February 2021 W.I.S.H. - Being your own Fabulous Self

[Oneanne]

Welcome to the February 2021 W.I.S.H. (We're Inspired to Stay Healthy) challenge - Being your own Fabulous Self!

We're here to support each other with kindness as we each work on becoming or staying healthy during these trying times. Everyone is invited, and we're looking forward to catching up with regulars and welcoming newcomers! So hop aboard and post your personal goals.

We have weekly volunteer hosts, and typically follow a Monday-Sunday format:

Motivation Monday,
Topic Tuesday,
WOOHOO Wednesday,
Thankful Thursday,
Free For All Friday,
Social Saturday &
Self-Care Sunday.

This month's hosts
Feb 1 - 7: @Oneanne
Feb 8 - 14 @sjrec
Feb 15 - 21: @Summer2018
Feb 22 - 28: @MickeyMom76

 

[PollyannaMom]

I'm in!

Intro:
Nicole, 50, southeastern MA, DH working from home and DS off at college, 2 cats and a beta fish

Over the years, I've been a banker, SAHM, Usborne book lady, and substitute teacher. I've volunteered at / been on the board of a food pantry, and been a Cub Scout den mother. I'm an amateur photographer, and I scrapbook...in phases. I'm currently homeschooling kindergarten on weekday mornings for my "niece" and "nephew" - 5yo twins.

February Goals:

• Stick with current exercise routine
• Drink enough water (I sometimes forget when it's not hot out, but my skin needs it in the winter!)

I love this month's theme!

 

[Oneanne]

This is kind of a hybrid of introductions, setting up the month and a bit of early Tuesday Topic... wanted to post it now, since Feb 1 is Monday.



In one of the chapters in “Wintering”, Katherine May spends the Winter Solstice at Stonehenge which leads her to explore Druid rituals. She interviews a leader in the Druid community, and they discuss that the winter solstice is “part of a system of celebrations that arrive at regular intervals to make life feel more manageable." In the Druid calendar there is “something to do every six weeks. It’s a useful period of time – you always have the next moment in sight. It creates a pattern through the year.”

The first celebration of the year is Imbolc which is celebrated starting the evening of Feb 1 to the evening of Feb 2. It celebrates the beginning of Spring, the returning of light and stirrings of new life. It is a time to look to the future, clear out the old and make space for new beginnings.

Some rituals to perform for Imbolc would be:
Light a candle in each room and make wishes for family and friends
Bake a cake using seeds, as seeds are full of possibility.

How will you clear out the old and make space for the new at the beginning of this new month?
What are your healthy living goals for the month?
What will help you to be your own fabulous self this month?
What rituals do you and you family follow to celebrate life and each other?
Will you celebrate Imbolc?

 

[PollyannaMom]

...and they discuss that the winter solstice is “part of a system of celebrations that arrive at regular intervals to make life feel more manageable." In the Druid calendar there is “something to do every six weeks. It’s a useful period of time – you always have the next moment in sight. It creates a pattern through the year.”

I'll give the questions some more thought later, but for the moment, this part is definitely speaking to me. I'm the type of person who is comforted by routines, but who also needs little fresh starts (in small things) sometimes to stay motivated. This seems to combine both.

 

[piglet1979]

I am in. My name is Stephanie and I am 41 (though for some reason I keep thinking I am 42). I have been married for 16 years and have 2 kids. DS is 14 and DD is 13. We have all been home since March. DH worked from for several years but now has to deal with the rest us invading his work space. He has managed it well. Over the summer I was going into work once a week but that ended in October when number began to raise. Both kids are doing great with remote school. We had to make a decision early January on if we were staying remote for the rest of the year or sending the kids back 4 days a week. Since they are doing well we kept them home. DD I am especially proud of DD this year. She has gotten 100% each quarter in Math and will be moved up to Honors Algebra 1 for next year. Being home has been great for her grades but I fear next year when she is back in school her anxiety will be horrible and we will be starting from the beginning. I have been a bot more depressed since Thanksgiving. I have good and bad days/weeks. It is nothing horrible but I can just cry out of now where. I am really missing family and friends but we are getting closer to being able to see them again.

For the questions.

How will you clear out the old and make space for the new at the beginning of this new month? I am not sure
What are your healthy living goals for the month? To be on the treadmill for at least 60 minutes a day.
What will help you to be your own fabulous self this month? DH helps when he just asks if I am going to get on the treadmill. He doesn't push but it is his way of giving me a little nudge. I need him to do this a bit more.
What rituals do you and you family follow to celebrate life and each other? We don't do much. Each year we celebrate our birthdays. In the past we would go out to eat and the birthday person picked the place. Then we would have cake at home. We would also have a party with family
Will you celebrate Imbolc? Most likely not but maybe we should

 

[Oneanne]

I'll give the questions some more thought later, but for the moment, this part is definitely speaking to me. I'm the type of person who is comforted by routines, but who also needs little fresh starts (in small things) sometimes to stay motivated. This seems to combine both.

