Your Holiday Reading Guide on Winter Wellness and a Happy New Year

The cold days of winter lend themselves really well for curling up on the couch and catching up on some interesting articles about health, psychology and chronic illness. I hope you enjoy this winter reading guide with helpful ideas to enjoy the holidays with chronic illness, to start off the new year on a positive note with doable resolutions and make the most of the winter season despite your limitations!

How to Enjoy the Holidays…

• A good reminder during the month of December: ‘I Don’t Owe You an Explanation When I Do Something Fun Despite My Chronic Pain’.
• Celebrations just aren’t the same when you’re sick and mainly stuck at home. What can you do to still enjoy Hanukkah, Christmas or New Year’s Eve? Get inspired by these 34 ways to have a happy holiday season at home.
• Do you hate seeing the disappointment of your children’ faces when you can’t join in on all the holiday festivities? Perhaps these thoughtful tips can help your family cope.
• Which gestures help you to feel included in social gatherings with respect to your illness or disability? 5 Disabled Folks on How to Welcome Everyone During the Holidays.
• You can be in a room full of people and still feel incredibly lonely. What can you do to deal with that empty feeling inside? I don’t have all the answers, but here are 5 things you can do when nobody truly understands you. And if you’re worried about relatives that don’t get your illness or life choices, check out these tips from Well+Good to set boundaries, navigate tough topics and lighten the mood during family gatherings.

… and Have a Happy New Year!

• When chronic illness makes your daily life unpredictable, how can you set goals for the new year that you can actually achieve? Everybody’s health, character and circumstances are different, but here are some out-of-the-box ideas.
• It’s hard to have fun while you’re sick. But read here why you should still make cultivating joy in your chronic life a priority next year – including 34 doable ideas to get you started.
• How will wellness trends change in 2024? MindBodyGreen predicts 12 ways in which the health scene will transform over the next 12 months.
• The phrase “rewire your brain” is used so loosely lately that it can seem more like a metaphor than a scientific reality. This article explores if it’s really possible to rewire one’s brain, and if so, how?
• If you’re making New Year’s resolutions to improve your health, make sure to check out the 8 keystone habits to reach your recovery goals, how ‘exercise snacking‘ can boost your fitness levels in doable ways, and easy things you can do to reduce your refined sugar intake. You can also sneak more green into your meals with these 26 hidden vegetable recipes.
• Even if you’re bed bound, there are still things you can do to boost your wellbeing in 2024. Take a look at these 33 gentle ways to support your health and happiness from bed.

Winter Wellness

• Winter conditions and chronic illness can be the perfect storm for an increase in symptoms. Through the Fibro Fog shares her best tips to cope.
• Genuinely enjoying the chillier months can be a challenge, so these 30 ways to romanticize your daily life during this time of year can help you lean into hygge and coziness. You could also add these 41 fun ideas to your winter bucket list!
• Most of us keep aspirin and Imodium at hand, but have you ever considered stocking your natural medicine cabinet too? Also check out these 8 natural ways to optimize your immunity and 12 tips to fight off colds and bugs during flu season.
• Another way to support your health in a tasty way is by stocking your freezer with these Frozen Immunity Cubes and enjoying the cubes all winter long .
• What’s nicer after a long, cold day then relaxing in a warm bath? And these homemade spiced winter bath salts will help enhance circulation, ease pain and calm your body and mind.

The Best of The Health Sessions in 2023

• 11 Easy Ways to Evoke Awe – And Why You Should. Unlike joy and gratitude, we rarely talk about how experiences of wonder can contribute to our wellbeing. And that’s a shame, because recent research shows that awe has a unique power to improve our health and happiness. So how will you try to look with wondering eyes today?
• How to Do Hard Things in Life. We’ve all heard it before, the well-meant encouragement of “you can do hard things”. That sounds motivating and supportive, but how exactly do we tackle challenges that push us to – or over? – our limits? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this, but the 7 psychological principles in this article can help you do hard things in your (chronic) life.
• 10 Tips to Enjoy Day Trips with Chronic Illness. Whether you’re headed to the beach, a museum or an amusement park, it’s just nice to be in new surroundings and have fun. That is, of course, when your health actually allows you to enjoy it. A lot of that depends on your specific condition and circumstances, but in this blog post you” find 10 general tips to help you enjoy day trips with chronic illness.
• How Exactly Do You “Listen to your Body”? It’s the advice we’ve all been given: listen to your body. And although there is a lot of wisdom to that, it’s also a little vague. We’re all built differently, but here are some steps you can take to get more in tune with your body, and listen to what it has to tell you.
• High-Functioning Spoonie: The Problems of Living in Between Sickness and Health It’s the most amazing experience: gradually getting your health back after being sick for so long. And yet, you can feel a little lost  in that gray area of not being seriously sick but not being fully healthy either. Take a look at some problems you may face as a high-functioning spoonie.
• Rewild Your Chronic Life: 10 Ways to Live in Tune with Nature When You’re Sick. Without romanticizing the past – hurray for health care and comfy homes with heating and stocked fridges! – there is some truth in the statement that most of us have become disconnected from nature. Which accessible things could you do to live more in sync with nature to support your overall wellbeing?
• 24 Ideas to Connect with Your Partner When One of You is Chronically Ill. Let’s be honest: It’s not always easy to be a considerate partner when you’re exhausted and in constant pain, struggling to get through the day. Plus, sometimes chronic illness turns your old relationship dynamics upside down. So how can you connect with your partner and keep the romance alive when one of you is chronically ill?
• How to Rebuild Your Resilience When Adversity Strikes. It’s one of the hardest things you’ll have to learn: getting back on your feet again when life knocks you down. Sadly, you can’t develop mental strength over night, but check out some science-backed strategies to rebuild your resilience when adversity strikes.

Thank you for your support this past year and I wish you a loving 2024 filled with beautiful adventures and meaningful moments!