Week of January 10th-Practice Self Care
Well, how did you do with the first week of the challenge? Did we knock it out of the park? Don’t lie. Be honest. Did you complete 30-minute exercise activities at least 3 times last week? If you did… awesome sauce! Let’s keep that momentum going into Week 2 focusing on practicing self-care.
What does practicing self-care mean?
For many of us, self-care is normal stuff like taking a shower, washing your hair, feeding yourself, or it could be setting personal boundaries for friends or family. Although these things are good, I want you to challenge yourself. So here is a list of 100 things you can do today to help your Parkinson’s by practicing self-care. I challenge you to do at least 3 activities that would promote self-care.
As you will see, it’s pretty easy to stop and take care of ourselves, but with Parkinson’s sneaking into many areas of our lives, doing things that help our physical and mental health might not be the first thing to come to mind. That leads us to the challenge for week 2. When you pick 3 things to do this week, be mindful of what you choose. I want you to step out of your comfortable box. If you never get a massage, book one. If there is a fancy restaurant that you have always wanted to try… make that reservation. Maybe you just want to spend the afternoon reading a good book, snuggled up with a warm blanket. This week is all about taking care of you. Give yourself permission to be a bit selfish.
How can I get extra credit?
I’m glad you asked. For those all you overachievers out there… you know who you are… I challenge you to continue doing week one’s tasks while adding on your self-care assignments for this week. Can you add 3 workouts to your 3 activities? I bet you can. Let’s go!
Knowing that holding each other accountable and showing up is half the battle… you may ask “what did you do for your 3 exercises this last week?” Well for me, I walked my dog Crash for 2 miles in the neighborhood, worked out at the gym for almost 50 minutes, and then finished off with a hike to the lake with a friend. I did see one of my readers post a picture of her cross-country skiing, it was spectacular. So, what did you do last week?
Don’t forget we’re almost halfway done with our monthly challenge but I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Here’s what’s coming up in January.
- Week of January 17th-Cognitive Games
- Week of January 24th-Meditation and Breathing
On it !! Already skied one time for week 2; will keep it up AND pick 3 self-care activities. Believe it or not, the exercise is much easier for me than the latter. Being kinder to myself was my News Year’s Resolution, so THANKS! This fits right in… and Thank You for helping motivate us and always making me smile!
Bonnie, you’re killing it!
Allison thanks for the cajoling. It works more than most cajolers realize. The trainers at PEP4U are masters of the art.
I see you like to walk with Crash at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park. So, now I’m going to switch roles and cajole you to join PEP4U for a leisurely walk around the lake this Friday at 3:45. I host this event every other Friday. We generally have several Parkies, a few trainers, and one or more friendly dogs. How can you resist?
This event is open for all of your readers and crew. We meet at 3:45 in Lot F.
Oh, Ernie, I would love to join your group, but I still work. Bummer! I am going on the hiking group on the 29th on the Oso trail. If you can make that one. Thank you for the invite and for sharing the information!
Well, we’ll just have to wait till the days are longer. In the summer weird walk at 5 or 6 p.m..
Can you share contact info for the Oso trail hike?
Sure, it’s through PD Buzz, here is the link: https://pdbuzz.com/event/parkinsons-walking-club-5/ Hope to see you there!
HI ERNIE,
YOU ARE THE ONE I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR IT. AS MY PD IS DEVELOPING MORE RAPIDLY. DO YOU TAKE A HOUSE CALL, TO NEWPORT COAST. IF YOU DO I WILL ASK DR PHIELLIP TO PLACE A REQUEST.
I AM NO LONGER DRIVE, PLUS MY HUSBAND IS VISION IMPAIRED. SO I NEED AN IN-HOUSE CARE FOR AT LEAST FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME. IF WORKS, I WILL TAKE OCTA ACCESS TO YOUR CLINIC.
YOUR NAME HAS COME UP TO ME LONG TIME AGO, I WENT TO ALLISON CLASSES AT YMCA COSTA MESA, SHE IS A ROLE MODEL. BUT I AM IN A NEED OF BALANCE AND SPEECH ISSUES. CURRENTLY TAKING 2 TABLETS OF SINEMET UP 5 X A DAY. I WAS DIAGNOSED TO HAVE PD SINCE 2014. PLEASE TEXT ME AT 949-466-3306.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
PS I AM A STRONG WALKER. HOPE SOME DAY I WILL JOIN YOU WALK IN LAGUNA NIGUEL REGIONAL PARK.