The Bright Side of Being Sick

I’ve been a little under the weather lately. It wouldn’t be a big deal, except I’m planning on going skiing this weekend, so I’m trying to recover as quickly as possible.

Being sick is usually an awful experience, but it can be eyeopening. Instead of working your body nonstop and staying up as late as possible, you’re forced to take care of yourself. On a normal day, I aim for about 6-7 hours of sleep. But when I’m sick, I try to get at least 9-10. I might normally shove a bunch of junk food into my system. But when I’m sick, I’m pretty careful about what I eat. Why the difference? Well, when you’re sick, your body is weaker and needs more care. But what makes us think that we can abuse our bodies when we’re feeling fine? After all, we have to live with ourselves for a good seventy years. We might as well take care of our bodies to make sure that those seventy years are relatively comfortable.

It’s an obvious but often forgotten message: take care of your body when you’re feeling fine so you don’t get sick more often than you need to.