Resilience Challenge: Cold Dips

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The first month of my resilience challenge is complete! I challenged myself to three cold dips a week in January. The challenge thankfully never felt like a chore and I weirdly looked forward to them.

I’ve been documenting over on Substack my 2023 resilience challenge as well as my 2023 self-reliance challenge.

I’ve shared over on this Substack post why I decided to do 3 cold dips a week.

And in this post, that I wrote for my paid subscribers I share all the scientific resources on cold dipping that I’ve found as I was researching this topic.

How To Get Started With Cold Dips

I had 4 ways of easing into it.

Step 1: I started by always finishing my showers with a cold shower. You can download the Wim Hof app and there is a cold shower challenge you can follow.

Step 2: I would have an Epsom salt bath every other night. I would leave the bath to cool down overnight and cold plunge in the morning.

Step 3: I would run cold baths with the tap turned all the way to cold.

Step 4: And finally I worked up to running a cold bath with the tap turned all the way to cold and then I’d dump 2 huge ice cubes in. I made the ice cubes by leaving water in Tupperware containers outside in the cold negative Ottawa weather.

My Next Step: I want to challenge myself to a cold plunge through the ice in the local river. I just haven’t had a chance to go out and meet with our local Wim Hof community of dippers yet. But I’ll definitely try before this winter is over.

The Benefits I’ve Seen This Month

I’ve been able to experience two benefits within a short amount of time.

I’ve experienced more energy when I dip in the morning.

But weirdly enough, when I dip in the evening after an infrared sauna session I experience deep sleep.

Are you a cold dipper? How do you make it happen for yourself? And for how long is each dip?

PACE Plan for Preparedness

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After discovering Fieldcraft Survival in 2021, I’ve been using their free resources and survival gear to become more prepared. I recently listened to this episode of Fieldcraft Survival’s podcast with Amber Elle. I realized that while we have many things in place we don’t actually have a PACE preparedness plan for everything.

For us, this is would be the next level of planning.

PACE is an acronym that stands for Primary, Alternate, Contingency, and Emergency

Many Fieldcraft Survival staff are former military so I believe that’s where the use comes from. The PACE acronym is actually used in communication planning but can apply to preparedness plans.

This year I’ll build out our food, water, and shelter PACE plans.

Typical Emergency Scenario Requiring a PACE Preparedness Plan

Since we live in Ottawa, Ontario our city has fallen prey to several kinds of natural disasters from Tornadoes to Ice Storms. With many of these weather scenarios, parts of the city could be out of power for hours, days, or weeks at a time. So for this blog post, I’ll use a multiple-day power outage example to map out our PACE plan for 3 key areas of survival.

Food PACE Plan

Primary: Our primary way to nourish ourselves is farm to table. This includes acquiring foods from farms during harvest seasons and learning how to store them. From packing freezers to shelf-stable canning.

Alternate: If we were to lose power, we have a generator to keep our freezers cold. We have quite enough food stored on hand to last us a while. And depending on the weather if it’s winter our lovely Canadian climate lends itself well to having an outdoor fridge/freezer. For primary and alternate, you may also want to think about how much food you want on hand to feed your family from 1 week, to 3 months to a year. The amount of food you have on hand will be different for everyone’s comfort levels.

Contingency: We purchased several freeze-dried buckets of food that have at least a 10-year shelf life so I’ll put this in the contingency bucket. And if we don’t end up using them to survive they are perfect to take on future canoe trips (so we can use them up before the expiry date).

Emergency: My wanting to garden and learning how to grow our own food is definitely not a primary or alternative way of feeding our family (yet). So I’ll put that in the emergency bucket for now. This would be based on an emergency that halted all food supply changes in addition to our local farmers who I currently source food from.

Water PACE Plan

According to this blog, on average we need at least 1 gallon per day per individual. 1/2 of this gallon is used for drinking, 1/4 for cooking, and 1/4 for washing. A recommendation is to keep at least 3 days of water on hand in the house. So that means I need at least 12 gallons on hand for our family of four.

So if the power goes out we only have a bit of time before we don’t have access to water from the taps in our house. Here are the things we already have in place and what else we need to do to have a PACE plan when it comes to water.

Primary: Our primary water source is the water that runs through our reverse osmosis system in our house. There is a reservoir, so we would have access to what is in there at the beginning of a power outage. It actually isn’t a lot so we’d move to our alternate plans quite quickly.

Alternate: We have water stored in glass containers in our pantry. We currently have 1 large carboy which is 5 gallons and then 3 1-gallon glass containers which used to have apple cider vinegar in them. That means I still need to add 4 gallons to my storage shelves.

Contingency: We have a water filter that we bring camping with us. While this is a great contingency solution it takes quite a while to pump one Nalgene of water with this filter. I’ve been thinking about buying a Berkey for large filtration at home. We will just need something to carry the water into the house. Whether it’s catching rain or sourcing it from nearby rivers. I’ll be looking at purchasing something like Water Bricks, a WaterBOB for filling a bathtub, and a collapsible rainwater barrel.

