Sephora

itsfi

Whether self-care is new to you or you're a seasoned pro when it comes to wellness activities, welcome! 👋

There's a lot going on in the world - be it due to the holidays season, or 2025 coming quickly to a close, or just everyday stuff. Sometimes, we just need a space to block out the outside noise and spend some time focusing on our own well-being. Or some time to remind us to look after ourselves. Consider this one of those spaces. Jump right on in and join us for another month of wellness bingo.

November 2025 BWell Bingo Card (final form).jpg

Self-care, the activities we undertake for our own well being, varies on our circumstances and needs. We're each on our own personal self-care journey, but it doesn't hurt to have a little encouragement along the way. Or to be an encouragement to others as we work towards wellness. Wellness takes work; let's do the work together, BIC!

For more information on wellness bingo, check out the following:

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy November!

Spoiler

Tagging a few folks who have posted to previous Working Towards Wellness threads. Will try to update tags throughout periodically. If I inadvertently missed someone, I apologize. Feel free to tag others you think may be interested. Be well!
@ather @blackkitty2014 @caitbird @CorgiMommy @curlychiquita @danielledanielle @missjeanie @PrettyPaint @Samtian @Shosh85

Tagging a few folks who have posted to previous Working Towards Wellness threads. Will try to update tags throughout periodically. If I inadvertently missed someone, I apologize. Feel free to tag others you think may be interested. Be well!

caitbird

notes for week of 11/1-11/8:
I've already made a fair amount of progress on this month's Wellness bingo board, and am quite pleased with how many activities I've been able to check off so far! Several of them kind of ended up tying into one another, as you'll see. Notes on each activity under a spoiler, because I accidentally wrote a book 😅

Spoiler

💜treat yourself: It's my birthday this week! I decided to treat myself to a special gift that I've been wanting for awhile: a blind date with a book + self care box from Etsy. There are a lot of shops on etsy offering blind date with a book boxes; the shop I ordered from is WrappednMysteryBooks. The shop owner is lovely and puts a lot of care into curating a blind date with a book you'll enjoy, and I was very excited to see what book (and self care add ons) I would get! I can't wait to start reading my book - and everything was packaged so nicely!

💜fall faves: I have been enjoying a lot of seasonal things this fall, from seasonal treats like pumpkin muffins or pumpkin cranberry bread, to teas like pumpkin spiced pie or apple cinnamon, to candles like Sweet Water Decor Warm and Cozy or DW Home Sweet Apple. It really helps me to appreciate the season and all that comes with it (despite how much I dislike the colder weather and shorter days).

💜body care: I hate that prickly skin feeling I get after showering as the water evaporates (I guess it is trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL, happening), so I have been making an effort to apply a lotion or body cream after I towel off, which helps. I like to use either a basic unscented one, or one that layers well with whatever fragrance I am wearing that day (more aromatherapy!)

my current full sized body lotions & creams

💜stress management: something that I have been coming to terms with as I get older is that I often don't deal with stress very well, and a lot of my coping mechanisms and behavioral patterns that I tend to fall into when I am dealing with stress are, shall we say, not exactly helpful or healthy. So, that is something that has been an ongoing work in progress for me, working on identifying and unlearning unhelpful behaviors and patterns, and trying to replace them with new, helpful ones. I've definitely gotten better in this area, but it's something that I'm continuing to work on for sure. My therapist has been a great help with this, and has pointed me toward various resources and tools/techniques to try. I have also been trying some different things on my own. I have found journaling (there are lots of prompts out there specifically for anxiety and/or stress management) and practicing gratitude - or even combining the two with gratitude journaling - to be very helpful. The other night I was feeling very anxious and stressed, and I impulsively made a list in my journal of all the positive things I could think of in that moment to appreciate and be grateful for. It really helped me to feel better, so I plan to try to do this more often, as I feel the need. I had an interview this week, and they actually asked me about how I identify and manage stress to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout (it is a job in the animal care/animal rescue field, so this is a real issue).

💜stay hydrated: as always, I bring one of my big (20 oz) reusable water bottles with me everywhere, and refill it multiple times per day. I've also been drinking more tea since fall began, getting in at least one cup pretty much every day lately.

💜aromatherapy: I am definitely in my aromatherapy era! Most days I wear at least one perfume, and sometimes two - one for daytime, and one for bedtime. For my daytime perfumes, I'm mostly focusing on samples right now; I've been trying to balance both new-to-me samples to try, and tried-and-true favorites in sample format, which I'm working my way through for the Shop Your Stash / Use Your Stash Challenge: Fall 2025 🍂🍁 thread. I have also been lighting a candle pretty much every day lately. I have been enjoying a lot of fall scents, as I mentioned.

