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Trying to stay healthy this winter? Me too! I am one of those lucky people that doesn’t get sick much. Want to learn how I stay healthy in the winter? Read on!

I am one of those lucky people that don’t get sick often. (knock on wood).  

My dad always said it was because my sisters and I were farm kids. We played in the dirt and ended up eating our fair share of it. He put it this way, “When you have been outside all morning sorting cattle, and someone hands you a sandwich, you don’t say I have to wash my hands first. You eat the damn sandwich!”

There is probably some truth to that.

But I also take particular care of myself in the winter to prevent myself from getting sick in the first place. Here is how I go about it.

I get lots of sleep.

Winter is cold and dark, so why not spend some extra time in bed? My theory is that when you are sick, you need to rest, so if you get plenty of rest that you won’t get sick the first place. Right? Well, the Mayo Clinic agrees with me.  

I take walks.

When I was a kid and was sick enough to stay home from school, my mom still made me do my afternoon farm chores. “The fresh air will make you feel better,” she told me. For the most part, she was right. Now I make it a habit to get fresh air every day.  

Minnesota winters make this hard sometimes. Last year around this time, it was so cold that the air hurt your face, but what are you going to do. On days like that, I might limit it to the time it takes to walk my dog out to his spot to do his business, but on nicer days, we spend a bit more time trudging through the snow.

I drink all the wellness teas.

I am a massive fan of SleepyTime and Traditional Medicinal teas. My tea drinking started way to keep my hands warm in the cold warehouse and it morphed into obsession, During the winter, I switch to Echinacea teas to help boost my immune system. I drink Gypsy Cold Care in the cold afternoons and Echinacea Plus before bed.

Wellness teas may be a bit woo-woo for some people. But I think it helps. And drinking warm liquids when you are sick makes you feel better.

I am not a hugger.

Cold and Flu season is when my year-around standoffishness pays off. I am far less likely to be exposed to germs when I am hugging every sick aunt and cousin that comes to visit. But in all seriousness, the easiest way to not get exposed to viruses is to stay away from sick people. If they do get into your orbit (or sneak attack hug you) was your hands after.

I also want to say that if you do get sick, do your family and coworkers a favor and stay home and get well. No one wants to get sick, and most coworkers would much rather pick up your slack then get your flu.

Just a few easy lifestyle changes can mean the difference between spending the winter surrounding by spent tissues and moving forward with your life.  It’s worth a shot, right?

PS – How I prepare for winter.

Mid-January is when the reality of winter in Minnesota starts to set in. The solstice may be behind us, but the seemly endless days of winter are ahead of us. And we don’t even have any holiday parties to look forward to.

That is when cabin fever sets in, and it can be pretty gross.

Here are 15 ways to beat off cabin fever, because spring is still a long way off, friends.

1. Visit a greenhouse and buy some pants.
2. Get some seed catalogs and plan next year’s garden.
3. Go on a weekend getaway.  
4. Get a daylight lamp.
5. Take a walk (or snowshoe) in the woods.
6. Plan a summertime road trip.
7. Start a new hobby.
8. Volunteer.
9. Organize your pantry/garage/basement.
10. Hold a cozy dinner party.
11. Bake/Cook something new and time-consuming.
12. Take an online class.
13. Home spa day!
14. Browse a bookstore
15. Kitchen Dance Party while making cookies. (This might be something that I just do, but . . .)

Sometimes sitting quietly in a waiting room can bring you the clarity that you need. I like to call it the joy of being bored.

For the last few months, I have been in the process of taking care of my dad’s estate. I haven’t been doing it alone, but it is a lot of tedious paperwork.

It also means I have spent lots of time waiting. At the bank, on the phone listening to horrible hold music, at the courthouse.

Most recently, it was at the lawyers’ office. No one was running behind, and there were no problems, it was just one of those things. There I sat there in the lobby, surrounded by strangers.

I didn’t pull out my phone and scroll through Instagram, I didn’t pop in an earbud and turn on an audiobook. I didn’t even pick up a magazine or newspaper.

But while I was sitting there with my thoughts something magical happened.

You see, not only am I dealing with estate issues, but I have also been working anywhere between 50-60 hours a week at the day job. Sitting in the lobby, I was stressed out, tired, over-caffeinated, and a bit hungry.

But as I sat there and stared out the window, my mind started to slow.

• I stopped thinking about work and the self-imposed guilty about leaving early. (Mind you, I left an hour before the official end of my workday, but still managed to work 9 hours).

• I focused on what truly needed to get done and what was unnecessary.

• I calmed myself and stopped being annoyed by all of those little things that, when all bottled up, make you angry AF.

Soon enough, the lawyer came out and got me; I signed the paperwork I need to sign and left the office feeling lighter, just by staring out the window for 30 minutes.

PS – Self Care at Work

Life is coming at us fast these days, and that leads to stress and anxiety. The solution? Deliberate Unawareness for Self Care.

I know this isn’t news to you, but the information is coming at us fast and furious these days. With that and the hyper-connected lifestyle that has become commonplace, we are more anxious than ever.

To keep from losing my GD mind, I have taken a step back. From the news, from the media, from my phone.

And let me tell you something – not knowing things have made me a much happier (and less anxious) person.

Here is how I did it, so you can too.

I keep my news intake to a minimum.

The news can be a garbage fire of everything terrible and horrifying. I like to be knowledgable citizen, but that also made a frantic, anxious mess. So I keep my news intake to a minimum.

I have been an NPR listener for years, but even the soothing voices of the hosts are not enough when talking about wars, death, and the like. That is why I have limited much of my news to NPR’s Up First and Marketplace podcasts.

I also spend far more time focusing on local politics than national news. The politics of my county and state affects me as much as whatever is happening in the White House. And I have more power to create real change locally than nationally. So I can put my time to good use.

I steer clear of most workplace/friend drama

Don’t get me wrong – I love my co-workers. Most of them, anyhow. But sometimes working in an enclosed space with the same people every day is like being in high school.  

I make an effort to stay away (and out of the drama). I do help my fellows with any work-related issues, or try to direct them to the correct person for help, but gossip dies with me.

I limit social media.

I have, over the years, unfollowed some of the more problematic family and unfriended some people that, for various reason, I didn’t want to be ‘friends’ anymore.  

A few months ago, I got a much more strategic and pretty much unfollowed everyone. Now when I log onto Facebook (on my desktop, because I deleted the app from my phone), I see only posts from a handful of close friends and family.

I have also been cleaning up my Instagram feed. I only follow feeds that make me feel good and unfollow or mute (the Insta form of unfollowing) the rest.

That’s how I did it, folks! Instead of trying to keep up with our fast-paced world, maybe a bit of deliberate unawareness is just what you need for self-care.

Now it’s your turn. What do you lean away from to save you sanity?

PS – Meditation is so worth it and four things I have done to simplify my life.

Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash