Wellness Wednesday, 04.2018: Goals Update and Fav Natural Wellness Tips

Morning glories!

Welcome to “Wellness Wednesday, 04.2018”.  These monthly link-ups created by my friend Natalie at Natalie the Explorer are coming so fast.  Was so hopeful back in January when I made my list of wellness goals for the year.  But two weeks after the first wellness post, I broke my foot.  And my wellness journey took a new direction.

Ten days ago, my foot was still bothering me a great deal.  In fact, when I packed for week-long trip to east Texas last week, I threw my orthopedic shoe into my suitcase.  Averaged over 10K steps a day while I was gone.  Yet, somehow, my foot feels better!  I think I am finally healing.  So, once again, as was the case in last month’s post, I don’t have a lot of progress to report on many of my wellness goals.  I am hopeful, however, that this time next month I will have made lots of headway.

Today we are also talking about our favorite natural wellness tips.  I do have a couple of those to share.  But before we get to that, let’s just give my wellness goals the once-over real quick.

Wellness Goals Update

Rating my progress by category below on a scale of 1-5.

EXERCISE – 3

Up 1 point from last month.  In general, I have been moving more.  Worked out in some form or fashion 13 days in March.  That’s good, right?

DIET – 4

I have done fairly well on all of these activities.  While PC has been in Germany, I’ve been preparing Weight Watcher friendly meals for myself and limiting sweets and alcohol.  Did a little backsliding while I was out of town but back at it again this week.

STAYING WELL – 2

Let’s just say I am applying sunscreen everyday. Looking into purchasing a water flosser.  Any suggestions?

MENTAL WELLNESS – 2

My ‘mental’ still hasn’t been too ‘well’.  Nor have I been very peaceful.  My oldest daughter had to move into a hotel when her house sold.  Her new house will be ready in a few more weeks.  So I have been concerned about Brennyn and Cady.  My youngest daughter Lauren has undergone a number of tests trying to identify a health concern she’s had for a long time.  She goes to the doctor on Thursday for what we hope will be some answers and direction for treatment.  I have been worried about her.  And then my PC has been gone for six weeks.  Life at home has been lonely.

SPIRITUAL WELLNESS – 3

Another category where I made small improvements.  Blessed by quiet, devotional time 15 days in March.  Worked several puzzles.  Didn’t work on my story a single time.  But wrote 17 blog posts.

RELATIONSHIP WELLNESS – 2

Actually went backwards in this category.  I was doing really well at unplugging by 9:00 pm but with PC gone, my laptop has been my best bud.  Need to get back to unplugging.  And he will finally be home on Saturday night so we can work on the other 2 activities that fall under this heading!

Still plenty of room for improvement.

Fav Natural Wellness Tips

Aside from taking vitamins and drinking plenty of water, there are a few other things I have begun doing in hopes of improving my overall health.

• Trading sea salt for regular table salt.  The chemical make-up and nutritional value of the two salts are very similar and both contain similar amounts of sodium.  But table salt is more heavily processed to remove minerals and often contains an additive to prevent clumping.  My daughter has begun using Nu-Salt, a sodium-free salt alternative.  I am thinking of trying it.
• Applying coconut oil on my face at night.  A few months ago, I developed a small, red, patchy area on my face between my nose and the corner of my mouth.  I used antibiotic cream on it with no improvement.  Then tried an anti-fungal ointment also with no change.  Decided that maybe I was scrubbing my face too aggressively so discontinued using a facial scrub and started applying coconut oil to my complexion before bed.  Within a day or two the irritation and redness was gone.  Who knew that it has antibiotic and anti-fungal properties, and provides sunburn protection equivalent to a SPF4 sunscreen, promotes collagen formation, and minimizes wrinkles.  Smells good, too!
• Using Thieves essential oil blend in a diffuser at night.  It’s no surprise that the desert air in El Paso is extremely dusty and dry.  I add 4-5 drops of Thieves into the water in my humidifying diffuser to boost our immune system and to fight off sinus infections and colds.  Bonus:  the spicy clover-rosemary scent has a calming effect that encourages a good night’s sleep.

Hope this post will inspire you to try these inexpensive wellness tips or seek out some of your own.

Your Turn

Have struggled throughout this post and others earlier this week to type the letter R.  You might remember a few months back, my space bar and letter O were on the fritz. Andmysentenceslkedaltlikethis.  Remember?  Well, now, unless I go back and correct them, my sentences are looking strange again.  For example, the sentence above that begins with You; it looked like this:  You might emembe a few months back, my space ba and lette O wee on the fitz … until I fixed all the missing Rs.  So fustating.

Do you have any favorite natural wellness tips you can suggest for me?  Please share in a comment below.  I am thinking of looking into a Himalayan salt lamp for beside the bed and would like to try red light therapy.  Do you gals know anything about either of those products?

Have a wellness post to share?  Link-up with us below.

Mark your calendars for next month’s “Wellness Wednesday” post when we will update (I can only hope there’s something to update) our goals and share skin and beauty tips.  Ooops, maybe I should have saved my coconut oil bit for May? Oh, well.

Thanks for coming by, sweet friends.  Wishing you healthy days!

Hugs and kisses,