So. This week in history, we inaugurated President #45. There was an incredible Women's March all over the world in solidarity to protest #45's treatment of women. The film "A Dog's Purpose" was revealed to have maliciously used a scared dog in a scene and is being boycotted by PETA and several other animal activist groups. There are many things I could've written about, but as my week drew to a close I knew there was only one thing I could write about with complete honesty after this week's events: Being sick.
On MLK Jr. Day, this past Monday, I got really sick. Like, gross sick. I had a stomach virus I caught from someone at a bridal shower. How do I know that? Everyone at the bridal shower got sick too. But I also got really sick because of some other factors, namely: I HAVE NOT BEEN TAKING CARE OF MYSELF.
As I was retching and shaking, my stomach kept seizing up. According to my school's nurse (and my roommate who also suffered with this) I was massively dehydrated. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't really, properly drunk water in like...a month. That's a lot of time without water.
Your body really can't do that. My roommate basically forced me to drink every twenty minutes. I also lived for four days on toast, cranberry juice, Powerade, and water. It was kind of awesome for someone like me, who enjoys repetition, but also kind of disgusting.
I felt sick for a while. I truly think it would've gone away quicker if I'd been better about taking care of myself. So. Here's some things I've learned in the past week that are, honestly, super obvious things, but are sometimes require repetition for us college students. Like, I get it, you're by yourself, but be sure YOU ARE TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF.
1. DRINK TONS OF WATER: Hydration is necessary. Get a water bottle. Drink from it often. Your skin will be clear. Your body will be happy. Drink water.
2. EAT BALANCED MEALS: This is hard, especially at a school where the dining hall is called "The Gag" (not fondly called, either). Eat some fruit and veggies. Get your protein. Eat some starches to burn off with your activity in the day. Just do it.
3. GET PLENTY OF SLEEP: As a write this as 2:45am, I must say that this is probably the vice of which I am most guilty. Sleeping is hard when you've got papers to write or a job or you're just worried about the basics of getting through the freaking day, but honestly, life will be a lot better if we all slept a little more. (*cough* Trump tweets at 3am *cough* Why are you awake, dude? *cough*)
4. CLEAN YOURSELF: Take showers. Clean your hair. Wash your face. If we're honest, most of us forget to shower at school because it takes time, time that could be used studying, partying, or sleeping. But nothing will make you feel better than being clean. And, also, just wash your face. Ain't nothing important enough for you to go to sleep with your makeup on.
Please remember to take care of yourselves. After a long week of just feeling gross, realizing that these simple things are all it would take to have avoided a lot of the excess pain made me take a long, hard look at my schedule. So, now I will go to sleep and work towards doing these necessary things to make my health and well being a little easier.
