I thought today was the last Thursday of this endless month, but no. It’s only the third Thursday.
*Sigh*
So I wrote my “Inspired by” post today anyway, a week early.
Whatever. Here goes. But honestly, I wasn’t inspired by much this month.
Lotions and Potions
My vata is completely deranged. My skin hurts. I wake up and look in the mirror and say, “Who did this to you, Kath?”
I tried Gua Sha brushes for lymphatic drainage on my face, but I was too aggressive with them, and they only made my bags look redder.
I don’t think my face likes Castor Oil either, at least not straight. I got this bottle of castor oil with a quartz roller to soothe my skin. Didn’t work.
For my birthday, G got me special Ayurvedic Vata face cream, oil, and body lotion from Free Lion. It’s very soothing and doesn’t cause any reaction. I like it.
I also purchased a nighttime retinol serum on the advice of an Instagram dermatologist who seemed sensible. Her top two recommendations for skin care were sunscreen and retinol. She listed 5 different creams and serums at varying concentrations and price points, but I just went with her top rec, this one by Derma Botanica.
I’ve tried drugstore retinol creams and serums in the past, but they dried my skin terribly. This one claimed not to be drying, and it isn’t. I think I can already see a difference in my skin’s texture. It’s not so red and blotchy.
Drinking
Mother Root.
I love this stuff!! It’s the perfect drink for me in the middle of this aggressively cold, vata-deranging winter.
It’s marketed as a non-alcoholic aperitif. It’s made of ginger extract, ginger juice, apple cider vinegar, and blossom honey. It’s spicy!! It shifts me right out of perseveration into the present moment. I drink it over ice with club soda. It demands my attention.
I have tried so many of these NA concoctions: Ritual, Ghia, Phony Negroni—you name it. They all have weird-tasting herbs or funky syrups. But this one is basically just ginger. Ginger that punches you in the face.
As I’m writing this, I’m sipping a hot version I made with hot water and a healthy squeeze of hot honey. So delish.
Humidifiers
Humidifiers are running night and day. I have one right next to my bed, ensuring I breathe cool, moist air all night long.
Even still, I feel an annoying, constant, post-nasal drip that’s only relieved by doing neti.
But I recently got a Navage. It’s a machine that makes cleaning my nasal passages and sinuses much more effective and less of a hassle than my Neti Pot with its packets of salt, stirring, and dissolving, etc. This one comes with pods of saline that dispense right into the water.
https://navage.com/pages/whynavage
I also like that it traps what it squirts out of your sinuses in a holding tank so you can see what comes out, if anything.
It’s making my breath-work sessions much more pleasant and effective, too.
Reading
The book group read Indignity by Lea Ypi, which I found confusing and dull.
I read Theo of Golden by Allen Levi after listening to countless over-the-top testimonials by the book people on Insta. I found it stylistically a bit flat-footed, but the story was heartwarming as hell. Read it.
I’ve been getting easy with my stars on Goodreads, giving every book I read a 5. My reasoning is that if I finish a book, I must have really liked it a lot because I don’t read half of what I start. I have no qualms about ditching a book after the first chapter. I do try to read the Book Group pick even if I hate it, but nothing else. I heard someone say you should give a book 100 pages minus your age. That sounds about right.
Currently, I’m reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
It was the Book Group pick. We’ve decided to read more classics in 2026. I’ve never read it. It started slow, but has picked up considerable steam. I’m into it now.
Eating
My sourdough journey has been fraught, man. I take it personally, too, when my dough doesn’t rise. They say, “Bake it anyway!”
No.
I’m at the stage now where, if there are tell-tale signs that things are not going well, I’ll dump it right in the trash. Why put myself through that pain?
But today I had a success! It rose! And it had a beautiful crumb, and it tasted great! Finally!
So, on the heels of this success, I started another loaf today, but towards the end, things didn’t look so great. I’m going to bake it tomorrow anyway, but I may have over-proofed it.
Dang. So frustrating.
As is all of January.
January is one big cold, dark, slippery, frustrating sigh. If I can just hang in a few more weeks, it will be Groundhog Day.
And once I get to Groundhog Day, I can make it.
What do you do to get through January? Aside from fleeing to somewhere sunny and warm?
I know “winter is a mindset.” I know, I know. I read How to Winter too, but it’s hard when your skin doesn’t fit your face, and the cold is abusive, and there are only 9 hours and 41 minutes of sunlight, most of which is invisible.
What do you DO!!!
Inspiration Location 