We all know that change doesn’t happen overnight. It happens gradually – day by day, week by week, month by month. And now that a new year stands before us, we are challenging you to gradually build up your life. The monthly Build Up Challenge is an effort to focus on small changes throughout each day, week and month, and building up these small actions over time will lead to significant changes in our lives.
At Orlando Mom, we are starting 2024 off with intentionally building up positive habits that will help our well-being and allow us to build up our families and homes too.
Each month, we are going to share and challenge you to work on five habits for the month – one for each of these areas of life:
- Mindfulness
- Physical Wellness
- Emotional Wellness
- Family
- Home
It is our sincerest hope that you will join us and other moms throughout Central Florida by reading about these monthly habits and finding ways that work for you to implement them into your life.
We will be sharing reminders on our Facebook and Instagram for these habits. We’ll ask how you are doing tackling each challenge and we want to hear from you so that we can share your progress and help motivate others.
Mindfulness – Journal About The Holidays
Having quiet-time for self-reflection gives yourself space to process what is happening in your life and the lives of your family members. For mindfulness, we’ll be writing a journal entry. You can do this in an old notebook, as a note on your phone or on your computer. It can be something you do once a month or maybe you find there are things that you want to write down throughout regularly.
But for this January prompt, write about what you are grateful for in your life right now. Don’t leave anything out….include the little things like good pens (you know you love a good pen). Acknowledging the little things that make us happy makes more room for gratitude of the big things.
Physical Wellness – Go To Bed Earlier
For physical wellness, we are going to work on one habit for the month of January. That’s right. Just one. And here it is – we are going to get to bed earlier. Getting enough sleep is integral to our overall health. When we have little ones waking up at night, it is especially difficult to get the sleep we need. Having me-time in the evening is so needed to unwind, but sometimes we should go to bed instead of watching one more episode or continuing to scroll through our phones.
Going to bed a little earlier rather than way too late can feel satisfying because you are intentionally doing something positive for yourself. Pro tip: ditch the phone and devices at least an hour before bed so that the bluelight is not affecting your circadian rhythm.
Emotional Wellness – One on One Time With A Mom Friend
There are always things that we can do to help our emotional wellness, but it can be hard to take the time to do something for ourselves when we’re already being pulled in so many directions. That is the case for many moms. So in January for emotional health, reach out and make plans for face-to-face time with another mom friend.
Make time for a playdate, to go for a walk or to meet for coffee when someone else can watch the kids. Just having time to talk with someone who is a positive influence on your life can refresh and energize you.
Family – Affirmation For Your Kids
There are three key moments of the day when our kids need us to love on them: when they wake up, when they get home from school and when they go to bed. (For moms who homeschool, that second moment might be when Dad gets home from work.)
For this month, we are going to work on building up our kids at bedtime by praising them for something that they did that day. We can spend so much energy telling kids what they are doing wrong throughout the day – “Don’t touch that. Don’t say that. Don’t do that.” – but we have to remember that they need positive love and affirmation from us.
When you say goodnight to your kids, tell them, “I saw how you helped your sister” or “your joke at dinner was so funny” or “you were a good friend today.”
Home – Declutter One Space
There is a lot we can do in managing our home to help reduce our stress. For the month of January, find a space to declutter. Maybe it is a closet or the dumping ground on the counter or your kids books. Decluttering is something that you usually know needs done but gets put on the back burner until you have time and bothers you everytime you see it. It is a proven fact that decluttering your space will help you feel less anxious. Who knows? It may feel so good that you may find yourself decluttering other things too!
This is it! this is the Building Up Challenge for January!
Let’s work on the Building up Challenge together until January 31! Then, we’ll be back with 5 new habits for February. Remember to comment on our social media posts with how you are doing, we’d love to encourage you and share with others too!
Remember, You’re Doing Great Mama!