This part really resonated with me as well. I'm not consistent with rituals but the thought of doing something every six weeks does sound so comforting.

 

[Oneanne]

Lizanne here... a single lady living in Seattle WA. Been really off track in my pursuit of healthy living, well, there are some major accomplishments I've recently made but I continue to underachieve in food consumption and exercise. February is going to be my re-set month.


How will you clear out the old and make space for the new at the beginning of this new month? I've slowly been working on spring cleaning and need to really dig in. I open a couple windows whenever I can, to get fresh air circulating in the house... even if the house gets a bit cold. I need to simplify food choices, as I long to open the 'fridge and see a nice neat space. I'm going to work on cleaning up the front porch/deck and getting the flower boxes ready for Spring.
What are your healthy living goals for the month? Move more and consume less sugar (OK, that sounds really familiar, how many times have I said that?)
What will help you to be your own fabulous self this month? Actually doing a few of the things I've said I was going to do, like reading every evening feeding my mind with new ideas instead of numbly watching TV or playing on my phone. Really looking forward to the trip to the ocean shore in a couple weeks.
What rituals do you and you family follow to celebrate life and each other? I am not ritualistic at all, but want to be, because I do believe they are important. I plan on doing the druid celebrations every six weeks because that really resonates with me.
Will you celebrate Imbolc? Yes! I will do the candle ceremony, lighting a candle in each room and making wishes for family and friends. Blackberries are also a symbol for Imbolc (prosperity and healing) and I am going to bake a small blackberry pie, making the pie crust from scratch and really focussing on the process as I'm doing it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

How will you clear out the old and make space for the new at the beginning of this new month? - I plan to unpack some things this weekend that I had put away for Christmas. I think I will really evaluate whether I need to put all of of them back on display.

What are your healthy living goals for the month? - continue regular evening treadmill time and drink enough water!

What will help you to be your own fabulous self this month? - noticing when I'm pushing my limits and when I have more "bandwidth," and setting my schedule accordingly

What rituals do you and you family follow to celebrate life and each other? - Sadly, some of ours have been outgrown now that DS ( and his cousins) are older. But when all the kids were little (and schedules weren't so busy) we used to have regular Sunday dinners at MIL's. We'd play games and everything.

In our own little family (pre-covid) going to breakfast was a frequent "re-connecting" thing.

And we have a few holiday traditions - visiting light displays at Christmastime, cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, Lucky Charms sundaes on St. Patrick's Day...

 

[Summer2018]

I'm Summer, 56. I live in coastal Connecticut, an hour outside of NYC. After one year of teaching Kindergarten, I taught PreK in an inner city public school system for 18 years. I now teach Kindergarten again in my 20th year of teaching. I am currently teaching 13 students in school and 4 remotely. The Connecticut Dept. of Health has contacted superintendents to prepare for fully remote learning in March because of a more infectious variant of the virus becoming more prevalent in CT. I cannot wait for my family and I to get vaccinated, so that we will all feel safer. I have a 23 year old daughter who is taking online classes at an Art & Design school in NYC for Fashion. I’m married to a 61 year-old essential worker and fellow Disney lover.

I lost 8 pounds in January. I am dedicated to losing weight using the concepts I learned on Noom, logging on MyFitnessPal, and getting exercise by walking on the beach or on my new treadmill.

 

[MickeyMom76]

Hi, I’m Cristin, 44, from southeastern PA. My husband and I have been married for 20 years. We have boy/girl twins who turned 16 last summer and now have their driver licenses. I am a kindergarten teacher with a full live class. My class is chosen from the kindergarten screening at registration as needing more time to get on level for first grade. While most of the district is half day kindergarten, classes like mine are full day. And they are required to come in to school for live instruction. If they opt for virtual, they get moved to a half day class with a different teacher. But teaching kindergarten with masks on and staying socially distanced at desks all day is challenging and just not what kindergarten is supposed to be. So this year has been challenging and a rollercoaster of emotions. And I am eagerly waiting for notification that I can get the vaccine. But it seems to be so slow here. They are still working on getting people over 75 vaccinated first.

As for my health goals, I did great this month (finally)! I stopped my bad snacking habit and filled myself mostly with veggies and a little fruit & protein. I followed the 21 day fix program with the color-coded cups to measure food portions. The hardest part is food prep on Sundays. But then everything is just grab & go during the work week! And I’ve given myself a sort of cheat day (it still falls within my portion of colored cups, but not the healthiest option). Friday’s are pizza nights! So I’m going to try to continue with my same goal.


