Wellness Weekend 07.2020 & Having Fun

 

Wellness sisters, welcome! The third Sunday of July is somehow upon us which means it’s time for Wellness Weekend 07.2020. Sharing an update on my wellness goals and talking a little bit about our optional theme, having fun. How prophetic that when my friend Natalie created these prompts at the first of the year, she would throw in ‘having fun’ for July. Just when we are all up to here with this Covid business and need some fun in our lives.

This time last month, we were 3 months into the stay at home restrictions. In that month’s wellness post, I updated my goals and talked about mind exercises. If you missed that post, click here to read it. Anyone else feel like their brain has turned to mush this year? I need to my own mind exercise suggestions into my daily routine.

This bright Sunday, let’s see how I’ve done in the past 4 weeks toward improving my wellness. Still committing to all 5s by the year’s end. But fair warning, I think I haven’t fared well this month.

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WELLNESS WEEKEND 07.2020 GOALS UPDATE

Last month, I was sure El Paso was beginning to wake up after its long Covid-induced nap. But then all of our numbers started increasing and most everyone I know has gone back to bed and pulled the covers over their heads. We are back to staying at home most days except for my Prince going to work. And when I cross the mountain to sit my granddarlings. Of course, when we do go out, we always wear a mask. But it has all become very tiresome. As a result, progress on my wellness goals has suffered. Afraid there’s not much progress to write home about here.

Let’s see where I am for Wellness Weekend 07.2020. Here’s a hint…

PHYSICAL HEALTH – 3.0 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Stretch and work out 4x a week , Weight Watchers to maintain weight – I have lost my mojo, friends. Just not feelin’ it. We are working out at least 2-3 times a week, running that often but I have adopted an unhealthy ‘don’t care’ attitude. As a result my weight is also up 2 pounds. Oh, yay.
• Get 7200 steps and 3 floors a day – getting my steps better but I must need to climb Mt. Everest for my new fitness tracker to register that I have gone up a story or a floor. Our 17 step stair case doesn’t make an impression on it at all.
• Walk in nature for 30 minutes a day, 5x a week – somehow, with temps in the triple digits, I don’t have much interest in walking in nature for 30 minutes. We have returned to a quick bedtime walk but even at dusk the temperature is over 100*F many evenings. Last weekend we took 2 bags of our less than ripe peaches into the desert for the animals there to enjoy.

NUTRITIONAL HEALTH – 4.5 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Cook meals at home 4x a week – blowing this out of the water. Might be the only goal I am fulfilling!!! In El Paso, restaurants have opened up slowly with limited seating. Last month, we ventured out a couple of times to eat. But with our Covid cases steadily climbing, we haven’t been back out to eat since. That being said, I am cooking my little heart out. True, some nights it’s grilled cheese or fish sticks, but I am fixing them!! Looking into Hello Fresh come pay day.
• Eat 1 fruit and 1 veggie every day (sad, I know) – yes, continuing to do this well. Smoothies!! Painless way to get our veggies. Check out some of our favorite smoothie ingredients, here.

• Indulge in alcohol and sweets on weekends – so I ate all of the patriotic M&Ms. Got them outta here. But have subbed in red licorice…strawberry flavor. Have got to quit talking two licorice sticks up to bed each night. We aren’t drinking much these days. Surprising, considering the mood I am in.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH – 4.0 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Develop a morning routine M-F – my mornings never look the same from one day to the next, despite all my efforts. Some mornings I fairly pop out of bed to do my QT, workout and run before going to help with the babies. Other days, I could stay in bed all day. For some additional direction, I have begun working my way through Make Over Your Mornings. And then will follow up with Make Over Your Evenings. Also, back to my paper to-do list making.
• Enjoy quiet time M-F (devotional, writing, reading, moment of silence and prayer) – yes, but not as consistently as I should. Have just begun reading a new book, Devotions from the Beach, a gift from my BFF Sharon. My sissy invited me to do a Bible study with her, Grace Changes Everything. Has a little Bible journaling, writing, reflecting…something for everyone.

• Use aroma therapy during my morning routine – had cleaned off my desk and was doing my devotional up there but then moved to the patio. When it got hot out there, I moved back in the house. Need to remember this goal.

MENTAL HEALTH – 3.5 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Get dressed every day (not active wear), wear a dress or skirt to church – still no getting dressed for church. Our church has been open again for over a month. But we haven’t returned to Sunday service. Shared some of my OOTDs in a recent post. Wearing shorts and not apologizing for it! Also wearing maxis to satisfy a bucket list activity, and even ordered a new one this week. Thinking it will be fun for cooler Sunday mornings in the fall.

