As the weather turns cold, dark and dreary, I find myself snuggling up in bed more and more: to write my posts, to do my daily Brazilian Portuguese lessons in Duolingo, to play Sudoku, to read, and to watch the occasional episode of the British or Canadian baking shows. I'm chronically cold, so hanging out in bed, under my winter duvet, holds tremendous attraction. The other day, as I was drafting a post in my bed, I thought that I might make this my winter of writing.

The most important tip in The Sleep Solution is to have a routine that promotes good sleep. This includes the same waking time every day, exercise in the morning to promote wakefulness, consistent meal times, and a period of winding down in the evening. Winter points out that kids aren't the only people who would benefit from a set bedtime and routine.

Three key concepts have emerged for me:

We all do hard things in our lives. Sometimes, we push ourselves. Sometimes, other people push us. Often, we enjoy the rewards of doing something that's outside our comfort zone or that doesn't come naturally.... Dr. Allison recommends that we reflect on all the hard things we've done in life and to name them. I would suggest that we write them down, identifying both the hard thing we did and the benefit we gained.

The video reminds us that nearly 1 in 2 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime. That high incidence of cancer makes the burden of the disease huge, says Dr. Auer [cancer surgeon at The Ottawa Hospital]. The burden is also significant because cancer doesn't affect only the patient but everybody around them. Given the chronic and potentially fatal nature of cancer, she adds, it's a difficult disease to have or to watch someone else confront. She argues that we need to attack cancer on a number of fronts: determine why the incidence of cancer has increased so much, understand why younger patients are getting cancer, and reduce the burden that cancer has on both patients and their families by improving the efficacy of therapies and reducing their side effects.

In 1918, Canada was a young nation coming to terms with the devastating impacts of the First World War and facing its first major health crisis. As the country welcomed home returning soldiers—many of whom were suffering from disabilities, trauma and illness—it was also grappling with another health crisis: the Spanish Flu. This flu would go on to kill some 50,000 Canadians, almost as many as the 60,000 Canadians who died during the First World War. The epidemic was a catalyst for the creation of the Department of Health in 1919 with a mandate to address "all matters and questions relating to the promotion of health and social welfare of the people of Canada." The Department of Health was the forerunner to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, two organizations I had the privilege of serving between 2016 and 2020.

So even if my CA125 result is a tiny occurrence in my month, I think it is worth sharing. As screenwriter Lena Waithe said: "I’m writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves." Many of us have Hares in our lives that threaten to play spoiler: the ADHD we struggle with every day, the depression that's never far away, the chronic pain that's undiagnosed or untreated, the waitlist that delays a medical procedure, the worries that seem insurmountable. Perhaps as we cheer on the Tortoise, we cheer on ourselves, and every story of slow and steady progress gives us hope.

We all have storehouses of information and assets that others would appreciate accessing if they knew they existed and could easily put their hands on items of interest: albums of photos, shelves of books, collections of collectibles, pages of diaries, crates of music albums, storerooms of antiques and years worth of memories. Putting order in a loose assembly of our belongings benefits ourselves as much as others.

TAKE TIME

Take time for now.

This is the only moment you are sure of.

Take time for friends.

They will help you through the very worst days.

Take time for family.

You will miss them, immeasurably, when they are gone.

Take time for work.

But don’t let work, take all of your time.

Take time to laugh.

Laughter raises spirits and lifts the gloom.

Take time for music.

It will feed your soul and bring you joy.

Take time to exercise.

You have one body, you should look after it well.

Take time for you.

For if you keep dividing yourself, what will be left?

Take time to understand.

That we cannot save time. We can just try to use it wisely.

Take time to live.

~ Liam Porter

Habits are freeing because they save us from the difficult, draining business of making decisions and exercising our self-control.

~ Gretchen Rubin

Make a list of all the hard or uncertain times you’ve already gotten through. If you’re reading this, you’ve survived 100 percent of your bad days. Surviving isn’t always easy—usually, it’s not—but reminding ourselves of this can encourage further resilience. Plus, if you’ve gotten through that, who’s to say it’s impossible that you’ll get through this too? So write down the hardest times you can recall. Perhaps you can use some of that same resilience now.

~ Hannah Dylan Pasternak

My friend mentioned that sometimes she thinks about someone from her past and considers reaching out to them, but she hesitates. I used to think the same way. But I now believe that life's too short and too uncertain not to let others know how we feel about them. My advice to my friend was this: "Do it! Don't hesitate." If you think of someone and wonder how they're doing or want to pass along a compliment, go for it.

Who do you need to reach out to?