4 Things that falling sick for a week taught me about life.

 

    Last week I had a viral fever with cough, cold, high fever and body ache. It was so bad that I was lying on the bed most of the time. I had zero energy. 

    One thing about being sick and choosing to power down was that it gave me time to think.

 

So here are a few things I realized about life when I was sick:

 

 

1.   Falling sick makes you feel like you have little to no control over your life. 

 

I’m usually the kind of person who plans things ahead and follow through. When I fell sick, I realised that sometimes you need to put things on hold and take care of oneself and rest when needed. I remembered that saying “Everything is super important until you are sick, then you realize the only thing that was important was your health

 

 

2.   Health is valuable and fragile — take care of yourself!

    Ignoring your body’s needs—such as getting enough sleep and eating well—will eventually catch up to you. Listen to your body. 

    Cook your own meals. I can’t stress this one enough. I cook all three meals by myself but when I fell sick, I realized that we had to order in… I realized and missed the taste of home cooked simple meals.

    I realized how important sleep is. Every time I took a nap, I felt my energy level rising up. Infection-fighting antibodies and cells are decreased during periods when you don't get enough sleep. So, your body needs sleep to fight infectious diseases. 

 

3.   Seeing a parent, who is strong as a rock, fall sick shakes you up.

 

    My son was acting very differently when I fell ill. He couldn’t see me lying on the bed. He always saw me as a superhuman. He thought nothing can weaken his mother and was sad to see me coughing and lying on bed with a terrible fever. He came near me and tried to make me laugh. He even tried singing for me. He wanted me to be up as soon as possible.  I realized the importance of the role a parent plays in a child’s life.

 

    Within few days my son also caught the viral from me, followed by my husband. Thankfully I was up by then and was able to take care of them.

 

4.The Importance of family

Since my husband was not in town the first 5 days when i fell sick, I immediately reached out to my sister who came in to take care of me. She stepped in and took the responsibility of caring for me, cooking and looking after a preschooler! 

It was not easy, but she did it with utmost empathy and love. I thanked heavens for my sister. These are the times you realize that family is everything!