Wellness Challenge For May

May is swiftly approaching, and what better time to challenge yourself than a brand new month!?! I've created a wellness challenge for the new month that is sure to bring health and happiness into your life- if you let it.

It's time to start prioritizing yourself and the things that make you feel good. So when May comes, I challenge you to do these three things and watch how your life changes for the better.

I promise if you are intent and consistent with implementing these habits into your daily life, you will feel so good at the end of it that you will never want to go back. So, here it is... The May Wellness Challenge!

Daily Mindfulness Routine

Mindfulness is a habit that will quickly change your life. This month, create a plan for a mindfulness routine and implement that routine into your life.

Mindfulness means being present and fully engaged in the current moment. It's important to practice awareness of your body and mind.

Mindfulness practices help you become more aware of your thoughts and actions and helps you make the best decisions possible. It also helps you stay positive by realizing all of the great things life has to offer.

Mindfulness practices also reduce stress and help you feel way more peaceful in your daily life. I've noticed a huge change in by ability to handle and regulate my emotions when I started practicing mindfulness. I feel more peaceful and just all around happy every single day since making this change.

So, start small at first and set aside 10-15 minutes every single day of May to do something to be mindful. My favorite is journaling. I like to write out what my 5 senses are feeling, and then begin writing out all of my thoughts down.

If you'd like to start mindfulness journaling, this website provides you with 40 journal prompts that help with mindfulness! Try them out!

Other ways to practice mindfulness are meditation, deep breathing exercises, and mindful movement like yoga. The main goal with this is to be present in the moment and not have any distractions around. Pay attention to exactly what your body is feeling and what your mind is thinking.

The biggest change you'll notice is in your ability to not get caught up in negativity or anxiety. When you are able to realize what is really going on and be mindful of situations, you are much more resilient and peaceful in hard moments.

Make sure to be strict with this. If you really implement a mindfulness routine into your life, you'll start to see positive changes very quickly.

Daily Movement

As part of any successful wellness challenge, come daily movement. There's a reason movement and exercise is talked about so much. It really works for improving our wellbeing.

You probably know the benefits of exercise on the physical body, because those are, of course very important and beneficial to our wellbeing. However, I want you to focus on how daily movement makes your mind feel. We know it will make a good impact on our bodies, physically, but try to have the mindset of movement helping your brain.

Movement has many benefits for the mind. Some of these include reducing anxiety and depression, improving and stabilizing moods, and increasing cognitive function. Exercise is SO beneficial to the way we feel!

Movement releases endorphins into our brain. Endorphins are one of our happy hormones that are natural mood boosters. Have you ever noticed how good you feel right after a workout? That's because endorphins were just flooded into your brain thanks to the movement you just did.

Now, I'm not talking some big conditioning session that will leave you on the floor at the end, however if that's your forte, go right ahead. All you need to do is get some form of good movement in every single day.

Use May as the month to find an exercise that you really genuinely enjoy. Try new things! Discover what it is that makes you excited to do, and feel good after.

In the summer and spring, I love playing pickle ball with my friends and family. I also love following along to Pilates workouts I find online! This month, I plan to find one, or a few, new forms of movement that actually make me excited to do, because it's so much easier when you actually want to exercise.

So whatever it is that you find you love to do, make sure to do some form of movement for at least 30 mins every single day in May. I promise if you do this you'll feel consistently happier and probably want to keep this in your daily routine.

Sleep Schedule

A consistent sleep schedule is amazing for improving wellbeing. Sleep is so crucial to the way we feel everyday.

Sleep plays a vital role in so many different areas of both our mental and physical health. It helps regulate our immune system, hormones, and many other parts of our bodies.

Now, I'm sure I dont need to tell you all the benefits of sleep. Just look back at a time you got only a few hours of sleep, how did you feel all day? I'm sure it wasn't great.

This month I want you to not only focus on getting enough sleep, but focus on getting into a consistent sleep schedule. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.

Going to sleep and waking up at consistent times helps to regulate our circadian rhythm, which is our body's natural "sleep clock". When our circadian rhythm is good, it helps improve the quality of our sleep, which in turn helps us feel more energized when we wake up.

Also, when we prioritize a consistent sleep schedule, it improves our productivity throughout the day, as well as our moods. We are noticeabaly happier when we are getting quality sleep.

So during the whole month of May, really focus on getting into a consistent sleep routine. Pick a time that is reasonable for you to go to sleep by, and when morning comes, don't allow yourself to oversleep or under sleep. Pick a time you will make yourself get up and out of bed.

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Okay, so that's the wellness challenge for May. Not too bad, right? I'm only challenging you with three things to focus on.

Once you start to make these things habits in your daily routines, I promise you won't want to go back. You'll notice yourself feeling happier and healthier than you ever were!

So starting May 1st, challenge yourself to be consistent with these three things I've listed. Be sure to really make a commitment for yourself, and don't give in to excuses.

Check back next month for the June wellness challenge, and go make these healthy changes! You've got this!