Well come here we are at the beginning of another day. It’s a lot later than I wanted it to be because I didn’t get my little butt in bed at a good time, so it’s almost 10:30 in the morning.
Oops!
I’m guessing that today the ice might melt enough to be able to get down and back up my driveway, but we’ll see. It’s going to be just barely over freezing, so it’ll all depend on what the sun can do with the temperature still quite low. Hopefully it’ll melt off enough to be able to get out.
That’s one of the challenges of being out in the country. Everyone else is probably fine today, but we’re probably still not going to be good until tomorrow.
But whatever, gratefully, we have everything we need right here to see us through even a much more protected situation.
Morning Gratitude:
- I’m grateful that I’ve got multiple days in a row now (I think maybe four?) of relatively successful morning routine efforts, even despite waking up so late multiple times.
- I’m grateful for the people who post free information on the internet that allows me to learn without having to pay for someone else’s expertise. Specifically, right now I’m thinking about healthcare and finding the right information to self-diagnose my medical issues I’m going to work on figuring out my shoulder issue today.
- Once again, I’m grateful for warm blankets. My room was 46° and I woke up today. 🥶 🙃
- I’m grateful that it’s a choice for me to have the house cold. For me it’s a cost-saving measure. For many, it’s not much of a choice.
- I’m grateful that it’s warming up at least a little bit. 😊
…
Oh! And happy February. 😊
Currently, I’m lying down in my mother’s jetted tub with it completely full of the coldest water I could get without adding ice to it.
Can I see if I can stay in here the entire time that I write my journal. Of course, just being in here, is going to heat up the water, and I have to periodically move in order to remove the warm barrier that still water creates next to your body. If you just sit still, then the water immediately next to your body begins to act as a layer of insulation, so you have to keep moving around or else the water gets warm.
🙃
So here I am shivering, knees barely out of the water, hands out of the water in order to write in my journal, and the cold water coming up past my neck to the back of my head and below my ears.
It’s 11:04 p.m., and this is my second deliberate cold exposure of the day. I’m working on both self-discipline, and trying to help my body heal itself more quickly. I won’t go into all the positive effects of cold showers, or cold baths, as I’ve already done that a couple years ago. If you’re interested, there’s a heck of a lot of research out there talking about the benefits, so I would encourage you to look them up if you’re not familiar with them, and I won’t go through them again here. The thermometer that I had, which I think is incorrect because it said the temperature in the house is 62 when it’s actually 56, says that the temperature of the water is 57.7°. obviously, that’s going to go up more and more the longer I’m in here.
Anyway, I was thinking that today might end up being a day that I could get out and run errands around town, but the ice that has had us iced in for the last couple days, is still completely solid, making it impossible to safely even go down my driveway.
I tried for a little while to see if I could coax the van down, but even rolling forward 1 in before pressing the brakes yielded nothing but sliding to the side and down the hill. Almost got myself stuck a few times before I gave up and decided that I was just going to have to wait for nature to take its course.
With a healthier body, without all these issues that I’m dealing with, I would have just gone out there and removed the snow from the driveway, all 400 plus feet of it, by hand. But, my body is really unhappy with me, so best not to aggravated further.
Maybe that’s a positive thing. Maybe I can point to this as an example of me taking better care of myself?
Probably not, as I think my choice is mostly because of fear, even if it is the right choice. It’s the wrong motivation. Or… Maybe it’s the right motivation. I don’t want to do myself further harm.
Weather positive or negative, I think it’s the right decision, as I’ve noticed my hips and knees much much worse since trying to do all the tree stuff for my Hill sister on Sunday.
The shivering has stopped. I’ve been in this frigid tub for almost 9 minutes now. I imagine riding my journal helps me keep my focus on something other than the cold. My body is too buoyant, though, so I have to work at staying submerged because my knees want to keep popping up. 🙃
Anyway, it’s been another one of those days where I don’t really feel like I’ve gotten much done even though I’ve had nothing to do all day but the things that I need to do.
I did my 6×5, and I’m reminded once again at how freaking effective it is. I wish I could just keep myself discipline in place. My 6×5, in just 30 minutes of Time each day, keeps so much of my life in balance and in order. It’s pretty amazing. Just 5 minutes a day, and I can keep the house clean. Just 5 minutes a day, and not only can I keep my room clean, but I can start sifting through the things that have been waiting for my attention for a long long time. Just 5 minutes a day, and my electronic messaging accounts get more cleaned out of them than comes in. Just 5 minutes a day, and the yard looks better, and the garage looks better. And the newest addition to my 5×5, the hill family property, which is now made it my 6×5, in 5 minutes a day, I’m able to help the rest of my Hill family by working on things that need to be done on the property.
