Winter wondering...

You’re back! That’s great news. We hope you enjoyed our first blog because we certainly enjoyed writing it. After our personal introductions last week our team returned ready and eager to get busy with our second blog. We welcomed Angelina and TJ to the team and caught them up on our understanding of what a blog is and how we are learning to write one.
As a group we then discussed options and came up with the unanimous decision that this topic would be WINTER! I mean It makes sense. It’s June and the morning we wrote this, it was raining. A lot!
So, get comfy with your hot chocolate and favourite blanket as we… JUST WRITE!
 
The Challenge of Winter and How It Affects Your Mood.
 
Each season brings its own changes and challenges, though the beginning of winter either brings excitement or absolute dread to our minds.
Regardless of if your idea of a good time is dancing in the rain and jumping in puddles or you're counting down the days until summer, winter is affecting your mood.
 
So how does it affect your mood?
For the anti-winter the changes in time, colder weather, never-ending rain and less daylight can cause less of a chemical in your brain called serotonin. (The happiness and optimism chemical) this means that unless winter is your happy place, you're probably going to be feeling a little bit or a lot down in the dumps.
Waking up and opening the blinds, curtains or windows and seeing grey skies, rain, storms, wind and all the gloomy weather probably isn't going to motivate you to be excited about your day.
 
There should be a focus of self-care, mental health and wellbeing through winter make it your challenge to bring yourself some happiness, make your bed before you leave the house, have a hot shower with your favourite soap or body wash, cuddle with your pet, have a pyjama day, face time with family or friends, write in a journal, learn something new, treat yourself to your favourite lunch at work, wear your favourite scarf, curl up with a good book or have a lounge room dance party!
 
Remember that there are people who wake up see the winter weather and dance with happiness, I suggest you find one of those people and take a leaf out of their winter loving book because they’re going to need you when summer comes around! – Shan.
 
 
I love watching the Big Freeze on TV every winter. It's something I look forward to each year. I also buy a beanie to help find a cure for MND. The Big Freeze is an event which occurs as part of the King’s Birthday/Queen's Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood. This was started by Neale Danaher, an AFL Legend in 2014. He suffers from Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Everybody comes together to support this cause in finding a treatment and a cure for MND.  Originally the Big Freeze started in America where they only used to have a bucket of ice on their head but now in Melbourne at the MCG they have a slide for celebrities to slide down into the ice pool. People can also buy a beanie or a scarf to help raise money for the cause and all the money goes to MND to help find a cure – Scarlett.
 
 
What is a Rainbow?  A rainbow is an optical illusion. A miracle that can occur when there is sun and rain in the sky together. There are seven colours in a rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet  I love rainbows because rainbows can make people happy and I feel happy and excited when I see one. How do you feel when you see a rainbow? Is there a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?  Is that true or not true? It is a sign of hope but it's not real. It's a sign of dreams that could come true. Have you ever driven around to find the end of the rainbow? I've never done it but would like to. Alyshia.
 
 
What is comfort food?  To me it is food that provides us a sense of warmth and foods I like. Some of these are soups, Hungarian food, stew and tuna bake. I love these foods because it gives a feeling family heritage and a sense of warmth and I like to eat comfort food because when I get sick it helps me get better. In winter people drink more hot drinks like coffee, tea and hot chocolate. In the every 1 cafe at Amstel Club we are serving soup during winter. What is your favourite comfort food or drink? – Charlotte.
 
 
The weather in Melbourne can be crazy. For example, lightning, rain, floods, hail, thunderstorms, damaging winds, fog, frost, sunshine, and humidity. The damages of Melbourne’s crazy weather can be droughts, flooding, destruction, landslides, loss of animals, health risks, loss of power, wildfires and damaging of crops. As I am typing I can see a beautiful no cloud moment. The sun is shining through the windows as I type to our readers, I feel the glow on my face because of the warmth of the sunshine. What I have come upon during these times of winter is that the sun always shines. I believe in God so I call this “Gods power” – Angelina.

 
Winter can be hard for a lot of people. Keeping our bodies warm is so important and wearing warm clothes is a must to prevent hypothermia. Hypothermia is when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat. It can affect your heart and body. It’s important to keep our core body temperature of 37c to stay healthy. Winter clothes are made from thicker material, water resistant and thermal underwear. Layering pieces of clothes like vests, long sleeve tops, coats, beanies, thick socks and scarves rather than one thick piece is better for keeping your body warm. It’s also important to wear a good pair of boots so you don’t fall over – Tyson
 
 
We hope you have enjoyed learning about winter with us. We have so many topics to discover and we are  glad you are here with us for this blogging journey.

​Until next week, stay warm!