My goal for February is to lose 5 pounds. I will do this by:
- using the 21 Day Fix containers
- planning my meals/snacks each Sunday
- completing workouts daily
- drinking at least 80 oz of water per day
- getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night

 

[KY*Figment]

Hi! I am Katina! My DH and I have been married over 20 years. We have two DD, 16 & 19. We live in western KY. I am a social worker. I have lost 75 pounds in the past 5 months. I began at 294 and I am now 219. I drink half my pounds of weight in ounces of water. In the beginning I thought I would drown. I have been on a program that is very regimented with eating. I am supposed to do some sort of exercise for 30 minutes per day but since it is cold I have dropped the ball on that. I have cheated on my plan in the past but I am trying to stay focused. It's a struggle in the winter and probably more so during a pandemic. I haven't been on Disboards in years but returned to see more positivity. The negativity of weather, pandemic, and political environment is exhausting me. Have a MAGICAL day!

 

[MickeyMom76]

I have lost 75 pounds in the past 5 months.

Congrats on the weight loss! That’s so inspiring! I hope you find this group as uplifting as I do! Happy to have you joining us

 

[Oneanne]

Hi! I am Katina! My DH and I have been married over 20 years. We have two DD, 16 & 19. We live in western KY. I am a social worker. I have lost 75 pounds in the past 5 months. I began at 294 and I am now 219. I drink half my pounds of weight in ounces of water. In the beginning I thought I would drown. I have been on a program that is very regimented with eating. I am supposed to do some sort of exercise for 30 minutes per day but since it is cold I have dropped the ball on that. I have cheated on my plan in the past but I am trying to stay focused. It's a struggle in the winter and probably more so during a pandemic. I haven't been on Disboards in years but returned to see more positivity. The negativity of weather, pandemic, and political environment is exhausting me. Have a MAGICAL day!

Welcome!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Welcome back to the boards, @KY*Figment. This is a great group, and we're glad to have you join us!

 

[Summer2018]

But teaching kindergarten with masks on and staying socially distanced at desks all day is challenging and just not what kindergarten is supposed to be. So this year has been challenging and a rollercoaster of emotions. And I am eagerly waiting for notification that I can get the vaccine. But it seems to be so slow here. They are still working on getting people over 75 vaccinated first.

SAME.

 

[Summer2018]

Hi! I am Katina! My DH and I have been married over 20 years. We have two DD, 16 & 19. We live in western KY. I am a social worker. I have lost 75 pounds in the past 5 months. I began at 294 and I am now 219. I drink half my pounds of weight in ounces of water. In the beginning I thought I would drown. I have been on a program that is very regimented with eating. I am supposed to do some sort of exercise for 30 minutes per day but since it is cold I have dropped the ball on that. I have cheated on my plan in the past but I am trying to stay focused. It's a struggle in the winter and probably more so during a pandemic. I haven't been on Disboards in years but returned to see more positivity. The negativity of weather, pandemic, and political environment is exhausting me. Have a MAGICAL day!

 

[Summer2018]

How will you clear out the old and make space for the new at the beginning of this new month? - I will decorate for Valentine's Day at home and school; change calendars; change theme at school and plan lessons.
What are your healthy living goals for the month? - I walk on the treadmill every morning and log food and exercise on MyFitnessPal.
What will help you to be your own fabulous self this month? - DD will be doing a closet audit and wardrobe consultation for me (school project).
What rituals do you and you family follow to celebrate life and each other? - We have many holiday traditions which were affected by the pandemic, but we do our best with modifications.

 

[Oneanne]

MOTIVATION MONDAY

As we start the new week and the new month with the earliest, tinsy-est, tiny-est start of Spring (buried under a heck of a lot of snow for some of us), what is motivating you this week? What seeds will you plant this week, that you will harvest in the future?



And Happy Imbolc!

 

[sjrec]

Hi! I am Katina! My DH and I have been married over 20 years. We have two DD, 16 & 19. We live in western KY. I am a social worker. I have lost 75 pounds in the past 5 months. I began at 294 and I am now 219. I drink half my pounds of weight in ounces of water. In the beginning I thought I would drown. I have been on a program that is very regimented with eating. I am supposed to do some sort of exercise for 30 minutes per day but since it is cold I have dropped the ball on that. I have cheated on my plan in the past but I am trying to stay focused. It's a struggle in the winter and probably more so during a pandemic. I haven't been on Disboards in years but returned to see more positivity. The negativity of weather, pandemic, and political environment is exhausting me. Have a MAGICAL day!

Welcome!

 

[Summer2018]

I live in the pink area. DH just bought a snowblower and battery-operated snow shovel. The days of shoveling snow the old-fashioned way are over. Too much to handle.