Category Archives: Musings

7 Winter Coping Strategies

For those of you who are experiencing snow this week, you have my deepest sympathies. Should you actually be enjoying the snow, let me know and I will make a point of sending mine to you when it comes.

This time of year can be especially difficult for those with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is a form of winter depression brought on by the decrease in sunlight due to the shorter winter days. Even for those who are just suffering from winter doldrums or cabin fever, this time of year presents its share of challenges.

I have been managing my SAD for the past decade and have picked up a few tips for coping and even thriving in winter that I would love to share with you:

1. Maximize sun exposure and daylight hours. Rise earlier to enjoy as many hours of sunlight as possible. I know this one is easier said than done since SAD leaves you completely exhausted, but every hour of sunlight helps. Make sure to get outside for a while everyday even in the cold to derive greater benefit from those glorious rays.

2. Use a SAD light. Even maximizing natural daylight, often isn’t enough. Using a SAD light such as this one (I don’t own this type, but it is similar to mine) can help to synchronize your body clock and help with energy levels.

3. Break a sweat. Exercise can help with energy levels and flushing toxins from your body. Also the post work out “high” can temporarily help elevate mood.

4. Maximize nutrition. In the winter more than any other time of year, I hear the siren call of carbs and sugary foods. They tell me, “Oh you’re tired? Eat me, I will give you the energy you so desperately crave. ” They lie. Invariably I always feel worse when I dramatically increase my carb and/or sugar intake.

In addition to eating healthful foods, supplements can be very helpful. This year I started using this brand of fermented cod liver oil to help improve my vitamin D levels, and have noticed a marked improvement in mood since incorporating it into my routine. Even if you are maximizing sunlight, it is almost impossible to get enough vitamin D from sun exposure alone in the winter due to overcast skies, and the need to be bundled up. Supplementing can help fill in the gap. My doctor told me that of all the people he has tested for vitamin D deficiency the vast majority were deficient or barely adequate. Bottom line: pretty much everyone can benefit from some Vitamin D supplementation.

5. Engage your mind. Find something to keep your mind occupied: take a class, join a book club, volunteer. The distraction and mental stimulation can help, as wells as having something enjoyable regularly scheduled to anticipate.

6. Take a winter trip. I know winter is far from an ideal time to travel, but changing things up, even with just a day trip, can help provide a much needed change of pace and something to look forward to. Resist the temptation to hibernate like a bear.

If possible, you could even take a trip somewhere warm and sunny. Who says vacations are only for the summer months? Taking one in the winter can help to break up the season into smaller parts.

7. Form new associations. There was probably a time when you were a small child that winter was a season of wonder and beauty. Pause frequently in the moment when you catch yourself thinking about winter to challenge negative associations and form new more positive ones. Make new more positive memories in which winter isn’t merely accidental, but rather essential to the experience.

How about you, do you enjoy winter? Ever suffer from cabin fever, or SAD? What are some of your coping strategies?

Since there are seven of these tips, I will be linking up with Jen from ConversionDiary.com for 7 Quick Takes. Happy Friday!

Update: This week 7 Quick Takes is actually at thisain’tthelyceum.org. God Bless!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor am I trying to play one on the internet. If you think you have SAD talk to your doctor about strategies that you should adopt for your unique needs.

If you found this article helpful share it with a friend!

Teenage Wizards, Nesting, and Daily Chores (A.K.A. Books I Have Been Reading Lately)

7 Replies

Today is a day that can be viewed one of two ways: as a grey, rainy, icky day that confines us to spending our time indoors; or it can be viewed as a wonderful opportunity to snuggle up with a good book and a hot cup of tea. I am trying to look at it as the latter.

My baby girl, has got the right idea though, she keeps following me around the house holding a book and tugging on my skirt. Needless to say, I gave into her sweet persuasion and we read a stack of books this morning.

For you rainy day reading pleasure, may I present my five favorite books that I read in the past month or so.