💜have a warm & cozy drink: as I mentioned, I have been drinking more tea of late; partly because I'm trying to work my way through more of my (enormous and excessive 😂) tea stash, and partly because I just enjoy it, particularly in colder weather. One of the other forums I post in (FabFitFun) also has a very active tea lovers thread that hosts periodic challenges (kind of like these Wellness bingo threads!), which is encouraging me to drink more tea as well, so I can post and share. I've been drinking at least one cup pretty much every day, and more often two - sometimes I even manage three!

💜practice gratitude: I have been practicing gratitude quite a bit lately, actually. First, because I've changed up my digital journaling a little in the past couple of weeks (partly because I have a new laptop, so new apps, etc.). I've started making daily short journal entries in my notes app, each with the same few simple prompts, plus space for whatever is on my mind currently/whatever is happening that day. One of the daily prompts is to list 3 things I'm grateful for each day. I've only been doing this consistently for a few weeks now, but so far, I've always been able to come up with (at least) 3 things pretty easily, and I don't think there have been any repeats either, which really puts into perspective just how much I have to be grateful for. The other reason gratitude is on my mind every day this month is that, as I mentioned, one of my other forums often posts monthly/periodic challenges in the tea thread - and this month's tea challenge includes practicing gratitude! The rules are that every time you check off a bingo square and post your tea, you also share something you're grateful for. I am big on gratitude, obviously, so I love this idea. BTW, if any of you ever feel like sharing with BIC something you're grateful for, I made a thread for that! Gratitude Thread! 🙂

💜free space: one other wellness/self care activity I've been working on this month (and for the past few months) is my ongoing efforts to tackle the clutter, mess, and general unpleasantness of my room. Over a long time of periodic depressive episodes that made it hard to keep up with tidying and cleaning, I ended up with a pretty horrendous case of "depression room" as it is apparently (and appropriately) called. In the interest of improving my general environmental wellness, I've made it a long-term project to declutter, tidy, and clean my room as much as possible, as and when I'm able to. It's been a major undertaking and is still very much a work in progress, but it is better than it was, so I'm grateful for that. Another thing I've been working on is keeping in touch with friends more, which has been really nice.

💜treat someone else: another thread in the FabFitFun forum is called "PIF and Purge." PIF stands for Pay It Forward, and the way it works is that people post items they don't need or want and are looking to re-home, and other forum members can claim the items if they want them. The person who posted the item then "pays it forward" by sending it to them as a gift. I posted an item - an unused mug, since I have so many (and recently bought several more, oops 😅) - and it was claimed by a very sweet lady from the forum. So, I shipped off my gift to its new home with someone who will use and enjoy it.

💜quiet time, journal, meditate, breathe: As I mentioned, I have been using journaling as a self care/stress management tool (pen and paper journal), as well as for practicing daily gratitude (digital journal), among other things; this past week, I've also started branching out into a few more different journals and notebooks. One of my hyperfixations-slash-insomnia-projects last weekend was inventorying all of my (many) empty notebooks, which I've sort of been collecting/hoarding XD I decided to look on Pinterest for ideas for what to do with empty notebooks, and, after finding quite a few interesting suggestions, pulled out several of my notebooks to use for new types of journals. Time will tell which of these I actually manage to keep up with, but as of now, here are my current (traditional/non-digital) journals and notebooks:
journals flatlay.png

💜music therapy: as I mentioned, I recently got a new laptop - actually a Chromebook (a very generous early birthday gift from my parents), and am still working on transferring everything over from my old laptop - including my extensive music library. In the meantime, I finally caved and joined Spotify, which I've just started exploring. I also still enjoy listening to CDs in the car; right now I have one of my many mix CDs - I believe I titled it something like "murder ballads & trad folk III", which should tell you something about the type of music I like XD - on rotation. Also, another of my daily digital journal entries' prompts is to list my song of the day; sometimes, I post whatever it is to the 🎶✨Song of the Day and Music Thread!✨🎶 thread.

💜seasonal fruits & veggies: this year's tomato bonanza from the garden continues aplenty; in addition to fresh tomatoes in salads and cooked tomatoes in pastas, chilis, stews, and soups, my mom has dehydrated a large batch of them, and also made 11 jars of tomato pesto! My current favorite lunch (or snack, or anytime XD) is a toasted bagel cheddar cheesemelt with sliced fresh tomatoes; it's so flavorful and feels like an incredibly indulgent treat every time. As for fruits, apple season is in full swing, and citrus season is beginning, so we've been enjoying lots of both of those.

