It's time for a comforting reset

Can we take care of each other for a moment?

I’m not sure if my on-and-off headache is due to my recent cold or the impending election. Probably a bit of both. Add in a serving of early November winter-is-coming darkness, and I need to focus on recentering and resetting myself. Maybe you do, too.

What to do? I’ve already deleted my news apps from my phone, and I’m doing pretty well with consuming smart articles and podcasts more than I’m clicking on polling websites. But I need a little more. Here’s what’s keeping me sane right now.

• Sleep. The science suggests we need more sleep in the winter months, and that’s definitely been my experience over the years. I’ve decided I’m not going to fight it. Something’s got to give in the schedule, and for me it’s usually late evening TV. Getting into bed a little earlier to read inevitably means I turn the lights out a little earlier. Of course, I still wake up during the night - thank you middle age - but on balance I’m getting more rest. (Next I need to figure out how to get teenagers to do less late-night homework! Send tips!)

• The right kind of exercise. Only you know what this is for you. Are you vibrating with tension? You might need a tough, sweaty workout to burn that off and clear your head. Are you exhausted or under the weather or always pushing your exercise to the limits? A gentle walk, preferably among trees, might be what you need. In any event, we all need to move. We humans just feel better when we do. It’s more important than answering every email right now or a having perfectly clean house. Truly.

• Vegetables. I’m theorizing that our family’s recent increase in veggie consumption (I’ll write more about the why of this soon) is keeping us healthier. My recent cold was more of a weekend-long event than the usual weeklong event. Who knows if the veggies deserve the credit? I have no idea, but I definitely feel better when I’m eating more of them. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • Sauteed spinach. Pretty much every day for years, we have poured a little garlic olive oil in a frying pan and sauteed a big pile of spinach to eat with dinner. It takes five minutes and it shrinks down to practically nothing (so it’s easy to eat a lot!). With a little kosher salt, I’m not saying it’s as good as Ben & Jerry’s almond milk cookie dough ice cream, but it’s not bad at all. A squeeze of lemon would be good on it, too.

  • Roasted butternut squash, carrots, or brussels sprouts. The pre-cut squash at Trader Joe’s (it looks like crinkle cut fries, which is fun) is a lifesaver because you can just dump them directly on a sheet pan with no chopping. Peeling and cutting up a bag of carrots takes slightly longer (five extra minutes?). And you can either buy brussels sprouts whole (cut them small, trust me!) or buy them pre-shredded. Whatever your veggie, I toss with some olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh-ground pepper and roast at 400 for about 30 minutes. When in doubt, roast them a little longer. You want some brown edges. Tastier than spinach - like, we would eat these on purpose even if they weren’t wildly nutritious, which they are.

  • Broccoli three ways. Some people in my house prefer their broccoli simple and steamed. For them, I always keep Birds Eye petite broccoli florets in the freezer, which can be microwaved and ready in five minutes. The rest of us like our broccoli best when it’s roasted or caramelized.

    • Roasted means medium pieces (think fun-size candy bar size since we’re just coming off Halloween) tossed with olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh-ground pepper and cooked on a sheet pan at 400 for about 20 minutes. One of my people loves this tossed with lemon juice and parmesan cheese.

    • Caramelized means cutting the broccoli thin and small (think mini-size candy bars) and tossing with olive oil and sprinkling with kosher salt and then with about the same amount of white sugar. (Don’t be scared! It’s not that much sugar. It’s not negating the nutrients.) Roast at 400 until that sugar caramelizes into the broccoli - about 30 minutes. You can turn up the oven temp for the last five minutes or so if needed. This is so, so good, and even my broccoli-shy kid and my teenagers’ friends ask for this veggie.

OK, enough about veggies, Sharon! (I may have gotten a little carried away there.) But the bottom line is that I’m counting on healthy basics to sustain me more than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still nervous about tomorrow and the potentially chaotic days that will follow. Maybe you have other ways of managing. Maybe you’re canvassing. Maybe you’re distracting yourself with funny shows. (If you are, tell us with what!) But I do hope you’re voting, and I hope you’re hanging in there. Please let me know!

Warmly,

Sharon

p.s. These fallen leaves arranged themselves into a lovely collage the other day. I captured this on my favorite walk, which is thick with trees and other soul-nourishing bits of nature. I am so lucky.