What I Learned From Having a Stomach Virus

I'm the girl who never skips class. I had perfect attendance every year after third grade and cried in fifth grade and possibly a few times thereafter at the prospect of missing one single solitary day of academia. My first job (oh those cheery teen years) was as drug store clerk where I was underappreciated and made to deal with old ladies who attempted to redeem coupons from Rite-Aid (not my store) and request rain checks for 24 bottles of Suave shampoo. I never called out once.

No, I don't have such a love of school or menial labor that I wake up with a great big smile everyday one of those activities comes along. Instead, generally speaking, I cannot stand to miss things. The day I don't go to class is the day the teacher takes attendance and sees I'm not there. And bases twenty percent of our grade on it. And hands out answers to the final. And lollipops. The day I don't go to work is the day they give everyone who is there raises - or fires everyone who's not there. So, with little faltering over the years, I pretty much attend every event, obligation, or activity onto which I sign my name no matter how headache-y, sniffle-y, sore-throat-y, or limpy I am. And show up on time (but that's a post for another day).

Alas, as my decreased Internet presence over the past week as also alluded to, the past several days have been the most debiliating I have experienced in really all of my recent memory. I called out of work. I skipped 2 classes. I stayed in bed for the majority of about four days. I even took a day off my internship, which as any journo student will attest to feels like writing a death sentence to your career (another post for another day on the ridiculousness of that fact, however. But, no, they were really nice about it. Phew.).

I had a stomach virus. I will spare you the details, but looking back it was, well awful, but also fairly enlightening. And here is what I found out:

1. There is absolutely no reason to check my e-mail every five seconds, like I have found myself doing in the past. In addition to the sharp food aversion I developed this week (which is oddly still sticking around), the Internet and the glowing light of my laptop - normally my friends - were my proverbial cheeseburger and fries. I couldn't even pick up my laptop, let alone look at the screen for two minutes. And you know what? It felt good. It felt good to not be preoccupied with what 200 people were doing on Twitter for a few days. It felt good to not check the same message boards over and over and get same bad news, complaints, and cries for help as usual. And it felt good to not have to be at the beck-and-call of whoever felt like e-mailing me. Which - as I come to my point here - was really no one important. I checked my e-mail once a day at my lowest point in my ailment (world's smallest violin, I know) and there was NEVER anything so pressing that it couldn't wait until I checked it at my leisure. For once, I only had to think about myself and what I wanted and what made me feel better, and I swear that helped me even more than the twelve Pepto-Bismol tablets I must have swallowed in total by the end of this week.

2. I could afford - and probably hugely benefit from - a lot more sleep. Now, the twelve hour increments (or more - geeze) that I spent sleeping over the past few days are of course a bit excessive and unreasonable for everyday life. But even in the midst of dealing with a constantly churning tummy, deciding to go to bed at midnight, instead of say 2 a.m., felt like I was making an active and healthy choice for myself. Recently I'd decided that the magic sleep number for me was 6 hours ... now I'm thinking that number is probably closer to 8. Sure, I can wake up, feel generally rested, and get through the day (almost) with 6, but I bet that with 8 hours I'd be a lot more productive and a lot happier. And look forward more to getting to go back to a nice long sleep! And who saw this month's Glamour article about losing weight while you sleep? Um, I'll take one of those, please.

3. The world doesn't stop turning because I had to take some personal time to myself. I'm basically all caught up in class. Nothing momentous happened at work. One missed day of my internship does not mean death to my career. And I'm back on my feet quicker and feeling more energized to get things done having taken some time to rest and recoup. I've never taken a "mental health day" in my life - I think I see now why these are so great. I bet they'd be great for you, too, dear reader.

4. My mother can text message. I'm sure she'd turn this into an example of how people who need to get to someone they love can climb INSURMOUNTABLE heights that they would otherwise not be able to, but I don't buy it. Basically, who knew?