💜exercise (30 minutes): yesterday was a pretty nice day, and I managed to get outside and spend some time in the yard and woods around the house gathering kindling for our 2 woodstoves. It was really nice to enjoy the fresh air and move around, something I am afraid I don't do often enough. And I like the feeling of getting ready for the cold weather and cozy times ahead.

💜have a healthy meal: one of the things I'm often grateful for is that, as I still live with my parents, and my mom is an amazing cook (my dad pitches in once a week, too), I'm spoiled with delicious - and healthy - meals almost every night. My parents were away on vacation for a bit over a week last month, and I really missed my mom's cooking XD The other night, we had salmon burgers with roasted butternut squash (more seasonal veggies from the garden!), which was really good. And tonight, veggie stir fry with ramen noodles and tofu, and pomegranate!

If you read through all of that (I swear I didn't mean to write so much! 😅), bless you.

treat yourself: It's my birthday this week! I decided to treat myself to a special gift that I've been wanting for awhile: a blind date with a book + self care box from Etsy. There are a lot of shops on etsy offering blind date with a book boxes; the shop I ordered from is WrappednMysteryBooks. The shop owner is lovely and puts a lot of care into curating a blind date with a book you'll enjoy, and I was very excited to see what book (and self care add ons) I would get! I can't wait to start reading my book - and everything was packaged so nicely!fall faves: I have been enjoying a lot of seasonal things this fall, from seasonal treats like pumpkin muffins or pumpkin cranberry bread, to teas like pumpkin spiced pie or apple cinnamon, to candles like Sweet Water Decor Warm and Cozy or DW Home Sweet Apple. It really helps me to appreciate the season and all that comes with it (despite how much I dislike the colder weather and shorter days).body care: I hate that prickly skin feeling I get after showering as the water evaporates (I guess it is trans-epidermal water loss, or TEWL, happening), so I have been making an effort to apply a lotion or body cream after I towel off, which helps. I like to use either a basic unscented one, or one that layers well with whatever fragrance I am wearing that day (more aromatherapy!)my current full sized body lotions & creamsstress management: something that I have been coming to terms with as I get older is that I often don't deal with stress very well, and a lot of my coping mechanisms and behavioral patterns that I tend to fall into when I am dealing with stress are, shall we say, not exactly helpful or healthy. So, that is something that has been an ongoing work in progress for me, working on identifying and unlearning unhelpful behaviors and patterns, and trying to replace them with new, helpful ones. I've definitely gotten better in this area, but it's something that I'm continuing to work on for sure. My therapist has been a great help with this, and has pointed me toward various resources and tools/techniques to try. I have also been trying some different things on my own. I have found journaling (there are lots of prompts out there specifically for anxiety and/or stress management) and practicing gratitude - or even combining the two with gratitude journaling - to be very helpful. The other night I was feeling very anxious and stressed, and I impulsively made a list in my journal of all the positive things I could think of in that moment to appreciate and be grateful for. It really helped me to feel better, so I plan to try to do this more often, as I feel the need. I had an interview this week, and they actually asked me about how I identify and manage stress to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout (it is a job in the animal care/animal rescue field, so this is a real issue).stay hydrated: as always, I bring one of my big (20 oz) reusable water bottles with me everywhere, and refill it multiple times per day. I've also been drinking more tea since fall began, getting in at least one cup pretty much every day lately.aromatherapy: I am definitely in my aromatherapy era! Most days I wear at least one perfume, and sometimes two - one for daytime, and one for bedtime. For my daytime perfumes, I'm mostly focusing on samples right now; I've been trying to balance both new-to-me samples to try, and tried-and-true favorites in sample format, which I'm working my way through for the thread. I have also been lighting a candle pretty much every day lately. I have been enjoying a lot of fall scents, as I mentioned.have a warm & cozy drink: as I mentioned, I have been drinking more tea of late; partly because I'm trying to work my way through more of my (enormous and excessive ) tea stash, and partly because I just enjoy it, particularly in colder weather. One of the other forums I post in (FabFitFun) also has a very active tea lovers thread that hosts periodic challenges (kind of like these Wellness bingo threads!), which is encouraging me to drink more tea as well, so I can post and share. I've been drinking at least one cup pretty much every day, and more often two - sometimes I even manage three!practice gratitude: I have been practicing gratitude quite a bit lately, actually. First, because I've changed up my digital journaling a little in the past couple of weeks (partly because I have a new laptop, so new apps, etc.). I've started making daily short journal entries in my notes app, each with the