Flu Season and homeopathic remedies

The year starts with coughs, headlines about H3N2, and a lot of canceled plans—and we’re not pretending that’s easy. We’re talking honestly about staying well when flu season keeps punching, from simple comfort rituals that actually help to the everyday immune habits that add up over weeks. Think hot showers and broth, honey and lemon, Vicks and thick socks, plus the underrated power duo of sleep and short walks. No magic bullets here—just small, steady moves you can make even on low-energy days.

We also tackle the other kind of wellness: the kind that keeps your goals alive when life gets noisy. Resolutions fail when they’re vague, so we turn “be healthier” into “walk 30 minutes after lunch five days a week,” and “grow the podcast” into “publish consistently, upgrade thumbnails, and ask three people to share each episode.” Intentional relationships get calendar time. Travel dreams get dates, a budget, and a starter step like pricing a cruise or checking flights to Europe. A vision board becomes a daily prompt, not a wish.

If you work around kids or in busy spaces, you’ll hear how we navigate that gray zone where a sore throat shows up before a fever and everyone is exposed. We share a personal protocol—mask in crowds, handwashing touchpoints, a tiny “wellness kit” in the bag—and why early rest protects long-term productivity. Along the way, we shout out loyal listeners and the creative friends who keep this community vibrant.

Add your wisdom. Tell us the home remedy you swear by and one concrete step you’ll take toward a 2026 goal. Then hit follow, share this with a friend who’s under the weather, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show. Your voice keeps this community strong.

Chapters

• 0:00 New Year Wellness Check
• 1:10 Flu Surge And Changing Symptoms
• 4:40 Home Remedies That Bring Comfort
• 7:10 School Life Among Sick Kids
• 9:45 Goal Setting And Follow Through
• 13:10 Travel Dreams And Vision Boards
• 15:10 Listener Shoutouts And Gratitude
• 18:35 Like, Comment, Share Reminder