• Weekly artistic activity; word games, journal – can I just be honest, here? I don’t feel like doing much right now. In a blue funk over here. A lot of afternoons, after helping with my babies all morning, I just want to take a nap. At 62, I am becoming my 93 year old mother.
• Read 3 books a month in order to meet my Goodreads goal (are we friends on Goodreads yet?) – our public library is still closed. The book return opened for about 15 minutes one day in June and has closed again. Still working my way through Pearls of Wisdom by Barbara Bush, just finished Beach Read by Emily Henry. *LOVED* it! If you are looking for a great summer read…check it out. And this morning, wiped tears from my eyes as I finished reading The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. Title Talk book review coming soon. My book club just voted to read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. “Irresistible … an intergenerational epic of race and reinvention, love and inheritance, divisions made and crossed, binding trauma, and the ever-present past.” —Booklist, Starred Review And after seeing some great reviews for Fierce, Free, Fire by Jen Hatmaker, I began reading it this week. I feel like Hatmaker wrote this book just for me. And for you. So. Good. P.S. If you are looking for a great online book club, holler! I’ve got just the one for you.

RELATIONSHIP HEALTH – 3.5 (Holding steady)

• Unplug at 8:30 pm, implement evening routine – my break from social media helped me to get started doing this again. It has been so hot that we haven’t been able to sit outside as much in the evenings lately. Like over 100* at bedtime hot. We are taking a quick lap around the park most evenings as part of our unplugging.
• Date night with PC 2x a month (bucket list activities) – so last month, restaurants began opening and we went out to dinner (on the patio) a couple of times. But this month our Covid cases are flourishing so we haven’t been out at all. We did pick up dinner at Crab Station for our anniversary and ate at home.

• Me time, develop friendships, take a class or do something for myself – not much more than scrapbooking lately with my sister on Facetime. Impossible to make friendships right now or pamper myself. I am waving to the front door neighbor and hope to get to know her better once we can spread our wings.

PREVENTATIVE HEALTH MAINTENANCE – 2.5 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Improved skin care, routine facials – I like the RoC Retinol Correxion night cream I bought on Amazon. It does dry my skin a bit so I am only using it every other day, though. No facials lately. Lucky to feel like washing my face.
• Weekly dry brushing – even though the brush is hanging there by the shower door, I keep forgetting to do this.
• Regular manicures – girls, I am so hard on my nails! My friend Christina is having a Color Street party this weekend so I am going to give this fun nail art a try.

FINANCIAL HEALTH – 3.0 (HOLDING STEADY)

• Continue saving each month – in addition to making itty bitty deposits in my money market account, I’ve been playing the stock market using Robinhood. It’s been fun and now I have PC doing it, too. But I buy penny stocks while he runs with the big dogs.
• Save for birthdays and Christmas – have been saving a little each month but July is my big birthday month…with 4 celebrations. Ka-ching.
• Keep spending under control – aside from Christmas, this is my most expensive month of the year. Our anniversary, for which we don’t traditionally spend much money - especially during a pandemic!! But also 4 birthdays. We all really want to do Disney together in the fairly near future (post-Covid) so starting to save for that

Yuck. I just don’t feel like doing anything. Except, apparently eating strawberry licorice. Hope I can get back at it in the next month.

Having Fun

Each month we have an optional theme for these wellness posts. For Wellness Weekend 07.2020, the prompt is having fun. While I am admittedly in a blue funk, we still have some fun around here now and then. Here are a few things we are doing to try to lighten the mood.

• renting movies - we’ve seen “Emma” and “Greyhound” recently. Really didn’t want to pay to watch them at home but we would pay far more to go to the theater to see them if we could. Decided we were really getting off cheap by watching them here instead. Also watched the first season of “Upload.” All 3 were very good.
• sitting on the patio in the morning - preferably with PC and a smoothie. Very mellow way to start the day.
• eating with chopsticks - we haven’t started this yet, and PC doesn’t know that I am going to institute the use of chopsticks for our dinner meal but I am. As soon as these chopsticks arrive. I shared last month that using chopsticks to eat (when you are used to using a fork) is a great mind exercise. I am thinking in our case it will prove to be a good weight loss trick! And kind of fun.

• catching a ball - lately, on our bedtime walks we have been tossing a rubber ball back and forth as we walk. My Prince has always liked catching a baseball as he walks. I found a baseball-sized rubber ball at Dollar Tree and we have been throwing it back and forth as we walk. Really makes our walks more fun and catching a ball is a huge challenge for this athlete!!
• playing ‘Name that Tune’ - while we sit on the patio, PC plays a song for me from his Spotify library and I have to guess the band/singer and the song. Then I play one for him and he has to guess the same. Partial points awarded for knowing the song but not the artist. We do this in the car, too.

Other than that, we aren’t really having a whole lot of fun these days. Just trying to stay healthy and cool. And sane.

Your Turn

How have you remained well and sane the past couple of months? Have you found new ways to have fun? Maybe like me, you have good days and bad? Whatever the case, I think we have all probably done the best we could do under the circumstances. This year hasn’t been easy for anyone.

If you, like I, have fallen off a little on your wellness goals, take comfort! We still have 5 months ahead in which to reach 5s on each of our goals!

Thank you for encouraging me on my wellness journey. Please keep in mind our upcoming themes for the remainder of the year. And come back on the 3rd Sunday of July to check in with us.

• August 16: Flexibility
• September 20: Balance
• October 18: Walking
• November 15: Peace
• December 20: Wrap-up

Please use the link up to share your wellness related post.

Hugs and kisses,