It’s “Just a Cold”
or so they say!
I’ve had “just a cold” for over a week now. My husband has had it too — he was a bit lazy for a day but otherwise it hasn’t bothered him. I used to be like that…
Now, it’s a totally different story. It’s not “just a cold” at all.
My energy is low and although I’m making it through the day, it’s like living in treacle (or how I imagine that might be — where you have to drag your body to take each step, to lift an arm, to move your head).
I’ve gone from needing 6–8 hours of good sleep, to having dreadfully disturbed nights and needing at least 12–14 hours in bed.
Because my sleep/rest has doubled, I have half the time in the day to do what I normally do. Add in the fact that my energy is low, and that equates to me being capable of doing less than half what I would usually do.
But what can stop?
I have a job, and I need to keep working (I work from home, it’s contract work so no sick leave). I need to eat, which means cooking and feeding myself. I also need to carry out personal hygiene, etc.
Exercise, hobbies and any extra activities are dropped immediately. “Other people” get dropped as much as possible — not only because I don’t have the energy or voice, but I have less time for this activity as work and living requirements takes priority.
It has been a week of struggling to survive. I know that sounds melodramatic, and that’s not what I want it to be, but that’s how having a cold feels to me.
It is not ‘just a cold”. It’s a whole realignment of my priorities and life. It is not something that I brush off in a few days, it takes probably a week or a couple of weeks of this readjustment for my cold to finish.
At least COVID has made people more aware of how easily these things spread from person to person. On the other hand, I had to add to my agenda having a COVID test — which meant getting properly dressed, driving into town, and taking a couple of hours out of my day and energy budget.
If you’re struggling when you have a cold, you aren’t alone. To me, it is never “just a cold”. Not any more. Chronic illness changes how you see everything.