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Ow chikawa. What's up, party people? Welcome to another episode of El Kivade Your Life. I am your hostess with the most S. L as in the letter L, and key as in the key to your heart. Happy wisdom, wellness, Wednesday, everybody. Speaking of wisdom wellness, how is everyone's wellness these days now that we are into a new year, January 7th, 2026? And talking about wisdom and about wellness, I'm wondering: is everyone healthy and well? Inquiring minds, such as myself, want to know. Here's why. Are all of you aware of this flu epidemic that's going on right now? How everyone is getting some variation of another version of COVID or the flu, various different versions of influenza. Um, yeah, I don't know about you, but I'm over it. I'm over winter and California earthquakes and cold and rain. I'm over it. And for those of you that are not in California, perhaps you're in a different area. Maybe you have different stories to share. But I'll tell you what, this girl has had her share of sickness for long enough. Um, even my dog, my poor dog Chanel, has been going through it with her own sickness. But yeah, it's definitely been a terrible season. And I'm just was thinking, does anybody out there have any sort of homeopathic remedies that they would like to share? And I'm asking this because, as most of you know, I by day I am a paraeducator, fell in middle school. And you know, I've just not only have I been affected by it, but I was just reading some of the stats that the season is active with high hospitalizations, some pediatric deaths are reported, influenza A, which is H3N2, is the dominant strain this year. Notes the CDC flu surveillance report. And yeah, just all of them talking about there's a new flu strain spread across the US. Flu reaches the highest levels in the U.S. in 25 years. Oh my gosh. Um, but then I was reading, you know, Ohio's bad flu season to get worse as super flu spreads. Flu cases surge across U.S. See where cases are arising. Some flu symptoms are changing as a new variant. What are the flu rates in your state? Um, cases surge in 45 states. So, yeah, my question for Wisdom Wellness Wednesday is how do you stay well? Do you eat healthy, exercise, take vitamins, minerals, nutrients? Um, I know for me growing up, my mom did just to share some personal insight with you. Her home remedy was hot todties. God, I miss mom for having the hot toddies. I could have used somebody making me some hot toddies during that last two weeks of being sick. Um, let's see. And of course, I I have the ingredients and could make them myself, but you know, nothing like mom's homemade chicken soup or remedy, but that was one of her go-tos. But did any of your moms out there put Vicks Vapor rub on your throat, your chest, and your back, and then get a tube sock and put it around your throat and use a safety pin to hold that thing on to allow the vapors to seep in. That is a tradition I have carried on throughout the years. Um, of course, now there's emergency and Zycam and all these other quick fixes, take zinc, whatever. Um, and obviously the whole you need to have chicken soup or matzo ball soup, depending on how you were raised. So I'm curious, do any of you have any homeopathic remedies that you swear by? I would love to hear them and know them because I think it offers some sort of comfort for us to know. Yeah, these are the things that my mom did to make me well. What about the VIX vapor rub on the bottom of your feet and then put socks over them? Or trying to think of any other things she may have done other than the obvious of bundle up, take a hot shower so that the steam can loosen things up. Yeah. Anyway, I would love to hear your remedies because Lord knows I am ducking and dodging the sickly kids that are telling me as we're in PE class, running the mile or whatever together. Oh, I have a sore throat, but my mom took my temperature this morning, and I don't, I didn't have a temperature, but I have a sore throat. And my mind goes to that's where it starts. It always starts with the sore throat. So then, of course, I'm running that kid to the nurse's office, take his temperature, put on a mask, call his parents. Oh, well, if they don't have a fever, then the parents aren't willing. It's like, you do know this is where it starts, and then it just spreads to all of us, right? But can't force the parents to pick up the kids. And the parents just spent two weeks with them, so they're like, look, you're getting my sick kid with a sore throat and no fever. Okay, I need a break. Oh, yeah, the joys of working at a school. But I love them, I love the kids. Sickly and all, love them with all my heart. Wouldn't trade this job for the world. Anyway, I haven't really had a chance to talk to all of you other than Happy New Year, check-in, what is your new year's resolution? I'm still waiting on the detailed resolution list. No one has been bold enough to leave a comment of, well, these are my New Year's goals, and this is how I'm going to get there. Hmm. Kind of poses the question that maybe you haven't set your goals yet or thought about your goals and how you're going to get there step by step, step by step. So I do want to encourage you to marinate on those goals and think about them. Because if you don't think about the goals and the steps that you need to get you there, then chances are slim, sorry to break it to you, that you will achieve those goals. So I'll share mine. I think I shared mine a little bit, but not in great depth and detail, which was my goals number one is I want to grow my podcast. Uh exponentially, I want to grow my podcast. And what does that mean? That means not only to show up consistently, but show up with good content, um, new thumbnails, more videos, engaging more, inviting more people to listen to my podcast and share my podcast with people that I meet. Uh, so those are the things that I'm starting to do for myself as of January 1st. I also committed to being more intentional with the people