When you have your health…

I am one of those incredibly fortunate people who rarely gets sick, so I forget how utterly miserable it is to be ill. I have been reminded now for the past ten days straight. Okay, I get it now. It sucks.

Now that I am better, I have been reflecting on the time I spent moping from couch to bed and back again, and this is what I have learned:

1. Sickness is a great form of meditation, maybe the best. Nothing keeps you in the moment like your own misery. Ouch, my head, my throat, my achy bones. Wow, I am really living in the moment.

2.  Sickness puts your priorities in order. I have learned that I do absolutely nothing on a daily basis that cannot wait another day…or ten.

3. Max disagrees with number 2. No matter how sick you are, your dog still needs to be walked and fed. But that really is the only thing that could not wait.

4. I have a huge threshold for pain. Other people’s.

5. From what I see in the media, you can acquire a lethal firearm, or marijuana or narcotics with relative ease, but if you go to the doctor for an antibiotic, you had better have green mucus flying out of your ass, or you will not get a prescription.

6. If you happen to get a prescription for, oh, let’s say, cough syrup with codeine in it, and it makes you sick, do not throw it away. Remember how hard it was to get that antibiotic? You may not be able to take that codeine, but controlled substances make great stocking stuffers for your relatives (or maybe just my relatives.)

So, even though my lawn has grown out of control, and I’ve used up most of the sick days I’ve accrued in my new job, it was all worth it for the insights that I gained. I think this was a real character builder for me.

In good health ---