Friday, May 18, 2012

Things to Do When You're Sick (that you couldn't do otherwise)


Working with children is great.  They say funny things, they do funny things, they grab your hand impulsively and implore you to make a sandcastle.  They can be really sweet, but underneath this agent-like cover is a dark underworld filled with… GERMS!  There's snot and poop and hands going in their mouths and crawling on the ground and all manner of dirt and grubbiness.  Because of this, I'm blaming the children for being flat on my back this week.  Oh, I still love them, and I've no crazy ideas about giving up a career with them, but they're not all rosy cheeks and tiny feet. 

Tuesday night I came home from a dinner with some of our old host parents and had the toughest time going to sleep.  I was absolutely sick to my stomach.  The next morning wasn't any better, and I didn't keep any food down that day.  I won't bore you with the gruesome details, but it was a swift and strong sort of sumo wrestler germ.  Only today, Friday, am I able to get back to doing some of the things I'm supposed to be doing. 

For those of you who know me at all, you know I hate being sick.  There are things I hate in life.  Things like olives and screamo music and months of rain, but they don't really compare to the way I feel about being sick.  I like to go go go go go skip run jump sleep, repeat.  I don't like to slow down unless it's by choice, which is usually why I get sick.  As I've been sick twice in two months (which is highly unusual), I've had to come up with some things to occupy my time. 

1. Read
I read a lot regardless of whether I'm sick or not, but when you are stuck in bed, you have a lot more time to soak in some good books.  Recommendations for your next sick day?  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  (I was so enthralled with Malcolm Gladwell after recently reading his books Outliers and The Tipping Point that I thought I'd write him a letter and ask him out to dinner and also to marry me.  Then I found out on Wikipedia he was born the same year as my mom.  Ew.  Idea abandoned.)

2. Sleep
Sometimes people don't sleep as much as they should.  Take advantage of being sick to soak up some missed pillow time.

3. Test the nursing capabilities of the people around you. 
I don't recommend getting sick to put your nearest and dearest under examination, but if they're bringing you soup, checking your temp and googling uses for cold compresses, consider yourself lucky.  SG's a great nurse.  She makes me do things like take Vitamin C, stay in bed, and eat stuff I should be eating when I'd rather be eating Mexican food and drinking coffee. 

4. Day dream
This might sound kind of silly, but take sick time to think things over.  Planning a backyard renovation or wanting to repaint the kitchen?  Use sick time to do some dreaming about what you want it to look like.  (If you're in college and don't have a house, you can think up 101 things to cook in a crock pot.)  Shoot, think about bigger things than renos, think about where your life's headed or how you can love your family better.

5. Sip tea
I'm the first to admit, I'm not very good at sipping tea.  I won't go so far as to say that I chug tea, because that's rather difficult, but when you're used to eating on a schedule and sneaking in a cup of tea between song time and play time at playgroup, sipping tea doesn't happen.  When you have nothing to do all day but drink tea, you have time to sip it.  I recommend peppermint with honey for colds and ginger for upset stomachs. 

6. Write letters
I'm convinced snail mail is making a comeback.  Everyone's on the DIY artsy craftsy bandwagon (the origins of which I'm reading about in Matt Mason's The Pirate's Dilemma) and people are taking up calligraphy and stamping in record numbers.  (I just made that up, I don't have any real data on calligraphy and stamping growth.)  Anyway, you can write letters when you're sick.  People love getting letters!  Heck, if you're really sick and have run out of grandmas and grandpas and great aunts, write to me!  Just be sure to give your lovely note a spritz of bleach before you send it.  We only want you mailing your sentiments, not your sneezes. 


Love from the couch,

Little Miss Sunshine

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