Category Archives: Health

A Sleepless Night

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The journey isn’t always fun. Sometimes it’s a sleepless night with hopes for a better day.

My grandpa lived a full life in the middle of the night when he got older. He would leave bed, watch some tv, make a sandwich and read Louis L’Amour paperbacks. Of course, he would sleep half the day, taking naps on the couch.

He and his poor sleep schedule were on my mind the other night as I doom scrolled Instagram from bed between the hours of midnight and 3 a.m. It was midnight when I awoke and the room was stuffy so I got up for a sip of water and turned on the ceiling fan.

About four minutes after lying down and closing my eyes tightly, I was cold. So I got up and turned it off. Stuffy again. So back on it went and I wrestled a blanket and my pillow to my likeness. 

No matter what I do, I want to sleep on my left side but have read that sleeping with all your weight on your heart is a bad idea. That reminded me that heart problems run in the family.

I still have a chance at about five hours of rest if I go to sleep now.

Does the cat always bathe in bed in the middle of the night? Oh, look! My favorite writer is doing an online book club chat tomorrow night. I will register and then I will put down my phone and go back to sleep. 

So I put down the phone, closed my eyes again and realized that I was hungry. Dinner didn’t amount to much and lunch wasn’t great either.

Nope. Too bad. Midnight snacks are not good for you and I will not become my grandpa.

I was still wide awake at 2:43. I should get up and do something useful. Maybe cleaning the kitchen would wear me out enough to sleep. Or maybe I would end up on the couch watching Little House On The Prairie with some peanut butter toast.

I have got to get it together, I thought. Grandpa was retired. He could sleep all day if he wanted. I have a job where they expect me to show up and be smart.

Good grief. I’m going to have an anxiety attack right here in the comfort of my bed if I don’t get a grip. 

This does not bode well for my old age!

Every Day Can’t Count

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Make every minute count. You only live once. Carpe diem. You’ve heard all these phrases and more like them. 

Those people who insist that every day must count are well meaning, but man, they are exhausting. We get a finite amount of days in this life so it is best not to waste them. I get that. In fact, many people waste every single day and then complain the world is passing them by. We can’t do that either.

Unfortunately, every day can’t be the best, most productive day filled with breakthroughs or adventures. We can’t always be high energy and ready to tackle the world. Anyone who says different is either selling something or lying to themselves too. On the flip side of the coin, when our world turns small, it’s important to find ways to be fulfilled and to make life more meaningful.. 

There has to be a middle ground. 

Some days are only meant to be survived. These days don’t need to count – they just need to accumulate. Think of them as rungs on a ladder to help you get to the next step. You have to keep moving forward to get through this day and on to the next and the next and the one after that. 

Whether the days seem dreary and hopeless or the night long and dark, the night will eventually end, the clouds will move on and the sun will shine again. 

There’s a point every year that I need a mental health day but can’t get one in good conscience. It sucks but it’s character building. At least that’s my theory and it does help. After all, if you think that what you’re doing is good for you, it’s easier to keep going. 

So keep going. You’ll get there.

Down The Rabbit Hole Breakfast and Flexibility

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Yesterday was grocery day which means it was also clean out the fridge day. Since the time change has screwed up my internal clock and I’ve already had four other ridiculously early mornings this week, I saw no reason to break my streak. So I got up early to do this and a few other things before heading into work. 

There were bits and pieces of leftovers from meals and snacks so I decided to make this my breakfast. A few roasted potatoes, a serving of steamed broccoli, some delicious tuna noodle casserole and one lonely boiled egg made for an unusual combination but a tasty one that meant there would be no prepared food headed to the trash can this time. 

I have long been flexible about meals and the idea of viewing certain foods as “breakfast foods” versus food for other times of the day isn’t really my thing. Yet, I had a conversation earlier this week where there was one very nice person who acted like eating breakfast for dinner was an alien and unacceptable concept. She was adamant that eggs and pancakes are breakfast foods and not to be seen any other time of day.

I was perplexed because there are plenty of nights I literally wouldn’t eat if not for a humble plate of scrambled eggs and fruit.

You know me – down the rabbit hole I went. 

The people who tell us that breakfast should consist of Cheerios, eggs and Pop Tarts are the same people trying to sell us Cheerios, eggs and Pop Tarts. They have spent decades paying smart, rich marketing people to sell us a bill of goods. What did people eat before they had Kellogg telling us what to eat? 

