Week one – Protecting your Energy
Energy is a limited resource. Pauses can reduce stress and increase clarity.
3 Gentle Reminders:
• Energy is a limited resource
• Pauses can reduce stress and increase clarity
• Boundaries support wellbeing
2 Brief Inspirations:
“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress at the same time.”
-Sophia Bush
“Let nothing dim the light that shines from within”
-Maya Angelou
1 Prompt to Consider:
What is one small pause or boundary that could help protect your energy, and how will you implement?
Week one: Protecting Your Energy Reflections
The reflections point to 5 shared approaches that many of you are using to conserve energy and reduce stress.
1- Pause Before Responding or Reacting
Deliberate pauses before replying to emails, messages, requests, or interpersonal situations.
2- Say No Without Guilt
Clear boundaries around declining requests, overcommitment, people pleasing, and emotional labor.
3- Protect Breaks and Rest, Especially Lunch and Sleep
Taking full lunch breaks away from work, stepping away from screens, napping when needed,
and prioritizing sleep with earlier bedtimes and evening shutdown routines.
4- Limit Technology and Notifications
Turning off notifications after work hours, placing phones on Do Not Disturb,
and avoiding email/social media at night or first thing in the morning.
5- Use Physical Regulation to Reset Energy
Walking outside, breathing exercises, stretching, grounding in nature, short movement breaks,
meditation, prayer, or quiet decompression rituals between tasks or transitions.
Week two – Small Steps, Big Impact
Winter can quietly affect energy, mood, and motivation. Small routines can provide stability during busy or stressful days.
3 Gentle Reminders:
• Winter can quietly affect energy, mood, and motivation
• Small shifts in routines can provide steadiness and stability
• Move your body, relax your mind, reset your perspective
2 Brief Inspirations:
“By improving yourself, the world is made better. Be not afraid of growing too slowly. Be afraid only of standing still.”
-Ben Franklin
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”
— Anne Lamott
1 Prompt to Consider:
What is one small habit that helps you feel more grounded during your day, and how can you make that more routine?
Week Two: Reflections
The reflections point to 5 shared steps to make big changes:
1- Morning Intentionality and Quiet Start
Waking earlier to create unhurried space for reflection, gratitude,
prayer, journaling, reading, coffee or tea, and setting intention for the day.
2- Movement and Physical Activation
Daily exercise, walking, stretching, yoga, standing breaks,
chair yoga, treadmill use, sauna, and physical therapy.
3- Breathing, Meditation, and Mindfulness Practices
Deep breathing, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, prayer, silence, mindfulness during
routine tasks, guided apps, box breathing, and brief pauses to regulate the nervous system.
4- Connection with Nature and Sensory Grounding
Outdoor walks in all weather, fresh air, sunlight, standing on grass, observing nature,
cold exposure, essential oils, music, tea, sensory tools, and temperature-based regulation.
5- Order, Routine, and Mental Clarity
Keeping spaces tidy, making the bed, journaling, gratitude lists, to do lists, meal prep, consistent schedules,
limiting screens, intentional breaks, and creating transitions between work and home.
Week Three – Rest and Routine
Rest supports emotional and physical health.
Simple routines to support rest, help keep you mentally fit.
3 Gentle Reminders:
• Rest is essential for mental and physical health
• Simple routines, done consistently, can build lifelong habits
• Mental fitness requires being intentional about resting
2 Brief Inspirations:
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.”
-Audre Lorde
“Intensity makes a good story. Consistency makes progress.”
-James Clear
1 Prompt to Consider:
What is one simple step you could take to offer your body the opportunity to rest?
Week Three: Reflections
The reflections point to 5 shared steps create routine rest:
1- Consistent bedtime and wind down routine
Set a bedtime and protect it. Keep the same routine on weekdays
and weekends. Create a dark, quiet, and screen free environment.
2- Screen free evenings and device boundaries
No phone or screens 30 to 120 minutes before bed. Put the phone in
another room to reduce stimulation and improve sleep quality.
3- Daily decompression built into the day
Schedule rest on purpose. Short breaks at lunch.
A 10 minute unwind when getting home. Naps when needed.
4- Nervous system downshift practices
Breathing, meditation, prayer, and brief mindfulness resets.
Light stretching between tasks or between tasks.
5- Permission to stop and reduce overcommitment
Say no. Set stop times for after-hours work. Use PTO for rest. Release the belief that
everything must be finished today. Delegate when appropriate and protect recovery time without guilt.