Emergency: Boiling water can be an emergency solution. If the emergency lasted longer than a few days we might choose to move locations. Our bug-out location is on a lake. I also have several supplies in my mobility bag in my vehicle for purifying water such as Life Straws and AquaTabs while traveling to an alternate location.

Shelter PACE Plan

Primary: Our primary shelter is obviously our house. As previously mentioned we have a mobile generator to keep our fridge, freezer, X, and a few lights working in a power outage.

Alternate: As part of my self-reliant challenge for the year, I do want to upgrade the mobile generator to a propane one that isn’t reliant on gas. We’ll purchase and install it later this year after the snow melts.

Contingency: We actually have two friends who live nearby in the country with generators. We could always go and stay with them if our house wasn’t safe anymore.

Emergency: If our two friends’ houses are not available we also have our emergency bug-out location.

Do you have PACE plans in place for food, water, or shelter? Let me know if I should add anything to ours.

Autoimmune Disease Thriving Mindset

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I was asked the other day to share what has been involved in developing my autoimmune disease thriving mindset. I’m not about just surviving this disease or getting by. I want to thrive as I live with an autoimmune disease.

If you’ve been hanging out with me for a while online you know I’m obsessed with definitions in my blog posts. So I always love looking at the root of a word. So when I think about mindset, I’ll share the attitudes I’ve created for myself after my MS diagnosis.

Attitude #1: Living with Multiple Sclerosis is not a death sentence

I refused and still refuse to look at the average life expectancy of someone living with MS. Because unfortunately, I will not become just another number. And by the way I take care of myself I am expecting to have a life expectancy greater than the average. I’m also focused on increasing my healthspan and not just my lifespan. I want to live a full life and be healthy during my last few years. I don’t want to live them out in an assisted living facility stuck in a bed. It’s why I’m taking steps to improve my metabolic health in addition to caring for a body that has a confused immune system.

Attitude #2: I GET to take care of myself differently than I did before

While many things may have contributed to me developing MS, I can now take care of myself differently than I did before. I don’t think I’ve ever actually shared the science behind the correleations to developing MS or the research that is now coming out around EBV and causation. But needless to say I believe it to be several factors:

Vitamin D Deficiency
Emotional Health & Being In Poor Relationships
Stress Management
EBV
Digestive Health
and More

That all being said some of these things relate directly to how I take care of myself or how I move through the world. So if I can identify correleation or a gut feeling around correleation then I can take steps to improve how I’m living my life now.

Those have included:

Healing Digestive Health Problems
Nourishing My Body With Nutrient Dense Foods
Taking Supplements Based on Deficiencies
Moving My Body In A Way That Supports My Nervous System
Managing My Stress Responses
Getting Quality & Quantity of Sleep
Reducing My Toxic Load

I also avoid language around taking better care of myself than before (because then that discounts my entire life). This is simply a case of when you know better, you can do better.

Attitude #3: I can’t do it all, but I can do something every day

While the list of things that I do for myself is really long if I tried to do everything every day. However, each day, I get to choose from the list and do a few things or even one thing a day to take care of myself. Some days I have a ton of energy and I am up to incorporating a bunch of self-care tools into my routine. And then some days, I’m exhausted and the best I can do for myself is an epsom salt bath and getting to bed early so I can sleep at least 8 hours.

Attitude #4: I can heal myself

The first time I walked into Soul7 in Toronto (which is unfortunately no longer open), I met Bob Berman, the owner. And something he said to me has stuck with me ever since. He told me that “You will be able to heal yourself”. And I believed/believe him.

Here is a quote from an article in the Toronto Guardian:

“Their belief is that every person has the ability to heal. Their mission is to help people heal naturally and faster by combining ancient healing wisdom with new technology.”

Attitude #5: An autoimmune disease is simply a health sidekick

I am not defined by a diagnosis. Multiple sclerosis is not who I am. It’s something I live with. And that is why I call my MS simply a health sidekick that is here to remind me every day that I get to take care of myself. That I get to do this for myself and that I get to lead a fulfilling, active life.

If you live with an autoimmune disease what other attitudes that allow you to thrive would you add to the list?

2023 Winter Bucket List

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I don’t think I’ve done a proper Winter Bucket List since the twins were born. So here is my attempt at creating a 2023 winter bucket list that I can do with my husband, on my own, or with the twins!

Already Accomplished

We’ve already knocked off tobogganing, having a snowball fight, and building a snowman off the 2023 winter bucket list.

How To Make It Happen

So to make this happen, I’ll take the remaining items and map out the rest of our weekends this winter to ensure we’re getting things scheduled. After all, we only really have 2 months (maybe 3 if March is still cold) of winter.

