One thing after getting this cold, I’ve really stepped up my hand washing game. When I go out in public, as soon as I get home or to camp, I wash my hands well with lots of soap. And maybe stock up on hand sanitizer.

I completely blame myself on getting so terrible sick over the past week on my poor hand-washing technique after going shopping on Sunday and being so excited to eat some delicious frozen fruit I got at stores with my bare hands. I know gross, I should have washed my hands, but I did not. And I remember not doing that. Now it’s burned into my brain.

I am not a germaphobe by any means, if anything the natural dirt and soil of the wilderness is healthy. You need exposure to a lot of natural bacterias to have a strong immune system. But when you expose yourself to others, you really need to be careful to wash your hands, especially before touching food.

Now I can’t guarantee that hand washing would have solved all my problems. I might have breathed in the virus, touched my nose or eyes before I got home and eat with unclean hands. But maybe it would have, and prevented a lot of agony later on. I don’t really fear mud and tangy smell manure, but I do néed to try harder to keep my hands clean so I don’t get sick again.