Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Running on Empty

The stuffy nose, tightening in the chest, the feeling of exhaustion- all signs that I have pushed myself too far and am running on empty.  My body is telling me it needs a break and I am being forced to listen and learn a lesson.  I always try to take care of myself so that I am rarely ever sick but this time I have lost the battle. Sure a headache here or a little sniffle there, but never enough to make me have to take a sick day at work or make me not do the things I want to do. 


Living a healthy lifestyle is extremely important to me and when I am sick, I take this opportunity to reflect. Being sick forces me to completely slow down, which I have to be honest, I hate.  No working out, no eating dairy products (because they make your mucus membrane thicker), constantly drinking water and tea, and most importantly REST.  This may not sound too bad, but for me this is torture. 

Instead of filling my weekend with activities and errands, I spent almost the entire weekend on couch rest.   I was in quarantine and I was just going to have to make the most of it.  At one point I asked myself, what do you do when you are sick?  The things I wanted to do were "off-limits," so all I could do was rest. Sunday was spent in grubby clothes on the couch with a cup of water or tea in my hand and attending to a few chores here and there. 

As a distraction from being stuck indoors, I watched multiple hours of my new favorite show Glee with a dear friend.  (If you have not seen Glee, I HIGHLY recommend it).  I was hoping to knock my cold within 48 hours but now four days in I still am on recovery mode and waiting for my chest cold to be gone.   I must admit though that being sick is really making me see how much I over do it sometimes.  My Love Your Body Plan did not come soon enough because I am worn down.



I had no clue on what to do when I got home last night at 6:00p.m.- couldn't go to the gym, can't be out and about being social, and I wasn't tired so I cleaned my apartment and made soup.  Exciting I know.  Tonight will be another uneventful evening, but it is what I need.  The sooner I rest up and take care of myself, the sooner I will be back doing the things I love.  Sometimes we need to be forced to slow down so that we can really reflect and evaluate ourselves.  I now know why I am run down.  Staying up late, cramming my days and not catching up on rest is the perfect lineup for someone to get sick.  As much as I am yearning even more for my regular routine I am taking full advantage of this R&R time.  Learning when to not over do it and push myself is the lesson I need to be learning right now.  Once I am back in full force, I will be monitoring my tank more and more so that I won't hit empty anytime soon.
 



 What do you do to keep yourself from running on empty?  How do you prevent yourself from getting sick?

"None of us is built to run nonstop. That's why, when you don't give yourself the time and care you need, your body rebels in the form of sickness and exhaustion. Taking care of yourself so you can better care for others is an idea many women I talk to still can't embrace. But think of it in terms of the oxygen-mask theory: If you don't put on your mask first, you won't be able to save anyone else."
— Oprah

1 comment:

  1. Typically I refrain from licking public telephone recievers...

    That tends to keep me rather healthy...

    ReplyDelete