Activities To Check Off

If you’re wondering what the Go Anywhere activity is, Mike gave me a gift for Christmas that is basically a date day and scavenger hunt all wrapped up together so I’m excited to tackle that as a day date with Mike.

We loved our dog sledding adventure in 2017 so we’re hoping to book one this year with Escape Huskimo again and take the twins.

I have cold dipping on my resilience challenge for January and I’m excited to do more cold dips in the comfort of our home. But after doing two Wim Hof workshops, we’ve joined a community that meets usually once a week to cold dip in the Ottawa River after cutting a hole in the ice 🙂 So I’m excited to join them this year.

What sort of things do you have on your winter bucket list?

Setting Up Essential Oil Stations Around Your House

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When I think about setting up oil stations around our house I think of success quotes.

“Set yourself up for success from the very beginning and then focus on maintaining that success.”

“Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there”

When most people get started using essential oils, they buy the starter kit, get the pretty storage box and fill the box with oils.

The box then begins to collect dust. The oils go unused and you get frustrated about investing in a product that you never use. So let’s get those beautiful bottles of plant magic out in the open for ease of use. Let’s get you set up for success by having them out in the open so you can see them and be visually reminded to use them. This will get you using them more often and allow you to set up the habit of reaching for them daily. Let’s keep the excitement going from the moment you open your order to every day that you reach for a bottle.

Essential Oil Stations

So let’s walk through 4 key essential oil stations you’ll want to set up in your house. I have oil stations in the kitchen, bedroom(s), home office (or at work), and bathroom.

Kitchen

I have 2 stations set up in my kitchen.

Number 1: Oils for cooking or drinks. This is where I keep all the herb oils that I might add to soups or stews, like basil, thyme, oregano, etc. I keep citrus oils here that I like to add to water like Lime, Green Mandarin, Tangerine, and Grapefruit. I also have Cinnamon Bark and Vanilla Absolute here as we add these to warm drinks like coffee or the vanilla cloud drink I have in the evenings.

Number 2: Diffuser station. This is where I keep all the oils I like to diffuse in our kitchen. I keep Abode, AirX, Citrus Bloom, Balance, Northern Escape, Peppermint, and more.

I have accumulated my display cases over the years from the dōTERRA’s marketplace. There are also other great companies that offer different display options.

I like the 2-Tier Resin Marble Essential Oil Display by Oil Life (Oil Life Canada) or the Rotating Essential Oil Diffuser Stand (Oil Life Canada) or the Stone Essential Oil Holder (Oil Life Canada)

Since the new MetaPWR products launched in September 2022, I also have put these out on the countertop so I’m reminded to use them daily. I’m thinking of grabbing a tray like this from Amazon so I can organize and display them more easily and then move them around to wipe down the counter.

Bedroom

I have 2 stations set up in our bedroom as well.

Number 1: Roller Bottles on my nightstand. I bought the holder off of Amazon and actually have 2 of these in my home office and one in my bedroom.

Number 2: Diffuser station. This is where I keep all the oils that I like to diffuse before going to sleep like Adaptiv, Serenity, Lavender, Siberian Fir, and Roman Chamomile. I also keep a bottle of OnGuard & Breathe in the bedrooms for diffusing when we’re fighting colds in the house.

The key to your diffuser stations is grabbing a glass carafe and filling it with water. I love these ones from IKEA so you can easily fill up your diffusers instead of having to always walk them over to the bathroom to fill them up.

Bathroom

If you’re following along I tend to have 2 stations in each room. And it’s no different in the bathroom.

Number 1: Roller bottles, 15ml, 5ml, and face care

Number 2: Diffuser station. Here I keep 4 bottles that I love to diffuse as I get ready for the day: Island Mint, Malama, Sunny Citrus, and Citrus Bliss.

Since I only have 4 oils for diffusing in my bathroom I like the smaller display cases for just a few oils. I still need to get one for our new master bathroom. Something like this would be perfect.

Other options would be the Pixel Oil Display, the AromaTouch Technique Marble Display (this would be perfect because there is a space for a fractionated coconut oil bottle, which I use as a makeup remover), or a small natural wood mini essential oil display (Oil Life Canada).

Home Office

Can you guess how many oil stations I have in my home office? If you guessed 2 you would be correct! And while I do keep the beautiful wooden display box to house my extra oils bottles in my office I still have 2 other oil stations in the room.

Number 1: Roller Bottle Display

Number 2: Diffuser station. Here is where I have the blends I love diffusing for stress relief, focus, or fun blends that I like to make.

The 2-Tier Resin Marble Essential Oil Display by Oil Life (Oil Life Canada) or the Stone Essential Oil Holder (Oil Life Canada) would be perfect in a home office or work office as well.

The goal is to get them out of the box, out of the display boxes, and in plain sight for easier use.