Stranger to Paradise

I’ve also read that growing plants outside—perhaps some of the dogwood varietals, with their brightly colored branches—can lift spirits. If you’re fortunate enough to live where camellias grow, try planting one for its winter bloom. I have one that blooms pink all year. And I saw a local celebrity gardener plant a Yuletide camillia in the middle of winter. Its blooms are a bright red—kind of like the hibiscus that grows all over Paradise.

Another extremely important key to keeping winter blues away is exercise. The endorphins that are produced during exercise create feelings of satisfaction and achievement, and help overcome fear—try getting that from a Mai Tai—ok, wait, you can get all that from a Mai Tai, too. But Mai Tais are not nearly as good for you in the long run.
 
Whenever possible, get your exercise outside, too. Luxes, a measurement of illumination, are much stronger in natural light than in indoor light. For example, when seasonal affective disorder is treated with light, it is often treated with 10,000 luxes. A sunny day in direct sunlight has about 130,000 luxes. That same sunny day in indirect sunlight has 10,000–25,000 luxes. But even if you go outside to exercise on an overcast day, you’re still soaking up about 1,000 luxes. Compare that to your average light bulb, which has 200–500 luxes. It may be grey outside, and the cloud cover may not blow away in the next five minutes, but you’re soaking up some good stuff anyway.

Another little trick I like to use (on myself) is tropical-scented lotion. After cycling outside in the rain for three hours, I love to take a hot bath and then slather myself with coconut oil. The one I use smells exactly like the suntan oil (you remember, SPF 0) I used in high school. The scent reminds me of summertime beaches and a youthful body. But see what works for you. You can find other tropical scents like plumeria, Costa Rican ylang ylang and pikaki. And if you can’t find a lotion or oil that smells the way you want, choose an essential oil you like, and add it to unscented oil or lotion.

If you’re lucky enough to trek off to Paradise in the middle of February, good for you, really. But I don’t want to hear too much about it, okay? I’ve been spending a lot of time cycling in overcast weather, trying to soak up as many luxes as I can. My endorphins are flowing and I’m feeling pretty darn good.