Avoiding Cabin Fever

  We are in the midst of a snowstorm right now - nearly a foot has fallen today (on top of the 10 or so inches that we already had) and it is still falling. We are pretty excited!

 Above is the view of our deck taken through the sliding glass window in our dining room (and the snow is thicker now than when I took the picture.

  We also are dealing with sickness in the house. Jonathan is the one on the couch today (running a fever and feeling rather miserable). Sickness has unfortunately rather been the story of 2013 for us so far. Everybody has been under the weather at some point and some more than once (Megan is up to 3 times now).  I am just very thankful that all our little bouts with sickness (some norovirus, some fever/cold) none of them have been very long lived. In a day or two they are gone. I do admit that sickness does leave me feeling a little puzzled as to how better I should try to care for my family's health. We try to live a healthy lifestyle but still deal with sickness. Or well, I think we can sometimes grow spiritually in those times.

 Anyway with the various circumstances we have been facing I suppose that it could be considered a near perfect recipe for Cabin Fever but thankfully we have been avoiding that one.

  I thought I would share some ideas on how we have been avoiding Cabin Fever.

My Radishes

• Embrace the season! Decide to enjoy the uniqueness and fun of winter (whether you like to cozy up inside reading, doing crafts and sipping herbal tea or if you like to go sledding, skiing or skating). So much of how we feel is based upon our attitude. If you decide to enjoy each season as they come life is much happier! And Cabin Fever isn't quite so easy to catch.
• Try growing some plants inside. We decided to see if we could grow some of our garden plants inside this winter. I am not sure what the success will end up being but we have some cute little tomato and pepper plants (If things go well maybe we could have fruit about May?) and some scraggly looking lettuce and radishes - I had hoped to harvest them in a month of so but I don't know if that is going to work or not. Anyway it is pretty fun to plant and have things grow in the winter!

Little Tomato plants (they will need to be thinned).

•  Get some of those indoor projects done. I have been having fun doing a lot of organizing, decluttering, finishing up projects and mending. It is very satisfying to finish things up and have everything clean and neat. Winter is the perfect time to do it because I don't have a million and one things that I want to get done outside right now.

Some newly mended jeans - sometimes I think I won't ever catch up with this job!

 

• Take advantage of the winter weather and go sledding or even just walk outside and enjoy the beauty. If you dress warmly it can be very enjoyable and it does really help to get rid of Cabin Fever!

•  Go traveling through books. We love travel but we can't always be gallivanting off somewhere or another. So instead we read books about others places. I have made that as part of our school day but you can also just do it for fun! We are currently reading about all the different countries in Central America (Costa Rica this week) and we are enjoying the pictures of lush greenery (and snakes!!?) and learning about life down there.

 

• Along with your "traveling" you can also try some cooking of foods that they eat in the place that you are reading about. We recently had an El Salvadorian meal. I thought it was pretty good - my family wasn't quite so sure but anyway it was a change of pace and it was interesting. We made Pupusas, a spicy cabbage salad and Horchata (a rice drink) as well as eating pineapple.

•  Make some music! We try to have some music making about every day. Music is great for driving any blues away.

•  I think Megan might recommend dressing up. Her outfits have often been pretty interesting and fancy lately and I think that helps her view on life. Personally I have been trying to go through all my clothes and making myself wear them so that I don't keep around things that I really don't care for. Last week my family said that I had a rather interesting (the polite way to say "Strange!") outfit as well.
• Be creative. Whatever creative outlet that you like: Scrapbooking, card making, sewing, carving, etc. - have fun being creative! 
• Read the Pollyanna books! I have been reading them out loud lately and I think they would be the perfect book to read if you are fighting the blues. Such a good reminder to look for the best in things!
• Be thankful. We are to give thanks in all circumstances (even ice storms, snow storms, weather that is bitterly cold) and when we start to give thanks it sure helps us to feel better too!

Do you have any tips for avoiding Cabin Fever?

 We are enjoying our winter - I hope you are too!