They ate what they had and when they wanted.

Honestly, most common American breakfast foods are heavily processed and packed full of sugar, artificial colors and preservatives that keep us craving more sugar and junk for the entire rest of the day. They’re not good for you at all. Check out the sugar content of most popular yogurt brands and tell me they shouldn’t be dessert rather than a meal. 

But I digress.

Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea. Leftovers for breakfast is a great idea too.

That whole conversation was a little unsettling because it made me think about how limiting it is to be so set in our own ways. It’s a trap most of us can fall into but flexibility and a willingness to think outside the box are keys to happiness. Trying new things ranks high on that list too. 

Whether it’s an egg sandwich for dinner, broccoli for breakfast or some outlandish thing you think you don’t want to try, maybe it’s time to loosen up and give it a chance. After all, what’s the harm?

Do You Know How To Relax?

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When was the last time you just sat down and relaxed? It seems to be a dying art for most people in my life. I’m certainly not good at it. After all, I spend the bulk of my day working at my job or sleeping. My free time is split between responsibilities at home, occasional hikes and a day trip when I can fit one in but these have been rare lately. 

Sitting down to do nothing just hasn’t been a priority for several months and my mind tends to wander if I try. 

Once the Christmas Eve dishes were cleared and my family left on Sunday night, there was a moment of calm like I haven’t felt in a long time. I looked around and realized that the shopping and gift wrapping were done, the cookies baked, the meal was over and there was nothing left to be done for the holiday. All I needed to do was show up for gifts and a meal at my parents’ house the next morning. 

So I curled up on the loveseat and read a book. I read several chapters and savored the experience. Warm pjs, the glow of the Christmas tree and my little house panther Scout nearby made for a perfect end to the day. 

It felt downright luxurious. 

It would be nice to bottle the calm that made this possible. 

Am I alone in this? 

It’s not healthy to be so busy that you can’t relax. It can lead to poor sleep, tension in the neck and shoulders, headaches and digestive issues. It elevates your blood pressure and is detrimental to your mental health. I notice that some overly busy people in my life are caffeine addicted, tense and paranoid. Personally, I carry all my stress in my shoulders and would be in severe pain if not for the magic hands of my great chiropractor. 

And why? What do we have to gain by keeping ourselves so busy we can’t even sleep at night? 

Do you have tips for relaxing and for sitting still? Winter is a slower time for me and a more relaxing time at home so I suspect I’ll naturally remember how to do this but could probably use a little help getting started!

Life Around Here: December Edition

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Life around here has been off kilter for the last couple of months. It has been busier than I like and more stressful in some ways. Adventure season was shorter than normal this year as I opted to spend more time hiking and less time out running around. That has its pros and cons but the lack of going out and doing and seeing new stuff on Saturdays this fall has given life a different tone. 

I completed 75 miles as part of a Fall Hike Challenge over the course of two months. Those miles zig zagged through state parks, state forests and even a couple of nature preserves and mostly onto new trails rather than repeating the same ones as I’m prone to do. That’s a great thing. 

My annual Christmas weekend with a friend was a bust this year because she got sick at the last minute. I felt bad for her because she was sick and missed out on the fun. While I made the best of the circumstances and went anyway, it would have been more fun with my pal. I haven’t told any of the stories from that weekend here and need to do that soon. It was just a couple of days. While I stayed in Ohio’s Amish Country, I didn’t do much that people traditionally enjoy in Amish Country. Instead, I mostly opted for museums and shopping in surrounding counties. I’m not a fan of that area and have no reason to go back except that I did stay at a lovely bed and breakfast and enjoyed driving some back roads to see beautiful farmland. 

The headline lately is that pure and utter exhaustion has set in again along with a number of other issues I now recognize as symptoms of my hypothyroidism. So, it’s back to the doctor this  week to talk again about how I can’t live this way. Thyroid pain and fatigue are real so don’t doubt the people in your life who complain about their issues. Waking up in the morning is the hardest thing I do all day unless you count staying awake in the afternoon when my mind and body begin to beg for a nap. Diet does help along with rest, exercise, fluids, LOTS of Vitamin C and a little pill that contributes precious little but is part of the team. 

