Sometimes I feel as though I’m the only girl in the world whose body figuratively decomposes when the air changes.
I’ve had allergies all my life, from Kentucky bluegrass to certain oak trees and to even mold, you name anything in nature and pretty much I’m allergic to it.
Sometimes my allergies are dormant, perhaps that is mainly contributed to my lack of outdoor adventures, but I also take all of the medicines needed to keep them in line. Of course, the spring and summer months always give me a run for my money but it’s nothing I can’t handle.
I have come to realize that my body cannot handle the changes in weather that I, unfortunately, thrust upon it. As an out-of-state student, I go from Pennsylvania (which has four seasons year round and beautiful fall weather) to sunny side Florida (where the heat and I just don’t mix well).
I’m not sure what it was about this time specifically, as ever since my freshman year I have always taken a plane home for breaks, and this winter break was no different.
But the night I got home I began to feel like something was off.
Of course, my intuition was indeed correct and the following morning I had a sore throat and a stuffy nose, the common signs of a cold. Throughout this entire fall semester, I had succeeded in avoiding the university coughs and the frat flus. I almost made it home free until I was abruptly yanked from victory and instead greeted with the worst cold I’ve had in a long time.
Now, here I am, safely at home and finally in my bed, only now I’m more bedridden than I would have imagined. But sometimes you can’t win them all. Especially when it comes to a body full of allergies.
I would have to say that throughout this entire semester I have had a mad case of homesickness, but being home and with sickness wasn’t really what I had in mind to start off my winter break. I start my break job back up in a few days and I am nowhere near the customer greeting, clothes stacking, retail running full-timer that I would have hoped I would be by now.
I am not sure why my body decided that the differences in the weather patterns were a bit too much this time around, but now I know I need to be a bit more prepared when making the journey from polar opposite states.
I can only hope that this sickness will slowly fade away and that I can actually have some time to enjoy my break before it’s consumed by the usual work and Christmas festivities.
And to all the individuals who understand the pain of allergies flaring up and the body’s overreaction to the sudden change in temperature, I hope if you have gone home for the holidays you also didn’t take homesickness too literally.
It’s not fun to have a case of homesickness, but its also not fun be at home sick either.