This time of year can be filled with joy, family, love, and memories. It also can be filled with stress, high emotions, busyness, and not so fun times. Both can be true, but let’s be honest, we all strive for the first one. While I don’t want to add one more thing to your plate this holiday season considering a holiday wellness challenge might be one of the most important things you do. Amidst the hustle and bustle we can’t give up on our health during this time.
By making time to prioritize your wellness during the most wonderful time of the year, your future self will thank you. To help you do this I came up with a simple holiday wellness challenge.
The goal through it is to get us in the holiday spirit, while also prioritizing our wellness. This challenge will be extremely easy to follow along with, and it doesn’t require you to do too much. Let’s get into what it looks like.
A GenTwenty Holiday Wellness Challenge
To participate in this challenge all you need to do is read this post (which you’re already doing), download the challenge calendar, and complete the weekly habit each day. If you feel like doing more we’ve got some fun holiday themed activities throughout the challenge. These would be a bonus fun to join in on if you’re ready for more.
Why Weekly Habits
I don’t want this challenge to be too overwhelming, so I think focusing on one habit/task each day for a week is doable no matter how busy your schedule is this time of year. The idea is that you’ll build the habits up day by day. Then, by the end of the challenge your routines include a variety of different wellness habits.
However, if all you can do is one habit a week, that is perfectly fine too. The habits are simple and shouldn’t cause any stress, in fact some may even relieve your stress.
Holiday Fun Sprinkled In The Holiday Wellness Challenge
It wouldn’t be a holiday wellness challenge without some fun holiday activities involved. So as an added bonus there will be a challenge calendar that will include what the weekly habit is, as well as some activities to bring you holiday cheer.
Make sure you download the calendar so that you know what to do when. You’ll find activities there like dancing around to Christmas music, meditating with a yule log for background noise, making a holiday craft, and more.
The Holiday Wellness Challenge
In this section I’ll be introducing you to the weekly habits and explaining why they are important to your wellness. Let’s get started!
Week 1 – November 4-10: Hydrate
Your first weekly challenge habit is to drink an extra glass of water. See, I told you this was going to be a simple challenge. Drinking water is an important factor for your physical health. I didn’t realize how much out of whack your body can get when you aren’t drinking enough water.
This week’s habit will hopefully remind you how important drinking water is, and make you aware of how much you are currently drinking. Some ways you can up your water intake throughout the day is to have a glass right when you wake up, with each meal, and about an hour before you go to bed.
Week 2 – November 11-17: Setting Boundaries
For week two we will be focusing on our mental health. This week I want you to set boundaries with your time and relationships. The holidays can get hectic and stressful when it comes to all the different activities.
Also, you get the joy of inputs from distant family members that you only see a few times a year. During this week I want you to wake up each day and commit to saying no, or removing yourself from situations that aren’t serving you.
This can look like saying no to an invite to a holiday festival with friends when you feel like you need a day in instead. Another example is changing the conversation topic at dinner if someone is saying something about your life that you don’t like. Whatever you need to do to bring yourself peace of mind and set some boundaries, do that.
Week 3 – November 18-24: Stay Active – Holiday Wellness Challenge Edition
It’s time to get moving. Our next weekly habit is to move your body for 30 minutes a day. During this time of year it’s easy to blame the hustle and bustle of the holidays for our lack of a workout routine. While this is a busier time than the rest of the year, there are still ways to get some movement into your day.
For this week’s challenge all you need is 30 minutes of physical activity a day, and it can be anything that you enjoy doing. Examples are walking, running, dancing, strength, yoga, etc..
You can also sneak movement in throughout your day by parking at the very end of the parking lot and doing bicep curls with your shopping bags. Feel free to get creative.
Week 4 – November 25-December 1: Gratitude
It’s a week all about the attitude of gratitude for most of us in the United States. Even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as a holiday, the act of gratitude is something anyone can celebrate. For the last week of November we will be keeping a gratitude journal each day.
In your gratitude journal you can list however many things you are grateful for daily, I usually do three to five. Try to see if you can come up with different answers everyday this week.
Week 5 – December 2-8: Getting Extra Sleep
We’ve made it to December! This week I want you to focus on going to bed an hour earlier. Sleep is so important, especially this time of year. Taking this time within the holiday wellness challenge to be intentional about getting rest is a great habit to practice.
A great way to stick to this habit this week is to set an alarm on your phone for when it’s time to get some shut eye. You could also start your night time routine earlier so that you naturally go to bed earlier as well.
Week 6 – December 9-15: Make healthy meals at home
The holiday season is a time of indulgence for sure. From all the dinner parties to the baking and treats, there is so much goodness to consume. It doesn’t mean we should completely abandon our health though. While that’s easy to do, by being intentional we can avoid that.
That’s why this week’s holiday wellness challenge habit is to have a healthy meal at home each day. You may have to skip the fast food lunch and get up earlier to make your lunch if you have a dinner party to go to.
Or if your work is having a holiday party make a note that tonight you are cooking at home. Just try to make sure you are eating at least one healthy meal made from home each day this week.
Week 7 – December 16-22: Prioritize Self Care
I can’t believe it’s the week before Christmas! This week can definitely be a stressful one as you try to fit in the last holiday activities, get all the gifts, and then there is battling the traffic everywhere. To give yourself some calm this week’s focus is self care.
Each day this week I want you to make time for self care. This can mean taking some deep breaths as you are sitting in traffic, watching a Christmas movie, or even taking a nice bubble bath. You’ve got so many options, so just do what your soul needs most that day.
Week 8 – December 23-29: Limit Screen Time
It’s the last week of the year, and the last week of our GenTwenty Holiday Wellness Challenge. For our last weekly habit I want you to have no screen time past 9pm. Unplugging is not only great for winding down, it can help your mental health too.
See how much more relaxed you feel at night without your devices attached to your hand. Maybe you can spend that time reflecting on this challenge and the habits you’ve, hopefully, made. Do you want to keep going in the new year?
Will You Accept The GenTwenty Holiday Wellness Challenge?
Download the eight-week challenge calendar and let us know you are in by commenting down below. I’ll be doing the challenge alongside you all. I’ll post my thoughts on the journey on Instagram.
About the Author
Kelly graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations and a minor in Journalism. Even though it took her a little while to find her career path, she was always meant to be in Communications. She remembers writing poems and songs when she was a little girl and pitching to my parents the reasons why I should have a cell phone when I was a teenager. She currently has a blog (budding-joy.com) where she talks about her weight-loss journey, mental health and personal development. Her hope is to encourage and inspire readers and let them know they are not alone. Reading blog posts like that are what helped her in tough times and she wants to pay it forward. She loves dance fitness, listening to music, and creating layouts in her bullet journal. She's a big fan of planning, especially when cute notebooks and pens are involved. Her dream job has changed so much over the years; right now she'd love to co-own a dance studio.
Website: budding-joy.com