My One-Week Wellness Challenge
Graphic by Mikayla Alpert
Post-2020 has left me with some… new habits. I am no newcomer to the notion that we fall into good and bad habits over time, but the year hit me hard.
As an avid social media scroller, I’ve seen a lot of health and wellness challenges that seem both unsustainable and far too regimented. After my initial awe that people could diligently follow such seemingly detrimental boot camp challenges like the “75 Day Hard,” I would simply continue scrolling and think to myself, could never be me. But alas, here we are, and turns out, it could actually be me! Kind of. After some thorough research and learning that most of the challenges out there are quite debilitating and triggering in terms of mental and emotional health, I chose to create my own, personally tailored guidelines for health and wellness. I must disclaim that unfortunately, I am not a professional in any relative fields--I’ve simply crafted these “guidelines” for myself. These pointers are mere routine goals that I hope to incorporate into my day-to-day life. For the next week, I will:
Make it my intention to wake up and fall asleep earlier (i.e. Cleanse myself from unnecessary all-nighters);
Write positive affirmations and intentions for myself each morning.
Move my body. I’m not going to allot a specific timeframe or regiment for this one. As long as I am not a couch potato for the entirety of this week, I will have done something right.
Drink water! Lots of it.
Read a book--like, a real, physical book that is not downloaded from my virtual university’s library.
Listen to podcasts. (Tayler Bradford’s “Girl Gaze” podcast, to be specific);
Not check my phone first thing in the morning. I already know this will be a tough one.
Finally, I will do my skincare routine every day. I am lazy. I don’t do it every day, but I am setting the intention of daily glowing skin.
These tasks might seem like a norm to some of you and that’s impressive, but this is me rebuilding that norm. This will be a good place to start.
I didn’t want to enter this challenge blindly. By the end of the week, I hope I can begin to feel one with myself. It’s not that I want to gain control over my body, but I hope to listen to myself and not neglect my mental, emotional, and physical well-being. To be real with you all, it’s been hard waking up with zero expectations or intentions for my day, but this time I spend with myself will be different because I want it to be. I want to feel more like myself from the inside out.
Without further ado, here is my one-week challenge in the form of uncensored, honest, and public diary entries.
Day One
I didn’t think it would happen this early, but it did. I already failed. I was sucked into the black hole that is “The Chef Show” on Netflix. Once I started watching Chef Roy prepare his Kogi taco recipe, I simply could not stop. Then, I woke up in the morning and checked my phone. I overslept. I’m convincing myself that this early failure is fine, but I’m also trying to hold myself accountable. Juggling leniency with myself between laziness is a difficult experience, so instead of fixating on my failures of the day, I’ll write about my feats. I put on some vintage sunglasses and a puffer jacket and braved the brutal SoCal weather by going on a hike. I won’t divulge how long it’s been since I’ve taken a proper walk or hike--some things are better left for your imagination. All I will say is that I was left with a rapid heart rate and this burning sensation in my legs. I impressed myself a lot because I also chose to unearth some ancient resistance bands for some further exercise. Many squats and sit-ups later, I was reaping the effects of this long-awaited workout. My muscles ache as I type this, but it acts as a reminder to feel proud of myself. I did something today that I’ve been meaning to do for a long, long while.
Day Two
I didn’t fall into the depths of “The Chef Show” last night, but I did check my phone first thing in the morning. It’s safe to say that it’s a habit I’ve developed over the years that keeps me glued to bed, scrolling through the cavernous rabbit holes that are TikTok and Instagram. I woke up feeling continuous pain throughout my body, but I didn’t feel groggy and tired like I usually do. I wrote my affirmations and basked in the aesthetic of all uppercase letters. This morning I discovered the wonderful combination of strawberries, bananas, peanut butter, and honey on a rice cake, and that is certainly one regiment I don’t mind including in my daily routine. After a heavy day of virtual classes, I embarked on another neighborhood walk wearing the same vintage glasses and puffer jacket (I don’t know either, but the fit just gives me a sense of unrivaled power). The walk was relatively easy for me until I got to a specific winding, uphill portion that made me want to be sick. The weather was chillier today than yesterday and I, being a valley local, felt like my ears were simultaneously burning and freezing off. I know what you must be thinking--chill, it’s literally just a walk--but today’s walk didn’t feel like “just a walk.” After the numbness of my ears wore off, I followed the same exercises with resistance bands and later opted to do a hair treatment for my quarantine-afflicted curls. I listened to Tayler Bradford’s “Girl Gaze” podcast, which ended up stressing me out. Don’t get me wrong, the podcast is incredibly motivating for those looking to jumpstart their careers and Tayler has a soothing voice, but the mere thought of the future became anxiety-inducing. I’m the kind of person who, while balancing a job, schoolwork, publications, and everything else life has to throw my way, will never feel like I’m doing enough. I can be completely overwhelmed with the things I do, yet still feel like I need to take on more. I’m well aware that comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s just another dreadful habit I need to fall out of. As I write this, I think of an affirmation I can add to my list tomorrow morning--“I am enough.”