Week Four – Clarity and Letting Go
This week invites reflection on clarity and letting go.
3 Gentle Reminders:
Mental and Physical clutter can increase stress
Letting go can create calm
Expectations can be adjusted
2 Brief Inspirations:
“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
-William Morris
“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
-Confucius
1 Prompt to Consider:
What is one thing you could release or say no to that might make your week feel lighter
Week Four: Reflections
The reflections point to 5 shared steps to finding clarity and letting go:
1- Declutter physical space, especially paper
Clean out file cabinets, toss unnecessary mail, purge closets, donate unused items,
reset one small area at a time to reduce visual and cognitive load.
2- Say no to non-essential commitments
Decline extra invites, meetings, overtime, and requests that crowd the week.
3– Create firm after hours boundaries
Stop checking or responding to emails and texts outside work hours.
Turn off notifications. End the workday on purpose.
4- Release control and perfectionism
Let go of needing to control outcomes, other people, and constant standards of perfect work or a perfect home.
Shift focus to what is actually in your control: choices, reactions, priorities.
5- Let go of emotional carryover that consumes energy
Release resentment, regret, guilt, anger, and grief weight where possible through journaling, intentional reframing,
and not replaying events. Name what you cannot change and stop feeding it attention.
Week five – Connection and Support
Connection with others helps the nervous system remember that it does not have to survive alone.
3 Gentle Reminders:
• Connection calms our nervous system
• Interactions, big and small, can be meaningful
* Support comes from mutual connection
2 Brief Inspirations:
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
-William Morris
“Just eight minutes of connection can significantly reduce stress and strengthen emotional bonds.”
-John Gottman
1 Prompt to Consider:
Who is one person you could connect with or acknowledge
in a small but meaningful way and how will you do this?
Week Five: Reflections
The reflections point to 5 ways to stay connected:
1- Direct outreach to close relationships
Call, text, visit, or plan time with spouses, siblings, parents, grandparents, friends, and adult children.
Emphasis on not waiting, especially with aging relatives, illness, distance, grief, or being busy.
2- Shared time without distractions
Create connection by removing screens. Examples include device free conversation,
sitting together, holding hands, sharing meals, and quiet proximity that still feels relational.
3- Small acts of appreciation and acknowledgment
Thank you notes, cards, flowers, small gifts, coffee, tokens, and explicit recognition of effort.
Includes recognizing under seen roles at work like security, reception, secretaries, staff, and mentors.
4- Consistent check ins and practical support
Regular check ins paired with tangible help: meals, errands, paperwork support, rides,
helping a grieving parent, offering assistance during moves or health crises. Follow through is the connective action.
5- Micro connections with everyday people and community
Learn names of those you engage with in the community. Make eye contact, ask how someone is,
offer a kind word, invite coworkers to lunch or a walk, talk with neighbors, and engage with faith community.
Week six – Moving Forward
Building the life you want takes consistent effort, and support remains available beyond this series through EAP.
3 Gentle Reminders:
Change can begin quietly and end with big impact
Small things done consistently can create big change
EAP support remains available for you
2 Brief Inspirations:
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened.”
-Helen Keller
“There is no social-change fairy. There is only change made by the hands of individuals.”
-Winnona LaDuke
1 Prompt to Consider:
What is one helpful practice or perspective from the past six weeks that you would like to continue and how?
Week Six: Reflections
The reflections point to 5 ways to move forward with confidence:
1- Maintain and enforce boundaries
Continue saying no when something does not align with values.
Stop overcommitting. Do not take unnecessary work home.
2- Prioritize self-care and personal time
Take daily time for yourself without guilt. Build rest into routines.
Meditate, journal, walk, reflect. Protect sleep. Small consistent actions over intensity.
3- Stay intentionally connected
Make quality time with spouse, family, friends, and coworkers a priority.
Put phones away. Acknowledge and celebrate others.
4- Practice letting go and focus on what is within your control
Release past weight, unmet expectations, other people’s burdens, and the need to control outcomes.
Shift attention to what is within your control: response, effort, presence.
5- Commit to small sustainable habits
Start small. Stay consistent. Review priorities daily. Stay organized.
Reduce social media. Make incremental change rather than dramatic shifts.
Thank you for participating in the
3-2-1 Winter Wellness Challenge.
Over 700 C+FS EAP members participated in the 6-week series!
We had winners from the following organizations:
Best Self
Erie 2 BOCES
Hodgson Russ
Beyond Support Network
Better Business Bureau
People Inc.
