Cold
I can assure you the cold is killing especially if you need to deal with it year after year. The cold slowly eats you, gets into your bones. This has nothing to do with getting old. Some people can cope with cold easier, even might like it. It's true if you always live in a colder environment you get used to it. In some way you do even if your feet feel frozen and are red or even blue and you are shivering for cold. I know it happens to us. My youngest sits in a t'shirt, naked arms, while I am wrapped in a blanket. We both suffer from cold, painful feet. The other kids (older) needs a blanket too but isn't dressed warmly either because it's too warm according to it. Instead of frozen feet it already has frozen, painful fingers. The same issue I need to deal with and we try to keep the painful hands warm with a hot water bag.
If we visit shops or other people the high(er) temperatures inside make us feel sick. It's too warm for us. It's not that we love the cold on the contrary. We love the sun, summer but our body once exposed to the cold seems not able to deal with higher temps as the one we have inside. What we have inside insn't much. A smal,l room with three chairs is where we spend the day and which we try to warm with an electric heather. The rest of the house, bedrooms included, are cold. With cold I mean really cold. Heads and ears need to be covered and it's hard to relax in a room like that. Whole night is a struggle, a struggle to cover head, ears, each time you turn a few inches. A struggle to keep warm, not to touch the ice cold mattress next to your body because there's no way to warm it.
Clumsy?
With the cold clumsiness enters in your life. Stuff, cold hands and feet make it hard to function and easy to drop things and stumble. Not only outside but inside as well.
That frozen world with a bit of sun outside might look great but it's not to those who suffer from winter hands and winter feet. At times it feels as if it's waiting for the moment your toes fell off.
"How come socks are always cold," the youngest said. A good question. Socks doesn't seem to be developed to keep feet warm. It's the same with farm boots. I need them on a daily base and no matter the socks I wear my feet are ice cold within the minute if they are not already and as soon as I take them off the socks remains in the boot. Of course the lack if quality isn't the only reason why feet are cold. Feet are at the end of your limbs, not different from hands and for some reason the bloodstream to these ends do not work properly. Not if you have to deal with the cold. Next to 'blood not running' well, low blood pressure and a certain life style can make it worse too. I remember a time people said soaking your frozen toes/feet in the first urine of the day helps. These days I hear no one say that. I wonder if it works and how much urine is needed to soak feet. A hot tub for the feet, keep rubbing/massaging them and a hot water bag do the same trick or even better than the morning urine. All worth a try. If it comes to feet they are the most neglected parts of the body and they do deserve more attention.
Cold sweat
It's not said you don't sweat with a low body temperature living in an environment of 10°C at most. You can wrap yourself in blankets but you still feel that temperature. Cold sweat feels and smells which means if you like it or not you need to wash yourself even if the water is ice cold.
I find it hard to smell, live with smelly people which means I tell them if they stink and I keep ventilating the house for at least two hours a day (bedrooms included). Indeed more cold is coming in but the air we breathe should be fresh not poison us.
Outside, while shopping, at the gas station, on the street I frequently keep my breath. I am not sure if it's poverty, laziness, or something else that makes people no longer take care of themselves. Smelling people, dirty clothes... If you ask me there is no excuse for it. Poor people can wash themselves, their clothes too and especially during a crisis we should do everything to pamper ourselves, make us feel better. Not much water is needed if you use a washcloth and a bit of soap or shampoo. Cloths can be washed with water only too and even in my cold home they dry although it takes a few days. Let us start caring again. Care about yourself in the first place. Taking care of the body means you take care of the mind just like fresh air brings new inspiration.
