Free Announcer Aika Kanda, “Increasingly, Things I’m Not Good At.

Things I have become less skilled at compared to the past.

Do you have anything that you’ve become worse at or have developed a dislike for over time? I have a few.

First, there’s lilies. Around my 38th birthday, I received a large bouquet with two beautiful lilies, which I displayed in my living room. Soon after, I began to feel itching around my wrists and shoulders, and small bumps appeared. I hadn’t touched or eaten anything else that could have caused it. The bouquet was the only change in my home. Until then, I had never had an allergic reaction to flowers, so I found it strange. However, since the itching wouldn’t stop, I had no choice but to get rid of the bouquet. After that, the symptoms subsided.

A few days later, I received another bouquet as a birthday gift. Again, I experienced itching and bumps on my wrists and shoulders. The bouquet contained lilies. When I removed just the lilies, the symptoms immediately subsided, confirming that they were the cause. Lilies are flowers that bloom from early summer to summer, and since my birthday is in late May, they often appear in bouquets. Unfortunately, whenever I see lilies, I take them out without hesitation before displaying the bouquet.

Next is the issue of pillow smells. I love to travel and have stayed in many hotels and ryokans without any problems using their pillows. However, after I turned 40, I suddenly found that I could no longer sleep unless it was a pillow that smelled like my own bedroom. I wonder why my older self has become more sensitive to smells.

It’s not that the pillows in hotels have unpleasant odors; somehow, no matter how tired I am, it now takes me over an hour to fall asleep, and I wake up several times during the night. Analyzing my sleep, I realized that I often sleep on my side, which brings my nose very close to the pillow. I noticed that “breathing while sleeping equals inhaling the smell of the pillow.”

So, during a business trip, I decided to try taking my husband’s pillowcase, which he uses every day, and putting it over the hotel pillow to sleep on. To my surprise, I fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t wake up once until morning. The familiar scent made me feel at ease, and I realized how it calmed my mind.

In our bedroom, my husband’s scent is the main element. Now, I wash his pillowcase less frequently and ensure it has plenty of his scent so that I’m prepared for any overnight trips. Whether it’s a one-night domestic trip or a long overseas journey, I always pack it in a plastic bag to keep the scent intact.