same few simple prompts, plus space for whatever is on my mind currently/whatever is happening that day. One of the daily prompts is to list 3 things I'm grateful for each day. I've only been doing this consistently for a few weeks now, but so far, I've always been able to come up with (at least) 3 things pretty easily, and I don't think there have been any repeats either, which really puts into perspective just how much I have to be grateful for. The other reason gratitude is on my mind every day this month is that, as I mentioned, one of my other forums often posts monthly/periodic challenges in the tea thread - and this month's tea challenge includes practicing gratitude! The rules are that every time you check off a bingo square and post your tea, you also share something you're grateful for. I am big on gratitude, obviously, so I love this idea. BTW, if any of you ever feel like sharing with BIC something you're grateful for, I made a thread for that! free space: one other wellness/self care activity I've been working on this month (and for the past few months) is my ongoing efforts to tackle the clutter, mess, and general unpleasantness of my room. Over a long time of periodic depressive episodes that made it hard to keep up with tidying and cleaning, I ended up with a pretty horrendous case of "depression room" as it is apparently (and appropriately) called. In the interest of improving my general environmental wellness, I've made it a long-term project to declutter, tidy, and clean my room as much as possible, as and when I'm able to. It's been a major undertaking and is still very much a work in progress, but it is better than it was, so I'm grateful for that. Another thing I've been working on is keeping in touch with friends more, which has been really nice.treat someone else: another thread in the FabFitFun forum is called "PIF and Purge." PIF stands for Pay It Forward, and the way it works is that people post items they don't need or want and are looking to re-home, and other forum members can claim the items if they want them. The person who posted the item then "pays it forward" by sending it to them as a gift. I posted an item - an unused mug, since I have so many (and recently bought several more, oops ) - and it was claimed by a very sweet lady from the forum. So, I shipped off my gift to its new home with someone who will use and enjoy it.quiet time, journal, meditate, breathe: As I mentioned, I have been using journaling as a self care/stress management tool (pen and paper journal), as well as for practicing daily gratitude (digital journal), among other things; this past week, I've also started branching out into a few more different journals and notebooks. One of my hyperfixations-slash-insomnia-projects last weekend was inventorying all of my (many) empty notebooks, which I've sort of been collecting/hoarding XD I decided to look on Pinterest for ideas for what to do with empty notebooks, and, after finding quite a few interesting suggestions, pulled out several of my notebooks to use for new types of journals. Time will tell which of these I actually manage to keep up with, but as of now, here are my current (traditional/non-digital) journals and notebooks:music therapy: as I mentioned, I recently got a new laptop - actually a Chromebook (a very generous early birthday gift from my parents), and am still working on transferring everything over from my old laptop - including my extensive music library. In the meantime, I finally caved and joined Spotify, which I've just started exploring. I also still enjoy listening to CDs in the car; right now I have one of my many mix CDs - I believe I titled it something like "murder ballads & trad folk III", which should tell you something about the type of music I like XD - on rotation. Also, another of my daily digital journal entries' prompts is to list my song of the day; sometimes, I post whatever it is to the thread.seasonal fruits & veggies: this year's tomato bonanza from the garden continues aplenty; in addition to fresh tomatoes in salads and cooked tomatoes in pastas, chilis, stews, and soups, my mom has dehydrated a large batch of them, and also made 11 jars of tomato pesto! My current favorite lunch (or snack, or anytime XD) is a toasted bagel cheddar cheesemelt with sliced fresh tomatoes; it's so flavorful and feels like an incredibly indulgent treat every time. As for fruits, apple season is in full swing, and citrus season is beginning, so we've been enjoying lots of both of those.exercise (30 minutes): yesterday was a pretty nice day, and I managed to get outside and spend some time in the yard and woods around the house gathering kindling for our 2 woodstoves. It was really nice to enjoy the fresh air and move around, something I am afraid I don't do often enough. And I like the feeling of getting ready for the cold weather and cozy times ahead.have a healthy meal: one of the things I'm often grateful for is that, as I still live with my parents, and my mom is an amazing cook (my dad pitches in once a week, too), I'm spoiled with delicious - and healthy - meals almost every night. My parents were away on vacation for a bit over a week last month, and I really missed my mom's cooking XD The other night, we had salmon burgers with roasted butternut squash (more seasonal veggies from the garden!), which was really good. And tonight, veggie stir fry with ramen noodles and tofu, and pomegranate!If you read through all of that (I swear I didn't mean to write so much! ), bless you.

