At the start of the week I began to feel crappy. I’d been feeling just dandy on Saturday. Sunday morning I woke up feeling like a mac truck hit me in the head. It came out of nowhere and forced me to slow the heck down.
My Sunday consisted of me moving from my bed, to the couch, optimistically to my yoga mat. This delusion of grandeur ended with me curled up in the fetal position falling asleep, only to wake up and realize the bed might be a tad more cozy.
A few years back I got sick with mono. As an entrepreneur and yoga teacher, when you get sick, you can’t work, you can’t get paid, and it’s scary AF. Ever since that 3 month (well 6 month experience really, cuz mono takes for goddamn ever to get over) whenever I get sick, I have deep pangs of anxiety that I might be getting mono again. Even as I write this I’m taking a flashlight to the back of my throat, checking for white spots and taking deep breaths to calm myself down.
Also, my mind does this thing when I start feeling icky, where it immediately screams, “It’s cancer! Ebola! Black plague! This is it! Tell your mom you love her!” I don’t need web MD to jump to these totally plausible conclusions.
Hence, why I do yoga.
However, another thing changed in my thought process after I got very sick with mono. I found myself becoming incredibly grateful for the times I was healthy. Also, the people who loved me most would come swooping into my life and carry my gross, sniveling, silly self to safer, higher ground.
It’s amazing really. How a tiny, dreadful bug, if you let it, can change your perspective for the better.
Another thing I find a cold can double as? A great mindfulness practice! Believe it or not – it’s an awesome meditation buddy. How you ask? When you are so tired with a cold, you only have energy to focus on the immediate present. Trying to worry about the future or ruminate on the past takes so much energy you just. can’t. do it.
Well, you can. But you realize what a waste of energy it is. When you have so little in reserve, you run out of fucks to give really quickly.
Getting a cold can be quite liberating.
I recommend flipping a cold around. It’s inevitable that we experience feeling like ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag every once and a while. Instead, let it be an invitation to slow down, take care of yourself, be grateful that it’s not a permanent state, extra grateful once it passes and your back to a healthier version of yourself.
Colds. Small bugs that can make a big difference. Both difficult and differential.
