Rx for Wintering Well #4
Peek Perspectives Wintering Edition 4
Good evening! I waited until the final hours of the final day of January to send you my last edition of the Weekly Rx for Wintering Well in this series! It feels a little odd to still be talking about winter today, as we woke up this week to the delight of sunshine and weather that felt gloriously of early Spring. The ice-covered pond has completely thawed, the kids are back to playing on the zipline every day after school, and our “wintering tree” is no longer twinkling with white lights in our living room. (Long live the best Fraser Fir we’ve ever brought home from the tree farm!)
I’ve lived in Oklahoma long enough to know that this weather is no indicator of the weeks to come, but I’m soaking it up while it lasts… which brings me to our final wintering thoughts (for now at least):
In today’s edition…
I. Rx for winter wellness
II. Rx for a winter recipe
III. Rx for winter reflection
I. Rx for Winter Wellness:
Winter virus season is in full swing, can you feel it?! By now, you may have accumulated your own mini-pharmacy of cough and cold over the counter medications, supplements, and maybe even some prescription meds along the way. One thing that most Spring Cleaning checklists do not include? Medications. It’s time to get a head start! Go through your stash and toss the expired meds, refresh your supply with new ones as needed, and organize them for the year ahead.
Here are my 3 simple steps to decluttering your medications for 2024:
Pull out all of your medications and supplements (Rxs, OTCs, all of it!) Are they hiding in your pantry, forgotten in a bathroom cabinet, or stashed behind a vanity mirror? Check the glove box of your car, purse, and any first aid kits too. Find them all and pile them up.
Locate the expiration date on each package. If it is expired, the packaging is damaged, or it is no longer needed, dispose of it!
If your oral medication is not a controlled substance or hazardous material, mix it with cat litter, dirt, coffee grounds, or another undesirable substance. Seal it in a bag or disposable container. Put it in the trash.
If your oral medication is a controlled substance, flush down the toilet or check with your local pharmacy to see what take-back programs are in your community.
If your medication doesn’t fit in the above categories or you aren’t sure how to safely dispose of it, call your local medication expert… your pharmacist!
Take a few minutes to re-organize your (unexpired) medications.
Store them out of reach of children and pets.
Store away from extreme heat, cold, and humidity.
II. Rx for a Winter Recipe: Homemade Hot Chocolate!
The internet tells me today happens to be National Hot Chocolate Day. So, grab your favorite cozy mug and get your cocoa fix! Go plain, or grab a peppermint stick from your leftover candy cane stash to spice it up. Don’t forget the marshmallows too, if that’s your thing. There’s no shame in a convenient store-bought version, a gifted gourmet cocoa mix you forgot you had in the back of your pantry, or even a drive through version at your favorite local coffee shop. But if you’re feeling fancy, try this super simple, but homemade treat too from the other Dr. Peek in my household…
III. Rx for Winter Reflection:
Winter has beckoned us to mimic nature’s ambiance of stillness, hibernation, and reflection as we await the newness of Spring. And there’s still likely a lot of winter left, depending on where you are.
Sometimes, when we are in a hard season, we tend to jump ahead in our minds to the brighter days ahead. Sometimes this gives us hope for better days to come. But sometimes, it also minimizes the place we are in, and it doesn’t allow us to process the difficult things we experience.
I was sitting with a group of women recently, who were sharing some hard things in their lives. Tears were shed as one woman shared about a difficult situation with her child, and another one shared of a friend’s devastating diagnosis. The women around me were wonderfully compassionate and very quick to encourage those who shared. It was a group of faith-filled women, and many immediately pointed out that God is in control and shared encouragement that better days are certainly ahead for both of these situations. I also believed this to be true.
But.
In that moment, it also struck me how often we try to reassure ourselves (or others) who are walking through a “winter” season in an effort to escape the hard reality. We want the colorful days of Spring and the bright days of Summer to come quickly. We want to skip past the barren, isolating, cold days of Winter. We don’t want to linger in the painful realities, and so we are quick to point out the brighter days ahead. And in that process, we sometimes miss an opportunity to sit in the hard. To acknowledge the pain. To verbalize the difficulties. To walk down that icy path.
Can we do both/and? Can we both sit in the hard places, acknowledge the pain, and declare that the best days are yet to come? Can we get to the good without skipping straight past the hard?
Can we both dwell in these long Winter days, lean into the things this season teaches us, and be hopeful for Spring?
As we look ahead to the spring holidays, festivities, and even dream of hot summer days, let us not forget what we’ve learned in the hard seasons of winter. Don’t let the commercialization of Valentine’s, the pressure to plan an epic Spring Break trip, or the expectations from your New Years resolution rush you out of the harsh season. Don’t be afraid to linger a bit in the place where you faced the cold, brutal days (both literally and figuratively). Don’t miss the beauty of Wintering and all that it teaches us.
It’s truly been a lot of fun to bring you four different Rx for Wintering Well editions during this season. I’ve loved sharing practical health tips from over the counter options to support your respiratory health to ideas for nurturing your mental health. Along the way, we’ve shared warm recipes, cozy books, and classic board game options. We’ve examined what it means to be a good neighbor and leaned into the mindset of “stop enduring, start embracing” during this season.
I wish you abundance and wellness in the days ahead, whether you’re still piled under blankets by the fire or whether you’re seeing teasers of Spring weather.
Cheers to Wintering…and Springing…and all that comes in between,
Dr. Peek
P.S. I’m not going anywhere…I’ll still be in your inbox weekly to dispense hope, grace, and simplicity in a complex world!