💜

missjeanie

@caitbird I love all of your journal categories. What a great way to keep thoughts organized.

Do you find the EOS body lotion formula a good one? I see a few people posting about the different scented ones and have contemplated giving them a shot.

caitbird

@missjeanie thank you! I am the type of person who likes to keep lots of lists and notebooks and journals, haha. I do like the EOS lotion - I've only tried the unscented one, but I find it's moisturizing and absorbs easily. It's a good price IMO, too. I'd like to try some of the scented varieties at some point.

itsfi

@caitbird, congrats on BINGO x2! 🎉 On your way to more too. Ahhh, love the warmth from a woodstove - and that you can cook on them! Enjoy your birthday week. 🎈

caitbird

@itsfi thank you so much! (I love that gif, haha) 💜

danielledanielle

Seriously, awesome progress @caitbird . HBD and that book date looks great

caitbird

@danielledanielle thank you so much! 😊

Samtian

@caitbird Wow amazing job!!! I wish my mom cooked haha. Those journals are stunning.

caitbird

@Samtian thank you so much! I am a sucker for a pretty notebook, haha.

Samtian

I like the idea others have done with a different kind of marker each week. So I am doing fall based "stamps". Starting with Apple Cider...that you will never see me drink.

Stay Hydrated- My work had it's yearly month long shutdown so finances said no more soda or monsters this check. So I must drink water. Against my will.
Aromatherapy- Have fall based wax melts out and I'm hoping to finish off a candle I've been warming all summer this month.
I'm not a warm and cozy drink kind of person so I'm cheating. I went with a seasonal drink. Wal-Mart had some Hocus Pocus Orange Cream Milk so I grabbed that. Yummy. And I had a Holiday Vanilla Coke that was delicious too.
Treat someone else- kinda cheating on this one too. I grabbed one of the kittens outside and got her fixed. Let her rest in the house while she recovered.
Prioritize Sleep- During shutdown I was lucky enough to get to work (actually that's lucky and unlucky) but it was a different schedule so one night I came home and went to bed an hour earlier because I was way tired.
Read/TV- Watching more Gilded Age, Football, and reading the 6th Bourne book. Trying for one chapter a night.
Hobby- I am finally done editing portrait work, so now I can catch up on travel pictures. But I am also trying to not sit at a computer all day so I limit how much I am doing.

missjeanie

@Samtian I am also begrudgingly drinking more water. Why does it have to taste like water and not my beloved Diet Pepsi? I should look for where I can stream The Gilded Age here as well. I feel like it's one I could enjoy.

Samtian

@missjeanie Haha I know huh! Cirkul makes a product now that carbonates the water (or whatever) with "soda" flavors but it's outside my price range.

Gilded age is pretty good! We have it on HBO/Max whatever it's called now here.

missjeanie

@Samtian I was gifted a soda stream about two years ago now with the hopes that maybe I could drink more carbonated water. They also make additions to make it more pop like, but it's just not the same. I also tried a water bottle that has a scented piece for the top, so you drink the water, but smell the flavour. It was interesting... but... not the same lol.

missjeanie

@Samtian Okay I just looked up Cirkul. It looks like the same type of water bottle I have with a different name. I mean... it was fun for a while. But it doesn't replace pop for me.

caitbird

@Samtian great job! Love the apple cider stamps - I look forward to seeing what stamps you choose for future weeks this month! And I hope the kitten's recovery goes well - thank you for taking care of her! 💜

Samtian

@caitbird Thank you! Hopefully they look cool haha. Kitten is doing well and very happy to be back outside.

CorgiMommy

@Samtian great ways to prioritize yourself while work was shut down.

Samtian

@CorgiMommy Thank you!

itsfi

Marvelous job on self-care @Samtian. Not cheating at all, none of it; making this work for you. 👏 Making a note on the warm and cozy drink, thank you. Hope the little kitty's recovery goes smoothly; you're a good mama to your fur babies! 😺

Those are great goals to work on - reading a chapter a night and trying to limit screen time. That latter one can be a challenge especially since photo editing is a hobby. Sometimes it helps to just have breaks while you're doing the work, to give your eyes and body a break. Speaking of which, I am going to walk away from my screen and stretch my legs and hands a bit.

P.S. Love the stamps!