> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://achronicvoice.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # December 2017: Recovering from a Cold & Reminiscing My Childhood in Hong Kong - URL: https://achronicvoice.com/recovering-from-cold-reminiscing-childhood-hong-kong-december-2017/ - Published: 2017-11-30T16:05:55.000Z - Updated: 2025-10-29T15:28:23.000Z - Author: Sheryl Chan - Tags: Diary Entries, Travel, Chronic Illness, Blogging & Writing *\*Note: This article was originally written for my monthly linkups, which I've archived as it was taking too much out of me. However, I've kept most of the posts written as I realise it's much like a diary with memories that make me nostalgic or smile. I hope you enjoy reading them, too! 🙂* ## Recovering From a Cold I know, I know, we all get a cold every now and then, and it's 'no big deal'. But as someone with chronic illnesses, a cold is not simple at all. A cold is a gateway for flare ups and serious infections if left to its own devices, and the recovery process will be a long and arduous one. I can try to use natural means such as drinking more water and taking vitamin C tablets to curb its advance. But once it has gained the upper hand, there is no such thing as 'let your body heal naturally' for me; I will need the aid of medications, or wake up to a persistent groundhog day. To cut a boring story short, I visited a 24 hour clinic at 5 a.m. to get some standby medications before catching a flight a few hours later. Which is, frankly speaking, quite a normal thing to do if you live with chronic illness. *\*Disclaimer: This article is meant for educational purposes, and is based on my personal experiences as a patient. *I am not a doctor, and nothing in this article should be substituted for medical advice.* Please consult your own doctor before changing or adding *any* new treatment protocols. This post may also contain affiliate links. It will cost you nothing to click on them. I will get a small referral fee from purchases you make, which helps with the maintenance of this blog. Read our* [***Privacy Policy***](https://achronicvoice.com/privacy-policy/)*page for more information. Thank you!* Read Related Posts: - [4 Everyday Scenarios We’re Not Sure How to be Polite About and Why](https://achronicvoice.com/everyday-scenarios-not-sure-polite/) - [Top Tips for Travelling with Chronic Illness & Disability (From a Girl Who Loves to Travel)](https://achronicvoice.com/travelling-with-chronic-illness-disability/) - [Why Painkillers are One of My Biggest Allies for a Decent Quality of Life](https://achronicvoice.com/painkillers-quality-of-life/) - [33 Things That Stop People with Chronic Illness From Leaving the House (Sans COVID-19)](https://achronicvoice.com/things-stop-people-chronic-illness-leaving-house/) - [Tell Me You’re Chronically Ill Without Telling Me You’re Chronically Ill (Chronic Illness Memes)](https://achronicvoice.com/chronic-illness-memes/) Pin to Your Chronic Illness Life Boards: ![December 2017 Prompts: Recovering, Shopping, Enjoying, Reminiscing and Preparing](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fe/94/fe943d06-f105-4c71-af52-25403dcbb0b8/content/images/2025/08/pin_prompts_1712-2-1-1-1-1-1.jpg) ## Shopping This Holiday Season It's the holiday season, and I was curious as to what and where everyone buys stuff from. I love giving presents, although this is a little harder to do when you're not working (and hate doing craftwork, ha). Whilst presents are just material goods, it's always nice to know that someone has been thinking about you in one way or another. I like to buy decadent items for others, especially as Christmas gifts. Things such as nice smelling creams, lotions, potions, candles, and the odd arty item or book from one of those eclectic shops. Oh and chocolate, don't forget the glorious chocolate! Here are my two favourite gift shops in Singapore: [Therapy Market](https://www.therapymarket.com.sg/) and [Cat Socrates](https://cat-socrates.myshopify.com/). I usually get my books from Book Depository as they're cheaper than the local bookstores, and comes with free worldwide shipping. (P.s. Book Deposit now belongs to Amazon.) Read Related Posts: - [Curated Chronic Illness Gift Ideas for Christmas, Birthdays & Other Occasions!](https://achronicvoice.com/chronic-illness-gift-ideas/) - [Dangerous Gifts for People with Chronic Illnesses (and Gift Ideas to Swap Them With)](https://achronicvoice.com/dangerous-gifts-chronic-illness/) - [All I Want for Christmas is Some Pain Relief! (Real Wish List Ideas from 13 People with Chronic Illness)](https://achronicvoice.com/all-i-want-for-christmas-pain-relief/) - [Fun Things To Do While Recovering From Surgery: Hobbies, Crafts & Games](https://achronicvoice.com/fun-things-to-do-while-recovering-from-surgery/) - [3 Important Holiday Checklists for Those with Chronic Illness (and Their Supporters)](https://achronicvoice.com/holiday-checklists-chronic-illness/) ## Enjoying My First 'Proper Trip' Of The Year Sorry if I sound like a spoilt brat, but I'm truly at my happiest when travelling. We'll be off to Perth for a road trip, before going to spend Christmas with my partner's lovely family. I plan to do a bit of walking in this beautiful region, and will take some steroids or painkillers if necessary to accomplish this. I really don't want to wait a whole year to travel, only to spend it indoors due to pain. Of course that will be the last resort, but let's just say that I regretted not doing that for the previous trip, and wasted half of it. I also can't wait to my partner's adorable nieces and nephews! Even though I haven't seen them in person for 2 years, they still recognise who I am despite their young age (no mean feat for 2 to 7 year olds!). That's because they bother to keep in touch via FaceTime almost every single day, and it's a family culture of theirs that I really admire. Read Related Posts: - [Travelling New Paths with Chronic Illnesses in My Pocket](https://achronicvoice.com/travelling-new-paths-chronic-illness/) - [There’s No One Way to Live