Headache. Pain. Fever. Dizziness. Defiant,
rousing attempts to break the world record for extended sneezing fits. Yes, I
am presently the poster child for colds and flu.
Contracting anything from a minor cold or a bad flu is really
quite a humbling experience and engenders us all to appreciate the one thing we
probably most take for granted: our generally average-to-good health. Without
good health we can’t work and we can’t go out for dinner. Jeepers, we can’t
even take a hot shower without it turning into a chore.
There really are few things more
debilitating and disheartening than not being able to do the things you need
and want to because of illness. But what can we learn from a few days of being hopelessly
down and out?
Well, it can be a time of great mental
recuperation and reflection. Sometimes our bodies keep going loooooong after we
have mentally shut down, and illness forces one to take a moment (or three) to
take stock of days, weeks and months that have passed. Is work actually going
well? If not, what can we do to change that? Or perhaps there is a friend you
have been meaning to message for some time – right now, drowning in a sea of
throat lozenges, self-pity and sticky used tissues, seems as good a time as any
to get it done.
Then, there is the greater appreciation of
activities that previously seemed robotic. I am talking about going to the gym.
Enjoying a good breakfast and actually tasting it because those little bumps on
your tongue are fully functional and not numbed into oblivion by the medication
you’re taking or the virus gnawing away at your body.
These simplicities of
life become so normal, so mechanical, and rarely do we take a moment to relish
them.
Let us not forget those who live with
illness or disability on a scale far more serious than anything I’ve
experienced. I can’t imagine the burden that must come with being bed-ridden. For
these people, the mind comes into play each day, carrying along the body – not the
other way around. Support from loved ones is important, and we shouldn’t forget
to give it.
And on a similarly emotional point of view,
being sick also brings with it almost as many well wishes as a birthday.
Suddenly people care – at least visibly so – and it’s a nice, genteel reminder
that friends and family are around when your sanity is not. I don’t know about
anyone else, but a little bit of attention when you’re ill does ease away some
of the gloom, and makes one wonder why we all can’t share a good wish or two more
routinely than we do? Anyway, the universally-recognized “get well soon”
certainly hasn’t lost its spark in my mind.
So, my drugged-up advice is to take the
opportunity of being sick and looking an atrocious mess and to use it as a time
to find some perspective. To think. To process. To appreciate. We set aside
time for everything else but to just ‘be’ – yet I’ve found that these are the
most valuable minutes and hours of our lives.
Cough cough.
Karl
