After the sun follows rain – sick again

June has barely begun and I find myself sick again. 2024 hasn’t been an easy year for me, health-wise. I required hospital treatment in February for a sudden and quite scary health issue and now a different health issue has crept up out of the blue and steamrolled me flat. I am beginning to ask myself, am I really so out of touch with my physical body?

Maybe the answer is, yes. Life has been so busy that I often put my health needs aside in a bid to manage everything on my plate. Not the best method of management as the setbacks are greater once health fails.

The weather in Northern Ireland has been sunny one minute and torrential rain the next. Since I live close to my doctor, and it was a sunny morning, I decided to venture for a walk to pick up my latest prescription. I am, after all, still trying to keep my weight at a healthy BMI, and nothing is easier to do that than going for a dander. Once out the door of course, the heavens opened right on my head. Typical. Normally a rainy day walk is restorative; but not so when you are ill.

I hate doing nothing, but illness calls for downtime. I sometimes think my body can cope with everything: full-time work, writing, publishing Bindweed, doing childcare, housework, social life, etc. I think it’s time I started to acknowledge that I can’t possibly do all the things that my brain asks of me. My mind has a habit of dictating what the rest of my body should be doing. For now, my physical self needs rest – and my metaphysical self can lump it. It’s a concept that my brain can’t stand; I always need to be busy. This week, I will focus on doing nothing much while I take my 10 day course of medicine and recuperate.

See you on the other side!