ACHIEVE YOUR 2022 FITNESS & WELLNESS GOALS

This year we’re focusing on health from the inside out.

Throughout time, fitness and wellness has topped mostly everyone’s New Year's Resolution lists. From focusing on getting more physically active to embracing self care with journaling, we like to think of wellness as an encompassing means to feel good. Achieving your wellness goals can be easier by adding our variety of Self-Care products to your planning routine. Today our Squad will be sharing their fitness and wellness goals and how they plan to achieve them in the new year. You got this!

30 DAY STEP CHALLENGE

By Elizabeth Jorgenson  @ejjoyful_plans

“You’re One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life”. An appropriate sticker for headlining my 30 day step challenge tracker in January. But let’s back things up.

Did you know that my first Happy Planner was purchased for health and wellness tracking? It’s true! I’ve struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember, and now well into adulthood, I’ve seen how my health is closely linked to my habits and behaviors. By keeping a log of my habits and behaviors, I can’t deny seeing their direct impact on my health. And seeing the cause and effect in my planner leads to a desire and inspiration to continue modifying my habits in order to see progress. (See the cycle?!)

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that being healthy extends far beyond a number on the scale. I am nearing the end of my 30s and looking towards motherhood. I care about cherishing this one body I have been given, and doing my best to make sure it’s a safe and healthy place to grow a child someday. So while there is a weight loss element to my health journey, more than anything I want to be strong and fit for whatever comes next in life. That means I need to move my body more.

I am a university administrator and work at a computer all day. When I get home, all I want to do is change into pajamas and binge watch a good show with my husband and pup. I struggle with getting to the gym, and when I’m there, have moments of insecurity and negative self-talk.  This is where walking comes in.

Before the pandemic, I hated walking. It seemed SO boring! Admittedly, I still have moments when I think it’s boring. But thanks to Covid and the fatigue of being cooped up inside, I started walking. Motivated by my planner, my fitness watch, and setting a step count goal, I found a low-cost way to improve my health. And when I took the time to take better care of my body, the return was incredible - I felt stronger, confident, and my mood and outlook on life improved. This in turn strengthened my relationship with my husband, my confidence at work, and my interactions with friends and family. The pounds didn’t ‘drop off’ in abundance, but my body felt healthy and the scale reflected that in small and satisfying ways. But then I broke the habit and haven’t started back up again.

So I’m challenging myself to move more in January, and I’ve created this 30 day step challenge to get me started. I used the monthly filler paper from the Be Happy Box - Grateful Heart and decorated it with the Value Pack Stickers - Watercolor Recovery sticker book (home of the opening quote). I doodled the colorful boxes to create a space to log my actual step count each day. Creating this step challenge was fun and inspiring, and I love that it just pops into my catchall planner where I am logging other health and wellness information. It’s great having one place where I can see progress, make adjustments, and remember the journey.

I hope that this post encourages you to think about the small steps you can take to take better care of your body. No matter how small the step, take it. We only have one body and it is beautifully and wonderfully made. Cherish it, friend! Now let’s get to steppin’!

I am not a physician, I created this challenge after looking through several online step challenges and adjusting them to meet my needs. If you are an active person (already over 10,000 steps a day), this step challenge may be too easy. So consider adding incremental one-thousands to your day. Come up with numbers that are both a challenge and achievable. If you have health challenges that prevent you from matching the daily step goals, please talk to your doctor about a step count goal that is appropriate for you. It may be as simple as decreasing 3,000-5,000 steps from each day, or incorporating rest days. Work with your doctor to establish a daily walking challenge for you. The goal here isn’t necessarily the daily step count, so much as the decision to walk more today than you did yesterday. Make it work for you!

Tips for increasing your daily step count:

Mindfulness and intentionality friends! Every day, be mindful of opportunities around you to walk just a little bit more. Here are ways I’ve been able to meet my step challenge goals without feeling the overwhelm that comes from seeing the word “workout” in my planner.

• Listen to a podcast while walking! Before the pandemic, I always tried walking with music. And while motivating for a few minutes, my mind would wander and I’d get bored. So I started picking a podcast (true crime is my fav!) that was roughly 30-50 minutes long, and commit to walking for the duration of the podcast. Being immersed in a story helps the time go more quickly.
• Park your car further away from the entrance of your office building, school, grocery store, etc. (If it’s nighttime, please make sure you’re safe – park near other cars and underneath a light!)
• Take your time grocery shopping! Go down every single aisle. I have found that big box stores are the best for this! I’ll actually ‘park’ my cart tucked away and would go out and grab one item at a time and take it back to the cart. You may look silly passing the same people over and over again with a different item in your arms, but hey- you’re doing the dang thing!
• Your family will love this one – offer to refill drinks, grab snacks, etc., from the kitchen! Getting up off the couch and serving others will be a blessing to your family and help you get extra steps in.
• Always take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Set a silent alarm to go off every hour or two at the office as a prompt to stand up and walk away from your computer. Take the long way to the bathroom, get outside the building for some fresh air, say you need to ‘grab something from your car’, etc.
• Instead of letting your dog out in the backyard, take them around the neighborhood for a bathroom break (don’t forget to scoop it!).

SLEEP TRACKER FOR WELLNESS

By: Amy Stone @amyplansthings

I use the monthly spread in my wellness planner to track my sleep each month. I currently focus on total sleep hours and number of wakings each night. I put goals related to sleep on the left hand side. In January, I’ll focus on reading, stretching, and journaling before bed and putting the lights out by 11 pm.

I created an evening routine page to leave in the front of my planner to help me focus on healthy sleep habits. I used the Value Pack Stickers - Reach for the Stars to decorate this page. I aim to get off my phone and follow this routine in the hour before bed. I check my planner in the evening so I see this and am reminded of the routine that I am trying to make into a habit. 

Every month, I create a habit tracker for keeping on top of my wellness goals. These habits change month by month, but there are usually four or five things that I choose to track. In January, I will be tracking “me time”, water intake, step count, and reading each day. I used the Value Pack Stickers - Let Your Heart Wander to add habit trackers and decorate this page.

Are you ready to seize the day? We’d love to extend a special thanks to our Squad members for sharing their journey with us. We’ll be cheering them on all year long! Share your 2022 goals with us @the_happy_planner  and be sure to tag us in your spreads and habit trackers so we can give you a shoutout too!

Happy Planning!