Sickness can strike you at any moment in college. From a common cold to the flu, strep throat to bronchitis, the health clinic sees it all. College is an environment that exposes you to thousands upon thousands of germs, in addition to rigorous stress that lowers your immune system on its own. Getting sick when you’re away from home isn’t always easy, and for me, it’s been quite the learning process.
My first year at SFA, I got strep throat during winter finals. I was struggling to prepare for four exams, moving out of my dorm into an apartment for spring and trying to get DIY Christmas gifts prepped for all of my loved ones back home.
I made a journey to the campus health clinic and got medicine, but it took me the entire week of finals to recover. I kept forgetting to take my pills and struggled to make it to the cafeteria most days just to nourish myself. All I remember thinking during this process was that I wanted to be home in my own bed, watching my tv and being taken care of by my mom.
This week-long strep throat experience taught me some things for my junior year, when I got bronchitis not once, but twice! This time, I felt slightly more prepared for my journey with sickness. Luckily, neither times hit me during finals, but it was junior year and I was still VERY stressed. I got the meds down with alarms on my phone and was able to eat fine since I had an apartment with a kitchen less then 10 feet from my bed. Still though, both times, I found myself wishing I was at home being taken care of by my mom.
This year— last week actually— I was dealt the hand of a severe cold during midterms. I’m a senior, and though midterms usually aren’t a thing for me being that I’m an English major, they were this year. Lucky me, right? I only cried like, 3 times.
It’s fine.
I struggled through the week with a literal box of tissues in my backpack and a daily/nightly routine of over the counter meds that didn’t really seem to be doing much. Though it took some figuring out to get the cold to go away, I found myself realizing by the end of it that— hey, maybe I don’t REALLY need my mom to get through being sick. Maybe I just thought I did. I mean, I survived just about every common ailment throughout the course of my college career without her physically being there. Who’s to say I’m not an adult? Right??
Being away from home when you’re sick is tough. Getting better is a slow process that, when you’re little, seems like it will only get better with help from your parents. When you get to college, you have to learn to make yourself better, and that even goes for when you’re not sick.
College is a time to grow and mature. Conquering sickness on your own is a big part of that! Next time you’re sick, just remember— there’s a free health clinic on campus that can always help you out, but if you still need your mom, nobody would judge you anyway!
We’re all struggling to get to adulthood together.