Getting back to health and finding happy

Post-polar bear dip selfie

The last couple of months haven’t been the best of times, health-wise.

I never do well with the short, dark days of fall and winter, and this season has been particularly depressing for all the reasons everyone has already talked about ad nauseam (so I won’t repeat them).

National Novel Writing Month in November had me living on chocolate and coffee — and too little sleep. Then came December with its delightful blend of stress and weight gain, headaches and hot flashes, and a nightly bout of swollen sinuses that turned my tongue to fly paper and made me wheeze like Darth Vader.

Once the holidays were over and my nasal passages finally cleared, I was more than ready for a fresh start. I’m not into resolutions, but the New Year happens to be a natural time to hit the reset button and think about a change in focus for the days ahead.

I usually set a one-word intention for the year. In 2016, it was “engage,” and I tried to – socially, politically and emotionally – until I got so depressed I had to disengage to save my sanity.

For 2017 I had a tough time choosing a word. I thought of “job” because I need to find (paying) part-time work to help support my unpaid full-time writing. There, I said it. But finding a job is just a to-do, not a direction. I toyed with “joy,” but I didn’t want to put that much pressure on myself.

Finally, the decision was obvious: Health. Duh. And not just for me, but for the whole family. I’ve already heard the groans from my two teenagers, but my husband, Mark, has been surprisingly game.

On New Year’s morning, we did the Resolution Run 5K & Polar Bear Dive, a 3.1-mile jog (or slog in our case) through Seattle’s Magnuson Park followed by a quick, head-under dunk in Lake Washington. For me, it was a chilly baptism that washed away the sins of the holidays. For Mark, who has been known to plunge into Puget Sound no matter the temperature outside, it was no biggie.

He also agreed to join me on a three-week nutritional cleanse under the guidance of Anti-Inflammatory Eating Made Easy, by Michelle Babb. She’s a registered dietitian with a private practice in West Seattle, and her her recipes are truly simple as well as tasty.

On the mental health side of things, I need to cut back on my social-media consumption. Freedom is a useful app if  you don’t quit out of it all the time, like I do. I tell myself I’m just going to check email, but end up spending an hour on Facebook playing Words with Friends and reading posts about the sunny vacations of others, President-Elect Trump, starving polar bears and dead bees. This is NOT what I need this time of year.

What I need, besides more self-discipline, is to take better advantage of every daylight hour, maybe even GO OUTSIDE. Now that the days are getting longer and my sinuses have cleared, I’m can actually go for a jog or a bike ride. Yay!

Ben relaxing

There’s no better pick-me-up than outdoor exercise . . . unless it’s a trip to the off-leash dog park, where my canine son can get his needs met. When Ben finds his soulmate, and they chase and play and hump, gulp water, then chase and play and hump some more, his unbridled joy gives me joy. And that’s healthy for both of us.

What about you? What makes you feel better during the dark days of winter? Do you have an intention for 2017? Please share your thoughts below.