Well it is that time of year, time of the “funk” to float around… Here are some things I do to limit sicknesses this time of year. I do this to the best of my ability but it takes hyper vigilance to constantly keep the bugs away.

• Hand Sanitizer in my car – ✓
• Hand Sanitizer by my desk – ✓
• Antibacterial soap in the kitchen and bathrooms at home – ✓
• Wash hands at least every time you use the bathroom and even more when away from home – ✓
• Scrub your fingernails every day with a brush in the shower to keep bugs from hitchhiking under them – ✓
• Don’t touch my face during the day at all unless my hands have been thoroughly washed or sanitized, this one helps a lot. – ✓
• Don’t bite my nails ever – ✓
• Increase my daily raw multivitamin regimen to include higher doses of Vitamin C, D3, Omega 3s and Zinc as well as herbs like Echinacea, Elderbery and Garlic if I feel I am coming down with something – ✓
• Add in a vinegar tonic with honey and lemon daily if I can or remember to do it- ✓
• Use a product called Halo Germ Defense when I can that protects your breathing passages from foreign invaders. It seems to work pretty good as far as I can tell and is purported to last 6 hours- ✓
• Touch door knobs, elevator buttons or bathroom handles with a paper towel, the sleeve of my jacket  or use my foot or shoulder to open the door if I can (not sure if the sleeve things is good to do but it makes me feel better) – ✓
• UV or spray disinfect my computer keyboards and mice 🙂 – ✓
• Don’t touch your straw when inserting into your cup, can be hard if there is no wrapper – ✓
• Don’t touch or eat food from public displays or bowls like pretzels, nuts or product samples, who knows what may be lurking in there – ✓
• Watch social media sites and local news sites to gauge what is going around – ✓
• Enhance awareness in casual conversation of people discussing being sick or knowing someone that is sick – ✓
• Prepare my own food and drinks as much as I can – ✓
• Start a dialogue with myself about what I will do if I come in contact with a sick person or begin to feel ill, this helps me to further desensitize my fear from the act of being sick – ✓
• Prepare myself mentally for my immediate family to get ill, this happened last year and was a bad time for us. The good news: I believe that I may have caught the stomach bug but only had lower end issues thus making it much more tolerable for me!! (I plan on explaining how I learned to manage the fear and dealing with acute illness in the future, I am still organizing my thoughts about coping with Emetophobia and how I want to present this to the world … just know I am living a much more comfortable life these days than I ever have before) – ✓
• Pray every day for God to help comfort me in my time of fear and be with me if I were to ever get sick, no matter where I may be – ✓✓✓✓

I am sure you have a similar system that you employ. This list is off the top of my head of the things that run through my mind this time of year. Just hang in there, it will get better for you…. Rich