that matter to me. Because so oftentimes we say, Oh, I really need to go and see my friend Lori or Lulu or whomever, Lisa, all the L's all the L names. But you don't take the steps to make it happen. Well, I am happy to announce that during this break, I definitely took the initiative. And thank you, Brooklyn, who said, Mom, I'm really proud of you. That is the one thing that you work at is fostering relationships and making an effort and consistently trying. And I definitely do. So that was another one of my resolutions was to be more intentional. And what does that look like? My words are my bond. If I tell you I'm gonna show up and I'm gonna be somewhere, I'm gonna be there unless I'm knocking on death's door, or you know, I have a really good reason. Um the other one is to travel more. Um, specifically, some things on my bucket list are to go on a cruise. Never been on a cruise, want to do that, want to experience that. I also want to travel to Europe to see my extended family that I have not seen in 10 plus years when they came to visit me and Brooklyn. Um, for those of you that may or may not know, I have family in France and Germany whom I've not seen for 10 plus years. And so, yes, those are some of the things that are on my bucket list to achieve within this next year. So I want to encourage you to think about your New Year's resolution, what that looks like, and what are the steps you need to take to get there. Maybe you need to come to my vision board party, which I plan on hosting and having, to get people excited about it so that you can visualize what it is you want for yourself. Because I feel like when you have that vision board and you're looking at it and you're reading it, you're manifesting it, right? That's why we have to write our goals out. Because we need to remind ourselves of them, read them, manifest them, think about how we're going to get there. So I will be looking for all of you to share your homeopathic remedies with me, andor your new year's goals and steps to getting there. That is my ask of you. That is your elquivate your life homework assignment. I want to hear from the people that are entrepreneurs that are like, oh, when I set my goals to do this, then I get up every day at 5 a.m., I go to the gym, and then I have my coffee at nine, and then I eat my lunch at this, and I make this many calls. I mean, I'm willing to bet Brooklyn's boyfriend Ajay has the spreadsheet to success. As well as my daughter, Brooklyn. On that note, I want to make it a point to say thank you to all my loyal subscribers, Jeff Pada, Namaste. Thank you for being a loyal subscriber. I see that the sprinting life is continuing to treat you well, and I'm so happy to see your smiling face and her smiling face in the new year. Whatever makes you happy, friend, do that. Be kind to yourself, live life to the fullest. Moving right along to Kyle Phew. Kyle Pew, commitment to love. Love is a verb. I looked for it on Audible today and I couldn't find it. I don't know if it's moved to another platform. So, Kyle might need you to share that with me. I don't know. But thank you, Kyle, for being a loyal listener, I guess, and subscriber. Last time I checked, these guys were loyal subscribers. Maybe I should go back and look now that we're talking about it. Moving right along to Roger Havens. Roger, thank you. Thank you for being a loyal listener and subscriber. Roger, how does your garden grow during the winter months? Any gardening tips you want to share with us? Feel free to put it in the platform, include it in the notes if you don't have any New Year's resolutions or homeopathic remedies you would like to share. Creative Cara, lovemyartist.com. Now I know this girl got some remedies. This girl can cook, bake, paint, sing, play music. Um, I mean, you name craft. This girl is does it all. Does it all with ease. So be sure to check out her page. Be sure to mention Elkivate Your Life so that she knows you heard of her page from me. Moving right along to Mike Kaufman. Mike Kaufman, thank you for being a loyal listener and subscriber. Appreciate you. Appreciate your thoughts, opinions, and ideas when you do present them. And Angie Germer, Thrive Laville. Sorry to hear that you have been under the weather. I hope that you are feeling better. I hope that you are on the mend. I hope they figured out the problem and are working on subsiding your pain and suffering. Lisa Roberts Corbello, thank you so much for being a loyal listener and subscriber. Miss You Bunches. Would love to bump into you and Robert in the new year. Would love to bump into you dancing, whatever the case may be. Uh, same goes to you, Angie. It's been too long since we've seen each other face to face. And Angie Germer with Thrive Lavelle, if you're looking to lose weight, gain muscle, having digestive problems, whatever the case may be, she can help you with all natural supplements that fill the nutritional gaps. Just look for her link in my podcast description. Same goes for creative Cara, lovemyartist.y dot com. And to my loyal listeners, Dory, Travis, Mike, Rhonda, Sometime Sue, Barry. Oh my gosh. I I can't list everyone because that would be the entire show. And we're already approaching the 20-minute mark. But thank you to my loyal listeners out there. Oh, Miss Jisa. Thank you to my loyal listeners out there. I appreciate you. I appreciate your insight, your feedback, your comments, your questions. And everyone out there, remember to like the episode. Oh, Debbie. Shout out to Debbie, one of the sweetest moms ever, working on her nursing career and raising my sweet little nephew, Saya. Um, anyway, if you all could remember to like the episode, comment on the episode, comment what I gave you as a homework assignment. Not really a homework, it's just supposed to be something fun. Give you an opportunity to think about what I'm talking about. So like, comment, and share. It means. the world to me. It helps me get my voice and my podcast out there. And it helps the algorithm. Until then, ciao for now.