hello all!
officially being back of the swing of things feels weird, doesn’t it? at least for me! maybe for you newbees or old-timers you can’t relate, but coming back after just one year and having bunches of things only change minorly is a little weird, i’m not gonna lie. cause i just learned so much.
and in the many lessons of which i learned in this past year, one that i think of often is the fact that i was essentially sick from the moment i got back for second semester, up until spring break. yes. i SAID it. yeah that seems like a long time but any of my friends can vouch for me and argue that this is infact the truth. i was sick for SO long it felt like my new ‘normal’ which was a little terrifying, and i was getting a little too reliant on dayquil and nyquil but first i wanna explain a few things before i offer solutions.
how did i get sick?
frankly no idea. i blame the general thurston dorms and ALWAYS being around so many freshmen with germs all the time. and i actually TOTALLY remember that when i flew back i actually started having a sore throat so maybe it started at home? but it was basically a cold which lasted like 6 weeks.
why didn’t i get better after a week?
well, i didn’t give myself the proper care i needed. second semester was HUGE for me, i joined a sorority and my social calendar exploded. i had tons of new friends and sisters, things to do in the evenings during the week (sisterhood events and sorority meetings, etc) but i suddenly had social plans on thursdays, fridays, saturdays and darties on sundays. yeah and cause i had mad FOMO for everything i pretty much went to everything i got invited to. so i didn’t do a whole lot of sleeping or eating well in this time.
why didn’t i fight it harder?
i went to the health center at my school and they told me it wasn’t strep or mono but some sorta super virus which i had. they prescribed me an inhaler (which i used for chest infections in the past, and only because i complained that i really couldn’t breathe) and sent me on my way, with no follow-ups or other info. so i just trusted the process (laughing at this rn) and told myself it would be fine. i popped so many cough drops in this time (i went through a record number of these bad boys) and a record amount of day quil.
and now onto what YOU can do so this same thing won’t happen to all of you!
sleep.
for the love of whatever you believe in, please sleep cause you need it. as i mentioned before, in this time i wasn’t getting a whole lot of sleep and i wish i had because as soon as i came home for spring break i CRASHED and slept for like the first two whole days and felt immediately better. so just like let your body repair itself, if you give it time it will do its magic.
what you put in your body
eat well. in this time i wasn’t eating a whole lot anyway(!?) just cause i wasn’t hungry. but any GW student is lucky enough to go to devon & blakely, whole foods, panera bread or au bon pain (RIP) to get soup, and frankly this is your best option when you’re sick. just get soup cause you can just drink it anyway. and i know this subhead is a little vague, but WATCH your substances when you’re sick. thats it, just a note. alcohol does not kill your disease as much as you *may* claim it will.
medicine
dayquil and nyquil are perfect for a cold in my experience. i’m also a big fan of cough drops, flonase nasal spray, and that throat spray stuff. i also say you should try some ‘throat coat’ tea which i’m sure you can pick up at any pharmacy or the medicine ball at starbucks.
minor exercise & SUNLIGHT
i also love doing walks and running a tad because i love how the sweating makes me feel and getting all the toxins out is my fave. of course, if the weather does not permit this won’t work but i’ve always thought that sitting out in the sun makes me feel a ton better!
thank you for reading & stay healthy!
xoxo kate!