As the holidays approach, so has the cookie baking, rich meals and the comfort foods that make cold weather more pleasant. I’m weighing my options for how I want to retool my diet to better support my thyroid but am putting it off until after all that fun cookie baking is over.  I have been down this path before and know exactly what I need to eat but, man, it is hard to keep up with that kind of rigidity seven days a week. When I’m eating for thyroid health, there’s no processed food, no sugar or sweeteners of any kind, no dairy, no grains and very small amounts of gluten. I prepare every morsel of food I eat and only drink water. Whipping out a frozen dinner because you’re tired after a hard workday is not an option. You use the ingredients you have on hand to whip up a protein, vegetable and healthy fat or just go hungry. 

As hard as it is to prepare from scratch every bit of food I eat, it’s much easier when my head is in the game.

My head is not currently in the game. But I’ll get there. 

Meanwhile, the house is decorated and Christmas cards have been mailed. The days are getting shorter but the impending solstice means that we will soon start to gain daylight. I’m engaging in a Winter Hike Challenge. Our goal is fifty miles and we’ve already completed twelve. I hope to surpass this goal but we’ll see what winter brings. 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. I always hoard vacation time for year end and have a reasonably long break upcoming. It can’t come a moment too soon and I’’m looking forward to some time to rest, spend at home and maybe even go out on an adventure or two. Once we finish up Christmas, I’ll be shifting gears into the next season – my Winter No Spend Challenge when I commit to staying home and using what I already own rather than being on the go so much. This is when I reset my habits for the year opting for rest over running around, for getting creative with ingredients from the back of the pantry instead of shopping and spending more time doing quiet things I truly enjoy – hiking, reading, puzzles, movies and puttering around the house. 

This is when I’ll buckle down on nutrition and try to get back into some kind of daily exercise habits that support my angry thyroid. 

I have big plans but these habits I want to build are manageable because self care and wellness can be the focus of my time. Not to mention, many go together. I’m a fan of habit stacking. When you commit to staying home and resting, it’s easier to find time to cook, to sleep, to write, to exercise and to engage in the self care habits you believe are important. When you eat whole foods, your body naturally craves more water and naturally has more energy to propel you into a mindset of wanting to exercise. 

See where I’m going with this? You can apply this mindset to your own life as well by studying your own habits and desires to create goals that support each other. 

So, this is where I am right now. I’m tired and stretched thin. I have ideas for how I want to be but still have a mountain of work on the job and at home to trudge through before I can get there. That’s ok. It just means I’m needed and it means I’ll appreciate better days when they arrive.

For this I am grateful. 

Tell me, what’s happening in your world? Are you stretched thin? Feeling great? Wishing for more time? Tell me all about it!

Outdoor Inspiration From Durango

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One of the things I like best about visiting Colorado is seeing how active people tend to be. Everywhere you look in towns and cities there are people out walking their dogs or jogging. They are kayaking, mountain biking, hiking and on horses.

They seem to just accept that the weather will do what it wishes and they will simply dress for comfort.

It helps that there are so many bike paths, state parks and well maintained sidewalks.

Fast food doesn’t appear as readily available as it is in Ohio so people seem more likely to sit and eat real food and their waistlines show it.

Visiting here always makes me want to do better at getting outdoors and eating my vegetables. I have high hopes for better habits based on inspiration gathered on this trip.

We hiked one morning at Horse Gulch Trail System on the outskirts of Durango. The parking lot is paved and then you hike or bike to the top of a hill to access several miles of trails.

The trail we chose had some old telegraph poles, wildflowers and gorgeous mountain views. There’s little shade but it was still a fun experience.

It reminded me that discomfort, like the harsh sun, isn’t a good excuse to skip out on outdoor time. Ohio’s ridiculous humidity is a better excuse but I eagerly hit the trail last night and thoroughly enjoyed that experience too. Even in the humidity.

I hiked about two miles at Cedar Falls- not a long hike but enough to relax my mind and work up my heart rate.

Time in nature is vital to physical health and mental well-being. I felt better after our hike at Horse Gulch and feel even better after my hike last night despite my sore muscles.

Time in nature can calm the soul and can heal old wounds. It can relax the body and quiet the mind. It can make sleep easier. It can make everything better.

Wherever you are, regardless of weather and all the other excuses, I highly recommend a walk outside. You can thank me later.