minutes of just being still. 

[CorgiMommy]

@itsfi that all looks yummy..   Digital Detox is a good thing, I know it helps me fall asleep faster.

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, the digital detox is good for so many things; I'm always put in my place when I realize how much time I spend on my phone or in front of the computer. 😬

[ather]

@itsfi  Wow! Awesome job!!! 

that Japanese curry looks so yummy!!! 🤤 and the yogurt and berries yum!!! 

So cool you found a new park and coffee shop! I bet it was relaxing to sit and enjoy the scenery! 

I love your sleep hygiene routine! I bet the 10 minutes in savasana helps wind down before bed!!

[itsfi]

Thank you @ather and thank YOU for sharing about the raspberry and blueberry combo - so funny that I've never tried it before. It's going into the rotation for sure. Awww, you're too kind. The curry can use some work but I'll figure it out. I'm trying a new-to-me food recipe at least once a month; or, at least, that's the plan. The savasana pose is one of my favorites and it's just comes in handy for unwinding and letting go of all the various things going on in my head. I want to get into a good consistency with this wind down routine. I figure I'll aim to do it 3 nights per week and then try to get in a nightly routine of walking with the weighted vest after dinner (a page from your routine) and then some candlelight yoga.

[ather]

@itsfi  Wow! Your evening routine sounds like pure magic!!! I may need to steal the candle lit yoga! I’m happy you love the new fruit combo! I don’t think I can take the credit F loves it! 

[itsfi]

If you can get in candlight yoga, even once or twice a week, that would be so nice @ather. I find it to be helpful with unwinding and for lack of a better word, relaxing my brain. And the rest of me, too. 😅 Shout out to the little guy for the yummy berry power combo! 👍