My life has been going exceedingly well lately. The start of the semester has gone smoothly, I really like my classes and my professors, I’m adjusting well to my best friend being abroad, I have THE best boyfriend, and I am always READY for the weekend.
As I was going about doing my thing this past Thursday afternoon, I started to feel a little off. I attributed it to not eating enough or maybe exercising a little too hard at the gym, basically any other explanation besides being sick. Well low and behold, I had contracted the flu. It’s rampant on campus, according to the wellness center at SMC so everyone best be taking care of themselves and getting in that Vitamin C.
Now I know what you’re thinking–’you’re lucky that it only ruined your weekend instead of a full academic week of school.’ That may be the case, but if you think about it the weekends are the only time in college that you have to spend doing what you want and having fun. I would not constitute being confined to my bed with the flu as fun.
This article is not about to become a rant where I pity myself for getting sick because reality check: sh!t happens, and life goes on.
Whenever I do get sick, something that helps get me through is what my momma has always told me. When I was younger, she would sit me down and say “My dear, getting sick is your body’s way of telling you to slow down, to rest, and to take good care of yourself. You’ve been doing too much and your body needs this time to heal and get better.”
This may sound like the simplest of things, but its the truth. College is a crazy, hectic, stressful environment that we counteract with drinking copious amounts of booze on the weekends. My body is probably in shock from Christmas break, going zero to one hunnit with drinking and exerting all my energy for school work that it can’t deal. This may be a difficult concept to wrap our heads around, but humans are not made to flourish in this kind of contrasting environment where our body is in a constant state of stress. Therefore, it’s not surprising that people get sick in college and especially at SMC where things spread quick.
When we do get sick, all there is to do is to sleep, watch some Friends, and pound that Gatorade, which honestly doesn’t sound that terrible. So the next time you get sick in college, think of it like a little break. A time to take for yourself to get better, but also a time to rest and rejuvenate as a means to come back better and stronger than before.
Stay healthy!
Sources
1. https://media.giphy.com/media/3ohfFJUMgs8m5F9qec/giphy.gif
2. https://media.giphy.com/media/x4ODv8lp8bodO/giphy.gif
3. https://media.giphy.com/media/hUm3VvUwQ9PrO/giphy.gif
4. https://media.giphy.com/media/l3M7smiKhkOcw/giphy.gif
5. https://media.giphy.com/media/3o8doPHEM30qwVhqp2/giphy.gif