Day Three
I started my day with a brand new list of affirmations. It feels good to write them down and marvel at the possibility that the words will materialize into my life, but thus far, they’ve been just that--words. Maybe I’m not approaching this whole positive affirmation deal with the right mindset, but I’ll continue doing it until the words feel like more than just words. If there’s anything that I’m achieving on this list, it’s reading a book. Correction--many books. I’ve finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray and am almost done with A Canticle For Leibowitz. I’ll admit that these are both academic readings, but they should still count towards my goal. Putting all of my negative thoughts on The Picture of Dorian Gray aside (I gave it a one-star rating on Goodreads) there was a quote that Oscar Wilde wrote that I’ve been thinking about all day. Reading Lord Henry’s unending rants was usually a pain, but in the mix of his redundancy and misogyny, Wilde’s writing was thought-provoking. Henry was asked, “what are you?” to which he responded, “to define is to limit.” Over the past year or so, and probably much longer even, we’ve viewed the world in a series of denotations. We try to contain everything we are in a word, placing iron bars around our emotions. We seek the need to define our pain, our happiness, and everything we want to be without simply being. We classify, we constrict, we construct, and we don’t seek beyond the potential we have determined. We see ourselves and everything around us as a definition, and I think that sucks. We equate everything with something else without acknowledging that sometimes, it’s fine to not be able to define some things. Not all our ambitions and feelings need to be compartmentalized into synonyms. I think I try so hard to define all of my ambitions and emotions that I forget my path is not linear. I become imperceptive to other possibilities because I’ve given my life an anchored status of truth. Sometimes I, along with all of us, just need to let life happen. I made a mason jar worth of chia pudding tonight and accidentally spilled way too much honey in it. I didn’t try to fix it because a) I’m letting life happen, and b) it sunk to the bottom of the jar before I could react. I’ll let you know what it tastes like tomorrow.
Day Four
The chia pudding was, as expected, really sweet. Nonetheless, I ate it and convinced myself that it tasted relatively good. I reached for my phone this morning and managed to stop myself from unlocking it after snoozing my alarm. I considered this the first triumph of the day. I think setting smaller daily or weekly goals is a lot less intimidating than undertaking something like a 75-day challenge. Before you know it, the small habits you develop during that time will just become a norm. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself right now. I couldn’t find the willpower to go on a walk today, so I resorted to resistance band exercises in my room. I’ve realized that a lot of my physical exhaustion and idleness comes from how much I exert my mental energy. I know this wellness challenge is about challenging myself, but part of that wellness is just taking a chill pill sometimes. I think that I really comprehended what it means to listen to my body today. I’ve equated so much of my self-worth with productivity that I’ve only done things that I think will make me happy, not things that actually do make me happy. I need to stop doing things for the sake of doing things, and evaluate what adds significance to my life. Another groundbreaking discovery I’ve made during this time is that I’m either a complete oversharer, or I keep to myself about everything. There’s no in-between.
Day Five
I went to bed early and woke up at a decent time today. I snoozed my alarm in the morning and didn’t swipe through my notifications until after I did my skincare routine. I started my day off strong. I drank two glasses of water and I was feeling radiant and less anxious than the days before. I’ve realized that my life will only be as good as my mindset, and I think this entire project has been more about improving my mental well-being and strength than anything else. It’s quite clear to me now that these “guidelines” are things I need to make time for in my life. They feel like a necessity at this point, not because they make me productive, but because they make me feel present. All the days have felt like a blur of nothingness over the past year, and I’m ready to kiss those times goodbye. It didn’t really take anything too drastic for me to feel this way. Just little routine fixes that helped me get a grip. I think the whole positive affirmation bit is growing on me. I like that it gives me a reason to write with pen on paper (because who does that any more?), but also that it urges me to think positively about myself and the people I surround myself with. I tend to self-sabotage myself with thoughts like “I wish…” and “I hate…” but these affirmations have kicked most of those thoughts to the curb.
Day Six
The highlight of my day was the “healthy” tomato soup I ate. I feel the need to add that it was made the “healthy” way because all the tomato soups I’ve eaten in the past have made my literal fingers swell up from how much sodium was in the recipe. I’m a sucker for tomato soup in general, but especially tomato soup that doesn’t make my fingers swell to the point that I can’t remove my rings. Is that too much? Is that just a “me” thing? I woke up a little later than I would have liked today, but I was feeling super exhausted. I didn’t drink as much water as I did yesterday, but I did get back into Tayler Bradford’s podcast and was able to feel much less anxious about it. I just had to tell myself that the time I spend listening to her work should be time I spend appreciating the lessons from the people she talks to and feeling empowered about the life ahead of me. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I wish the past year of my life could have just been better, but I never really stopped to acknowledge everything that has gotten me to this point of my life. I don’t think this past year was one spent in vain. It was definitely different and certainly difficult, but there’s more to all of us than the past.
Day Seven
Today was calm. I woke up earlier than I had this entire week and was able to accomplish almost everything on my list--I checked my phone after snoozing my alarm, but in my defense, it was for a work call. I’ve told myself that these goals I’ve set in place for myself will long exceed the duration of this challenge. I won’t lie and say that I have had a grand epiphany about life over the past seven days, but I think I’m feeling more energized and content than I was at the start of the week. Although I’m still getting the hang of it, I think what changed my routine most was not checking my phone at the start of the day. It completely altered my mood and schedule - for the better. I needed to begin creating a “me” that I enjoy spending time with, and this project allowed me to do just that.
I’ve concluded that life happens. Regiment and structure are good and all, but some days you simply won’t feel like it. I’m surprised by what a week can do for you when you’re craving change. The beginning of regaining control over your life is probably the most daunting and difficult time, but for me, it also felt like a really rewarding time. My biggest takeaway is that no amount of guidelines, boot camps, or challenges will solely help you transform yourself. It’s about your heart and your mindset, and your ability to accept that you’re going to hiccup here and there without losing sight of your intentions. Although we fall into bad habits, we can fall out of them. The power is all in your hands.