BLOG: I’m not sick, I just have a cold…
For the past week, I have been fighting off a cold.
I’m not sick, per say, but I’ve had the sniffles, a slight cough, a slight headache, a slightly sore throat, you get the picture. This cold has been a pebble in my shoe lately, not painful enough to cause any real harm but annoying enough to be a distraction.
Since I had so many health problems growing up, a little cold usually never kept me down. However, now that my doctors and I are finally getting things straightened out, I don’t get nearly as sick nearly as often. In a way, it’s a mixed blessing. True, I don’t get pneumonia at least once a winter, but my itty-bitty colds, ones that never used to make me bat an eye, are now the WORST THING EVER. Seriously, in about a year, I’ve gone from a trooper to a big baby. The sniffles never made me complain before, but I’ve gotten used to having it good. Now that I’m not on my proverbial death bed every time someone sneezes in my direction, I’ve gotten used to being healthy. I’ve gotten used to not being sick.
On the one hand, it’s great. I don’t have to worry nearly as much about paying for doctor’s bills now that my primary doctor only sees me once or twice a year rather than once or twice every few weeks. It’s also nice to not have to worry about class attendance policies. There is the big benefit of being able to live a normal life, of course.
I’m not saying I miss getting sick–far from it!! I hated being sick. If I was home in bed due to illness, I was miserable. I am incredibly thankful that things have, after 20-some years, been mostly solved. But I didn’t realize how annoying a cold could be. I’m not sick enough to warrant being miserable, but I’m too sick to be 100% productive. It’s even more frustrating because I give myself the “well, at least I’m better than I was” treatment, not even allowing myself to acknowledge that I feel crummy.
For this reason, I feel bad for not getting to the gym this week. Granted, I want to start out on the right foot and having an asthma attack on the elliptical would not be ideal –fyi, all colds aggravate my asthma, so overexertion can be a bit of a danger. Was it an excuse? Yes, and I am not proud of it. However, I promised to be honest with all of you. Since I’ve already have had a few people email me and take the pledge to join me in the quest to take time to make ourselves happy through wellness, I would be doing you all a disservice to lie to you and say I was really REALLY sick and therefore couldn’t make it this week. I could have gone, I had an excuse not to. I can only hope I do better in the future. I do have plans to do Insanity tonight with my roommate, though, so something is getting accomplished, though it may not be my original goal.
