#204 Sick Days

Growing up, I rarely got sick.  I missed so little of school that my mom would let me take one sick day per semester to use how I pleased.  I dedicated these days to horror movies, macaroni and cheese and 4 hour-long games of Risk, when my friends were able to join me.

As an adult, things haven't changed much.  In 12 years at various advertising agencies, I would take 2-3 sick days a year (out of 10 that were given), though I was rarely sick enough to warrant using an entire day to get better.  If I was unfortunate enough to get sick, I would throw my hands up in the air, send a mass email, and set up a cozy pallet on the couch so that I could watch a day's worth of movies.  I'd order pizza, toss thousands of snot rags in the general vicinity of the nearest trashcan, and nap whenever I felt like it.  I didn't feel great, but I didn't let that spoil the good time.  Being sick was like taking a pit stop.  The race was still going on around me, but I was allowed to take a break.

Now that I write full-time, illness has become something different.  It has become a gigantic hurdle, a real pain in the ass.  My head doesn't feel right, my nose won't stop running, and I have too much writing to be done to simply sit on the couch and watch a movie.  I can't concentrate well, but I can't ignore the story either.  The resulting emotion is pure frustration.  I want to work but can't.  It's the exact opposite of when I was in advertising.  Back then, I was glad to take a break, even if it meant I was a little under the weather.  Now, I truly hate it.  I don't have time to be sick.  I have stories to write!

My passion for writing has turned sickness into... well, sickness.  I no longer shrug my shoulders and jump on the couch.  Instead, I frantically take medicine so that I can get better.  That's how I know I'm going in the right direction in life.  So I'll take more medicine, try and clear my head, and write a couple of pages today.  And I hope that all of you out there view sickness as sickness.  Cause if you do, it means you like what you do, and you don't want sickness to take you away from what you like.