Your Life](https://achronicvoice.com/no-one-way-live-your-life/) - [March 2018: Sorting My Medications & a Hike Up Little Adam's Peak](https://achronicvoice.com/sorting-medications-hike-little-adams-peak-march-2018/) - [Winter Fun, Games & Pain with Chronic Illness](https://achronicvoice.com/winter-fun-chronic-illness/) - [A Hurried Return, but Chronic Illness's Opening Hours Remain Unchanged](https://achronicvoice.com/chronic-illness-opening-hours/) ## Reminiscing My Childhood in Hong Kong I miss the festive Christmas atmosphere and the chilly winter weather, whilst I was growing up in Hong Kong. Chinese New Year and Christmas celebrations were such fun there; everyone was so friendly on the streets, spreading good vibes and cheer. It's difficult not to feel uplifted and happy. It isn't just about throwing a few festive lights here and there - it really is all out celebration time! Here in Singapore, we have four different official races - Chinese, Indian, Malay and Eurasian. Whilst we get a wider range of celebrations, I feel that they're all watered down. Everything is celebrated and as a result, nothing is fully celebrated. Perhaps another reason why I have such wonderful memories of my childhood - it was the only time in my life I was actually strong and healthy. ## Preparing For a More Productive Year Ahead It's a little frustrating not having a job and therefore, not having an income. Yet I know that if I return to my previous office job, I will flare within 3 months without a doubt. I know this full well, because I've been through the same cycle over the years. The results weren't worth it each time; I either developed full blown flares, or required surgery for new symptoms. This resulted in a loss of all that income earned, in addition to more pain and health problems. I'm going to analyse my blog to see how I can take it to the next level, and also plan to start creating some items to sell such as e-books, artwork and courses. Whilst I probably won't earn the same amount of money as before, I think it's probably a better way to live for me in the long run. We'll see how this venture for 2018 goes. I tend to be great at starting projects, but need to work on completing them before moving on to my next 'exciting' idea 😉 Thank you for readingmy December 2017 entry. [**Continue reading with January 2018 here**](https://achronicvoice.com/reflections-refreshing-holiday-in-australia-january-2018/), or [**check out what I did last month**](https://achronicvoice.com/discovering-gut-health-old-friendships-november-2017/). ## Sign Up for My Free Newsletter Be the first to get the latest post updates in your inbox, and unlock the comments section. 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Read Related Posts: - [Uplifting Activities to Do While Recovering in Bed (Part 4/5)](https://achronicvoice.com/uplifting-activities-to-do-while-recovering-in-bed/) - [Why ‘Easy’ Part-Time Jobs are Not That Easy for Those with Chronic Illness](https://achronicvoice.com/part-time-jobs-not-easy-chronic-illness/) - [Chronic Stress, the Silent Assassin](https://achronicvoice.com/chronic-stress-silent-assassin/) - [A Roundup of Biggest Pain Flare Triggers (from 40 People with Chronic Illness)](https://achronicvoice.com/pain-flare-triggers/) - [12 Chronic Illness Bloggers Share Their Top Posts for 2020](https://achronicvoice.com/chronic-illness-bloggers-top-posts-2020/) ### Comments Archives: Comments imported from previous WordPress site. - Chiara Dec 20, 2017 So buzzed to hear you are coming to Australia! Can you believe that despite living in Australia I’ve never actually been to Perth! I understand it’s quite beautiful there. Hope you share some pics 🙂 - [ Sheryl Chan ](https://achronicvoice.com/) Dec 20, 2017 Haha which part do you live in? It was a cool couple days, very un-summery, but coming from Singapore it was wonderful 😉 Yes I’ll share some soon! 😀 - [ Bree ](https://3sistersabroad.wordpress.com) Dec 7, 2017 Perth…my home town.. Hope you enjoy your time there xx - [ Sheryl Chan ](https://achronicvoice.com/) Dec 7, 2017 Thanks Bree! I haven’t been there since I was 5, so it should be fun! Any recommendations for Perth and Margaret River? 🙂 x - Terri Dec 7, 2017 Sheryl, thanks so much for the opportunity to participate in the linkup! I hope you don’t mind, but I used your image with the prompts. I figured it put your website out there one more time… If you’d rather I didn’t, let me know and I’ll be glad to remove it. :o) I loved reading your answers for the prompts. It was great to get to know you a little better! Here’s wishing you a fabulous holiday season! - [ Sheryl Chan ](https://achronicvoice.com/) Dec 7, 2017 Hi Terri, Thank YOU for participating! It’s always so much fun to read what others with chronic illness are up to in parallel 🙂 No problem at all, and thank you for asking 🙂 Wishing you a fabulous Christmas too! xx - Kathy Dec 2, 2017 Hi, Sheryl. I hope you had or are having a fun, relaxing trip and that your cold is going away. I can relate to your working and health flare woes. I’ve experienced a similar situation. Maybe you can find a way to bring some of Hong Kong’s festiveness to your neck of the woods. Spread your own Christmas cheer. It’s a thought. I’m thinking about many of the same things as you as we come to the end of 2017\. Thanks for sharing! - [ Sheryl Chan ](https://achronicvoice.com/) Dec 2, 2017 Hi Kathy! I’m leaving in two weeks, really excited about it! 🙂 Yes it’s not quite woes I think, more of me whining 😉 That’s a good idea, but I don’t really like organising events haha. That is, I’m happiest at home on my own, but what I did like about Hong Kong was that when you stepped out into the streets, the magic is all there. Whereas here it feels more of hanging up some lights for commercial reasons and that’s it. But yes your suggestion for spreading my own cheer is a good one, and suitable for any day of the year, not only Christmas! 🙂 Looking forward to reading your entry, if you’re participating this month! xxx **Start a new conversation in the Member Comments below!**