So that’s a whole lot of progress in just 30 minutes a day. It’s pretty awesome, actually. Highly recommend it to any and all of you. 😊 I know I don’t have any children, so 5 minutes a day isn’t going to cut it for those of you with kids, unless of course the kids pick up after themselves or can participate. Probably even then can’t do 5 minutes, but the concept is still solid.
Forgot to agitate the water. Soon as I start moving everything gets colder again. 🙃
I’m not letting myself shiver but I’m definitely very cold.
I worked a good bit on tax stuff. I communicated with everybody who needed refunds from last year because we accidentally overcharged sales tax. There weren’t very many of them, so it didn’t take very long, but I’ve gone through my entire summary sheet, and everything is completely done on the summary sheet, at least so far is what needs to happen in order to do taxes for year 2022.
🥳
I still have a gazillion accounts to go through, and a whole lot of stuff to fill out, but I think everything is going to be relatively straightforward and, knock on wood, shouldn’t take very long because I worked hard in 2022 to stay fairly well on top of everything.
😎🥳
Crazy that it’s 2023.
let’s see.. I had a first today. Apparently, when I was trying to deal with all of the tree stuff for my Hill sister on sunday, I managed to get a splinter in my upper lip. I didn’t realize it until today. I had noticed that if I touched my upper lip in a certain way, it would hurt. I didn’t know what the issue was, until I looked in the mirror and started moving my upper lip around where it hurt. That’s when I saw the splinter, so I got myself a little pin, went back to the bathroom, and dug the little sucker out.
Lip splinter. Guess I really get into my work… Or I let my work get into me. 😶
😁
I should probably do an evening gratitude as well, to help myself go to bed with a better attitude. 😊
So… Without further ado:
- I’m grateful that I have no poison ivy lung, and by the looks of things, perhaps no Poison ivy at all, which by all accounts, is a bit of a miracle, i think.
- I’m grateful that I’ve had more self-discipline these last days. This effort in the cold water is helping with that. The first was a cold shower, but this is definitely more challenging doing the cold tub… I think. Right now I’m so cold that I can’t move my hands to open and close them very quickly at all. It’ll be interesting to see how hard it is to get out of the tub. 🙃 Hopefully I don’t get stuck in here. 😶
- I’m grateful that hot showers get rid of my joint pain, at least for a little while. I think the cold does the same thing, at least for a little while. It’s nice to have the relief.
- I’m grateful for the motivation that I have to improve my diet and health again. I had let myself slip quite far, but I can feel the determination building inside of me. It’s becoming a conviction again, and I’m very grateful for that.
- I’m grateful that this cold bath seems to have calmed down my heart which felt like it was starting to beat really quickly again.
I’m going to call it a day with those five. By the time I finish this entry and publish it, I will have been in the water for more than 25 minutes. In fact, I think I’m going to go ahead and get out at 25 minutes and take the temperature of the water to see how much it changed with my body warming it up for the last 25 minutes. 😎
…
Okay, I am safely out of the tub, and the temperature inside the tub is now 59.3°. I’m surprised that it’s not warmer. I would have expected my body to warm it up a good bit more than that, but apparently not.
I’m definitely not moving very quickly as I dry off. And my skin is so cold that it burns as my towel rubs across me to drive me off. It’s like my skin is on fire a little bit.
What a cool experience!
😎😁
It’s funny to look at myself in the mirror and see how tan I am. Having spent two months in New Zealand, much of which was playing on beaches and out in the sun, I’m pretty darn dark. I’m used to taking my shirt off and being quite white.
…
For kicks and giggles, I decided to take my temperature. I’ve been out of the water for probably 5 or 10 minutes or more, temperature under my tongue was about 95°.
Fun! 🙃
It actually feels so good right now. Sure, I’m cold, but not as much as you might think, and I feel like I could pick up the truck. 💪😎
Don’t worry: I’m not going to try. 🙃
I’m just going to get a good drink and go to bed.
Good night, my lovelies. 😊
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 