Jump Start January 2025 Challenge: Week 1, Simple Self Care
Ready for a little New Year Challenge? Welcome to Jump Start January 2025, with something new and inexpensive to try every day. The aim is to use small incremental steps to create a positive bigger picture. It all adds up.
The theme for Week One is ‘Simple Self Care’, as it can be a hectic time of year and there’s nothing wrong with looking after yourself. We’ll be starting slowly, and you only need to put a few minutes aside to try out each activity.
Week 2 is for Cleaning & Organising, Week 3 is for Fun Stuff, and the final week is a Tenner Week Budgeting Challenge to keep the costs down before payday.
Jump Start January 2025: Week One Schedule
Here are the daily Simple Self Care ideas to try this week:
- Day 1: Take a deep breath
- Day 2: Daylight hours
- Day 3: Fruit and vegetables
- Day 4: (Saturday) Fitness time
- Day 5: (Sunday) Hands and feet
- Day 6: Scrub up nicely
- Day 7: Have an early night
Here are the daily activities in full, and remember they should only take a few minutes here and there. If you miss a day, don’t worry – it’s fine to catch up at the weekend, or any other convenient day before the end of the week.
Day 1: Take a deep breath
Take at least three moments today to deeply inhale, then exhale. Notice whether there’s any tension in your body while you’re doing this, and try to relax any tense muscles. Check in with yourself a few times during the day; you could even set a few alerts on a mobile phone as a reminder to actively relax.
Day 2: Daylight hours
If at all possible, try to get outside today for at least ten minutes to get some daylight, preferably approximately around noon. If the weather’s espcially terrible, you’re feeling unwell, or you can’t get outdoors for any other reason, try to sit by a window for a little while instead.
Day 3: Fruit & vegetables
The festive season often involves rich foods and not much else, which can leave us feeling a bit sluggish. Try to have five portions of different fruits or vegetables today. A portion is about 80g. Freshly prepared ingredients are great, but you can also include frozen vegetables, fruit tinned in its own juice, canned cooked beans or lentils in water, or one small unsweetened juice or smoothie.
[If five is too difficult, try to eat whatever think you can manage. Anything’s better than nothing.]
Day 4: Fitness time
If you’re reasonably fit or active, try to get at least 30 minutes of gentle or moderate exercise today. You can do more if you want, as the 4th of January is a Saturday so there’s usually more time available. Otherwise, try a gentle walk or some stretching, or light housework.
Day 5: Hands and feet
Our hands and feet work hard for us, but most of us forget to pamper them from time to time. Put some hand cream and foot cream on before bedtime today. For more care, use extra cream and put on some loose cotton socks and gloves so it sinks in better (nice to do in front of the TV on Sunday evening).
Day 6: Scrub up nicely
Start your Monday fresh and bright with a bit of a body scrub or gentle facial exfoliation. No need to overdo it, especially if you have sensitive skin. An old facecloth should work just fine for most people, for example. Bonus points for putting on some body lotion or face moisturiser afterwards too.
Day 7: Have an early night
Upgrade your bedtime routine. If you can, start to wind down an hour earlier this evening. Use soft lighting, turn off the TV and/or your phone, and head off to bed. Maybe read a book for a while, or listen to soft music, or use an app to listen to rain sounds or white noise.
[If this isn’t possible today, try to schedule an early night, a mini lie-in or a nap for a more convenient time.]
That’s every activity for Simple Self Care Week – have a good time looking after yourself! Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup.
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Next week is Cleaning & Organising Week, to get 2025 off to a sparkling, streamlined start. Hope you can join in.