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

So I know I am late to the party, but I only got around to reading the books now. As a teenager, I avoided them because I was afraid of the element of magic they contained. Now that my brothers and several other friends read them and LOVED them, I figured the time had come to see why. Also, I figured it would be better to decide way in advance if the series is something I would be comfortable with my kids reading. Short answer: yes I would let my kids read them, but I think it would be best to read and discuss them together. I found the magical aspect to be innocuous, (see this article by Regina Doman for a more extensive treatment on the topic), what bothered me more was Harry’s frequent violation of rules and disrespect for many of his teachers, but even that was more minor.

These two books were my favorites in the series. Rowling is a master of the page-turner, the plot is very engaging and fast paced, drawing you into the series and investing you in the characters. I have to admit that I cried at a few points. Don’t want to say too much more for fear of spoilers. Bottom Line: Go read them, if you haven’t already.

3. The Nesting Place: It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful by Myquillyn Smith

I blitzed through this book because it is so darn good. I usually am a fairly silent reader, but I found I was vocal in expressing my agreement with the ideas as I read. I LOVE her philosophy decorating, even if I don’t personally care for her unique style. If you are a recovering perfectionist when it comes to decorating your home, or struggling with being content with your current home/ rental this book is a must read.

4. Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris

If you have trouble finding meaning in housework or chores this book is for you. It is a short, meditative work. I read it over a period of months in an effort to motivate me to do the dishes. I still am not fond of doing the dishes, but at least I have interesting reflections to ponder as I do them.

5. Minimalist Living: Decluttering for Joy, Health and Creativity by Genevieve Parker Hill

I snagged this book while it was free as a Kindle Daily Deal a few months back. Its an interesting read, though I had encountered most of the ideas before. For those who have not explored their relationship to their stuff, or why they keep things, this book would be a useful resource. It helped me keep my motivation for continuing the great purge of 2014.

Linking up with the ever insightful, Anne of ModernMrsDarcy.com for twitterature. Also linking up with Jenna of callherhappy.com for Five Favorites Wednesday.

Happy Reading!

What have you been reading lately? Have you read any of these books before? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Inside the Pregnancy Center: Not Manipulation, but Unconditional Love

2 Replies

Today, I am so excited to share with you a guest post that I wrote for CatholicHousehold.com detailing my experiences volunteering as a peer counselor at a Crisis Pregnancy Center. One aspect of my work there involved meeting with women considering having an abortion. If you are curious to learn what that looks like, please head over to http://www.catholichousehold.com/inside-pregnancy-center-manipulation-unconditional-love/ . Here is an excerpt:

“After volunteering at a Pregnancy Resource Center, abortion is no longer primarily a political position, or a catchy slogan. Nor is it a nameless, faceless evil that is far removed from everyday life. It becomes something real and personal. It has a face and a name. It is “Rachel,” the woman who cries herself to sleep every night holding the ultrasound picture of the unborn baby she was pressured into aborting. It is “Sarah,” who continues to grieve the abortion she had decades ago. It is “Anna,” the teenager who describes her previous abortion as “the worst experience” of her life. It is “Jake,” the man who came to tell his story of manipulating his former girlfriend to have an abortion; with tears in his eyes, he asked that his story be told so that his unborn child’s death will not have been in vain. . .”

This is the project I referred to last week. It has been a difficult and emotional post to write, but I hope that it will prove useful in raising awareness about the important work done by Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

Please consider donating to our local Pregnancy Center if you are able https://secure.ministrysync.com/ministrysync/event/website/home/?e=5628 . As you can see in the article, our center provides essential services to the women and children of our community.

Please share the article to raise awareness of the important work of Crisis Pregnancy Centers!

Have you ever worked at a Pregnancy Center, or in another part of the pro-life movement? I would love to hear about your experiences positive or negative in the comments. Please remember to keep it civil; disagreement is fine, insults are not. Thanks!

You Are Not in Control of Your Body

4 Replies

This is pretty much the story of my day today. . .

Neither am I for that matter. Can’t believe it took me this long to fully figure it out. I mean I have known aspects of this for sometime now. Watching loved ones die of cancer, or develop dementia is all that it takes to drive the reality home. No one would choose to let their body or mind turn against them in that way.

