Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Best Life Time Out Or Distraction Is Being Sick

I woke up with a sore throat yesterday. 9 times out of 10 a sore throat is a prelude to being sick. I had a sore throat, runny nose, and congestion going to sleep. I applied a Breathe Right nasal strip and rubbed Vicks Vaporub on my throat to combat the congestion. As of the blog entry, I have a sore throat and mild congestion. The next 24-48 hours determine if I have Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV. Feb 2012 was the last time I became sick with RSV. I hope it's just a common cold which very rarely happens to my body.

The frustration getting sick was the same earlier this year. My life was starting to be consistent: going to the gym 3-4 days a week, job searching, catching up with emails . . . moving forward again. Also, family distractions affecting me were ending and my dad purchased a new laptop with wireless capabilities so we both can be connected to the web instead of one waiting for the other. My life was ready to press play instead of a combination of slow motion and pause.

Everything that caused me to be sick happened. Everything that went wrong did. Everything beyond my control caused me to be sick. Nobody was to be blamed. The events leading to my sickness:

*Some of my breakfast, lunch, and dinners were incomplete and unhealthy. I should have been more proactive in eating enough foods. I ate two meals on Sat, ate a poor breakfast and a light lunch on Sun, and ate a weak lunch consisting of Sat's leftover food on Mon.

*I helped my uncle, aunt, and cousin with their laptops and set up their wireless printer last Sat. My aunt was sick.

*My brother's family was staying over the weekend. My nephew was sick, and he coughed in front of me.

*I wore shorts instead of long pants going to the gym Tue night. The night was cold. I plan to buy another long gym pants and, maybe, long sleeve gym shirts during the holiday season.

*Also, I didn't drink enough water because I felt bloated. That should have been a sign to skip the gym. I worked out at late hours because I really wanted to get back in shape. I tried too hard.

*And I rushed out of the house to the gym for a quick workout neglecting the cold weather. I didn't turn on the car's heater, and it was my mom's car I drove to save a minute from backing out my car from the driveway. My mom's car took longer to heat the car. I should drive my car to the gym permanently.

*Cold days and evenings meant getting sick was in the air.

*My body failed to adjust the cold days and colder nights. My area had record breaking warm temperatures last week.

*I slept with one less blanket the night before I got the sore throat because the house was too hot. My parents didn't turn off the heater. I woke up when the heater turned on. I turned off the heater and didn't sleep with that extra blanket.

Time Out, Raymond

Perhaps, the timing getting sick is good. Forget my life frustrations and anger I can't control. My life is stopped. My focus is recovery. My body is telling me to stop, rest, refocus, and do something different. It's time to hold off living life do something every minute, every second. Time out, Raymond, for keeping your mind occupied with something you must do. It's time to be bored. I may just read books like I did in Sept 2011 when I had RSV. Reading books is an acceptable time out.

Job searching, watching anime, reading emails, anything that frustrates you when you don't complete it, anything you need to catch up are on hold. Just relax. Take it easy. Stay warm. Eat Jell-o and yogurt. Drink coke.

Side note: If my sickness becomes RSV, I write another blog detailing my recovery. I re-read my past RSV blogs to remind myself how I recovered.

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