Getting way too touchy-feely with the reverb10 prompts. What has healed you in 2010 and how would you like to be healed in 2011?
Um.
You know, medicine when I'm actually sick. (I'm a hippie tree-hugging granola crunching yoga freak much of the time, but I believe in scientists abilities to identify and manufacture medications to treat specific illnesses.)
Good diet, adequate rest, and moderate exercise the rest of the time to stay well.
Luckily it is easier to stay well without snotty pre-schoolers in the house. No offense intended to my friends with snotty preschoolers, but my children's preschool years were really hard on my immune system, when I spent more time sick than well, I believe.
My children have blessedly exited the stage of childhood where they're sick constantly, plus they seem to have inherited their daddy's iron constitution. The youngest, age 7, has never even had the stomach flu! (by her age, the oldest had had some sort of stomach bug at least once a year from 4-7.)
A moment's pause in reflection and in honor of my husband, who during those annual ...illnesses of my son's, would set out a bed of towels and blankets on the bedroom floor, get a bucket, and tend to the wee one. He has an iron constitution but a weak stomach (at least for stomach bugs) and I think has more than a little empathy for the stomach sick. I have trouble not being stomach sick myself when someone near me is, and thus I am not the best nursemaid for those with stomach ailments. In fact, it's best if I sleep elsewhere. Like in a hotel.
Now that I think of it, it's really astonishing how much time we spend as parents tending to our sick children, and how that changes as they grow up. So there are many fewer nervous nights spent holding a coughing baby in a steamy bathroom, or waking up every hour to check a temp, or holding the hair out of the way or positioning the bucket. But instead we have lovely concerns like my friend who is wondering if her 11 year old has mono. And I spent Friday afternoon at the Orthopedist's office (another one, mark it - this is the third Friday afternoon of my life spent waiting for xray results. Thankfully this one was not an official break, a possible injury to the growth plate, we were sent home with a sling and strict instructions to NOT fall on that arm again for the next 2 weeks at which point we'll re-xray it.) And at some point puberty is going to be a growing concern. And on it goes from there.
But meanwhile, I do try to make sure we all get a good amount of rest. I find it a bit shocking when I hear of kids my kids' ages or younger who go to bed much later, and who I know have to get up early for school commitments. I think rest plays a big role, as does good diet in both maintaining and warding off illnesses. I always seem to come down with something after a stressful week of activities or a time when I've been running on lower than usual amounts of sleep. I've also added vitamin D to our supplements, though we're spotty about taking them (resolution: get better about that. We're vegetarians, we should take vitamins just for insurance.)
Do you have a plan for wellness for 2011?