Yet, I found that I had fallen for a subtle illusion of seizing complete control over my body. In following an ancestral health way of eating, (which has helped me greatly) I found myself swayed by some of its more zealous proponents claims: “If you just do A, B and C, (oh and D-Z as well) you will not suffer from cancer, allergies or even the flu; not only that but you will be your ideal body weight and free from any skin blemishes!”

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a huge believer in living a healthy lifestyle. What I came to realize, however, was that I was pursuing it in an attempt to bring back the Garden of Eden and in the process setting myself up for some major disappointment.

Dramatically cleaning up my family’s diet has greatly improved my asthma and allergies and my families overall health, but we still get sick from time to time. In fact as I write this my son Sammy and I are having a horrible day where allergies are concerned (side note, he asked me today to get the “itchies” out of his eyes and nose, it was pretty funny). And now I am finally realizing that to some degree, that is part of life.

Nutritious food and exercise just aren’t capable of reversing all of the physical consequences of sin. No matter how many new vacines, or anti-biotics are developed, disease will remain a fact of life. The possibility of perfect health in this world has been sadly lost.

Now, I am not saying that we should give up on our health altogether, or not to use the means at our disposal to improve it. Quite the contrary, I know that I need to seek to live a healthy lifestyle to be a good steward of the body I have been given.

What I am going to change, however, is my vainly pursuing physical health out of a desire to gain perfect control over my body; seen in that context, good health can easily become an idol.

While I won’t ever gain perfect control over my body, I do of course exercise control over it. Which brings me to face the scary reality: all that I am in control of is my will. It is how I exercise that control that will determine my destiny.

Have you ever experienced great health benefits from a certain plan of eating or exercise? Have they ever been a distraction for you? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

If you liked this post, please share with a friend!

Striving to Become on Fire

5 Replies

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (from the poem Summer Day by Mary Oliver)

It’s a question asked countless times; a question that relentlessly demands an answer with an ever present whisper. A question I haven’t answered to my satisfaction . . . yet.

Sure, I’ve got a few of the big pieces figured out, I am a wife, mother and lover of God, but the details on how I am to engage in the everyday mundane events that give life and meaning to these relationships . . . those details are a bit fuzzy. It’s becoming clear that the infused wisdom that I always presumed adults received hasn’t come yet. Maybe it will arrive next year? In the meantime, I guess I have to keep working to figure out the particulars of my vocation.

Thus far I have lived a life that borders on mediocre. I haven’t managed to screw things up too badly, but neither have I excelled strongly. I may not particularly struggle with vice, but I surely am not a paragon of virtue.

Now that I am a mother, I feel the time slipping by at an ever hurrying pace. I put my baby down for a nap, and, when I go to pick her up a few short hours later, her growth is almost perceptible. Tempus fugit. My time with them is so short and serves as a reminder of the brevity of my life as a whole. It rather reminds me of taking an exam and realizing that the testing period is slipping by and there is so much left to be done.

In the words of my good friend, (and patron saint) Catherine of Sienna:

“Be who you are meant to be and you will set the world on fire.”

There lies the trouble; I am not yet who I am meant to be. The potential is there, though, and the means are within my grasp. I am not yet on fire, I am only half kindled. A work in the making. The match has been struck, but the kindling is not yet aflame. That is my quest then: to go from this lukewarm state to become a blazing fire. And what stands between me and my goal? Many acts of the will. Many acts of love.

In a sense, this is the most dangerous question a person can ask: how am I to light the world on fire? Time will tell how I answer the question. I hope you will join me on this journey as I work to answer it in my own life.

It’s time to live on fire!

“I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” Luke 12:49

Come Holy Spirit, renew the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

I would love it if you could take a moment to stop by and leave a comment. Things are very “under construction” at the moment, so please bear with me as I try to build this “virtual home.” Feel free drop by and introduce yourself. I promise that I won’t mind if you prop your feet up on the coffee table.

If you liked this post, please share it with a friend.

Half Kindled

, but striving to become on fire.