Sick

The world of retail is not a Monday through Friday, 9-5 world. I get two days off each week, but they are not in a row. And I don't get weekends off. Except both of those things came together this weekend, and at just the right time. I had yesterday off and I have today off. Friday afternoon my throat started to feel scratchy and dry, and I have a cold. Aren't our bodies amazing? All that extra mucus production is because my body is getting rid of those nasty germs in the quickest, most efficient way. I am thankful for my wonderful body and how it gets me around and takes care of me.

These two days off have me reflecting on being sick. It's not something that happens often. I am blessed with extraordinarily good health. What I have now is just the common cold. But it has been wonderful to have two days off. Days where I can just give myself a rest and take care of myself. I think I would probably be dragging myself to work had I not these days off. That has always been my standard operating procedure. Just persevere. Now there have been times in my life where I just didn't have a paid sick day, so I would tell myself I had to have the money. When I was self-employed, if I didn't work there was no one else to do it. Then there were the times where I was so indispensable (or so I thought) that I needed to be there. I didn't want to make life difficult for my coworkers. Now while I believe it is inconsiderate of other people to be out and about when we're contagious, I have to wonder what my motivation really was.

Was it some kind of pride, to not take some down time when I wasn't feeling well? I used to suffer from migraines, and there would be days I would have them and never even mention to anyone that I had one. Now I don't like whining and I don't like to be a whiner, but I wonder why I wouldn't even mention in a matter-of-fact way that I wasn't feeling my best?

What makes it even stranger is that if you were sick, I would be fussing all around, asking if you needed anything, encouraging you to stay home from work, plumping up your pillows and inviting you to sleep.

Maybe it's all part of the process of loving ourselves as much as we love other people, of showing the same tender, loving care to ourselves that we extend to others. I know I certainly appreciate and am taking advantage of this weekend. This time off when I can just slow down, take care of myself and get better.

You'll have to excuse me now. It's time for my morning nap.

Susan