Down with the sickness
It’s never a fun thing to watch your carefully made plans go up in smoke.
After having planned a busy week for myself last week, I was forced to scrap all my plans because I got sick. Dengue can be a serious thing (thankfully, mine wasn’t), but the stinker is when I had no choice but to do nothing since my immune system wasn’t exactly up to par.
There’s nothing really good about getting sick. Your body is all out of sync, you’re forced to alter your nutrition intake for the sake of getting better (goodbye, coffee), and you’re forced to take a break from school or work (which can be nerve-wracking if there are exams and deadlines galore).
Being down with the sickness means that plans take a backseat, routines get cut, and momentum gets broken.
After finally getting into a steady rhythm of dragging myself to the gym consistently, I now had to take a week-long sabbatical because I felt as weak as a kitten after staying in the hospital.
However, getting down with the sickness had the unseen benefit of opening up my schedule. You never realize how much free time you have until that’s all you’re left with.
Suddenly, I was scrambling to do something, anything, aside from lie down as per doctor’s orders. If I got anything out of my being sick, it’s that I learned to appreciate being occupied on most days.
Instead of complaining about how life is so kapoy and how “busy” my schedule was, I am now actually grateful to be able to do all these things. After all, the other side of the coin would be watching Lifestyle Channel reruns and lurking on Facebook the whole day, which are not exactly things you would be doing in your quest to becoming the best version of yourself.
Another good thing I was able to take away from the sickness was how people actually cared enough to text and visit me when I was confined.
I have friends who say they’d do anything for me, but to see that in action (some of them visited me even when it was inconvenient for their schedules) warmed my heart more than a little. Even though I was operating on little to no sleep, my friends showing up and making small talk helped me feel better and cared for.
Getting down with the sickness can derail anyone’s plans.
The only thing we can do after taking the proverbial “two steps back” because of getting sick is to just continue on.
Continue to build on each step slowly, and you’ll be able to regain that momentum you lost. That’s what I intend to do as I slowly ease myself back to work and gym life.
If you need additional motivation to keep moving, listening to Disturbed’s “Down With The Sickness” is a quick way to get your adrenaline pumping. Headbanging is most definitely welcome.