Be Prepared to Slip and Fall in Finnish Winter

I'm sitting in the sun.

Today and yesterday are rare sunny days in Finnish November. To my surprise, first snow fell on such sunny days.

Yes, it snowed last night!

It's the first time I've seen snow. It was so much like rain. Snowflakes felt like rain drops when they touched my hands. Well, they're both water.

A thin layer of snow has covered the ground when I got up. The sun shines bright. What a beautiful day.

First layer of snow in Lahti 2025. From our backyard.

14.11.25

But to be honest, I'm afraid of winter. Of the slippery icy ground. In fact, I just fell off the bike the other night. It rained, I was riding on a slope and made a swift turn. Onneksi, I was wearing 3 pants and thick gloves so my knee wasn't scratched much and my palm was just bruised. Thanks pants and gloves.

I took amazingly good care of my wound and bruises, following proper first-aid instructions for the first time in my life. I realized that I have been doing it wrong and no adult around me in Vietnam ever showed me the right way. They always said, "Ignore it and it'll heal itself."

They apply the idea to any kind of pain. They ignore any problem and hope it goes away.

So, I grew up like them and I have many ugly scars that took so long to heal.

But I've learned the lesson this time. I cleaned the wound and put on a bandage. I put a cold bag of water on the bruise to keep it from swelling a few times in the first 2 days. It worked wonder. I changed the bandage once a day. Before, I never put on a second bandage, just let it air out and form a thick crusty layer of dead cells.

Keeping a bandage on until the cut is fully closed and new pink skin appears is important. Think of it as the crusty layer of dead skin. It sheds only when new pink skin emerges. The role of that layer and the bandage is to keep the area moist so new cells can survive and become the new strong "shell" of yours.

Well, my parents weren't entirely wrong to say our wound heals itself. We also should ignore the wound but only once we've done our part of giving it the care needed. Give it time. Don't check on it too often. You'll be fine soon.

Know how to heal and you won't be too afraid of any pain.