I am, admittedly, a workaholic. I find it hard not to be in a fast-paced environment like university, where there’s always work to be done, a reading to get through, a class to attend, and clubs to partake in. This all feels great when I’m functioning at my best — but now it’s nearing winter, and sickness is about as prevalent as essay deadlines. I got sick with the flu almost a month ago and relapsed earlier this week because I was simply working too hard. And that’s part of the problem — university doesn’t really offer you the time and ability to be sick, but when illness strikes, it’s okay to take time for yourself.
No matter how you cut it, college isn’t cut out to allow for downtime. On average, college students only get an average of 6 hours of sleep per night, which is a significant deficit from the 7 to 9 hours that are recommended for people our age. With our schedules packed with everything from parties to discussions to personal studying, our bodies are overworked. And with these overtired bodies comes increased risk of illness, and with illness comes the almost impossible task of peeling ourselves back from our constant stream of activities.
From professors having no-absence policies, to having no way to collect notes, to missing days off of work, it’s a massive game of social Jenga trying to carve out time to recover from when you’re sick, even in a world that has slowly shifted to being more accepting of staying home while ill. It can seem more worth it to simply push through and go to class feeling miserable than to miss out on anything important.
But I can confidently say, while writing this from my bed on my fifth day of self-given bedrest, that it is absolutely worth it to simply take time off to let yourself recover. Though it’s difficult to call out of work and confine myself to my room while still reading and mulling over my schoolwork, I honestly am wondering why I never allowed myself the room to rest like this before. And though my cough is still nagging and I’m getting a bit tired of eating Domino’s pizza since I don’t have the energy to cook, I’m still so happy to have this time off to simply let my body rest for the first time in months.
My advice — let yourself rest. It’s hard to be a college student, especially one who isn’t feeling well. It’s more than okay to slough off your classes for the week and let yourself sleep in so you can feel better physically and mentally when the next week comes around.
