Some of the usual winter upper respiratory gunk knocked me out for a couple of days. My high school BFF, who also just got whacked by a flu bug to the tune of 10 days, was lamenting on her Facebook about how much harder these things hit now than they did when we were 18. Man, ain't that the truth! It used to be only stomach things had the power to send me to the bed for days.
I guess there is a blessing in the fact that we are wiser than when we were 18. Back then, I'd have wanted to throw meds at the problem and hurry back into action. This time, my reaction was aggressive hydration and all the rest I could manage (barely moved off my bed for two days and three nights), and little comforts like salty hot ramen noodle soup and continuous cups of hot tea to soothe my throat, along with hard candy to keep it from clogging up.
I'm not hurrying back into action. Today has been about asking my body questions and listening for its answers. There is the tricky business that a body at rest tends to stay at rest - it's easy to feel "too tired" to move, having been down. On the other hand, I've regained a lot of ground since Wednesday, and I'm not willing to give that back and retreat to lesser health, you know?
So I got up before sunrise, showered, dressed and did my hair, because I've learned in life that sometimes my body will follow such cues and be ready to press on. I made my bed, so that I wouldn't be tempted to stay in it all day. I'm not doing much, but sitting upright on the couch sends myself a signal - time to rejoin life. Can't only sleep forever. I've propped my door open so that neighbors in my hall can stop and say hi. I even ventured downstairs to get my meals, though it seemed best to bring them back up here and keep any potential lingering cooties to myself.
Just for today, I think loving my body is about encouraging it to be well, but not flogging it into performing when it needs to be healing.
I'd be that nice if it were anyone else's body, after all.
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