Whether you have a stomach bug, a cold, or the flu, getting sick is never an enjoyable experience. It prevents you from partaking in daily activities such as work, school, or even spending time with family and friends. Although being sick sucks for pretty much everyone stricken with a virus, it can be even worse for college students. We tend to have unique ways of dealing with issues, sickness is no different. We seem to go experience illness in a matter uniquely different from the rest of the germ-filled population. If you are curious to discover the daily tactics of a sick college student, then read these 8 actions and thoughts sick college students have.
1. You wonder it going to class is even worth it.
Going to class is crucial in college. Attendance usually acquires between 10-30% of your overall grade, meaning that just showing up can make or break you. Sometimes we need to put our health first and skip a class. The good thing about college is that we have different classes each day so if we are really sick and need to stay in and miss two days, we wouldn’t be missing the same class twice like we would in high school. Plus, who wants to be doubled over in pain or have a coughing fit in the middle of a lecture? Professors usually understand. You just have to make sure you retrieve the notes or the takeaway from a discussion. Putting our health first is usually the best thing we can do.
2. You avoid social situations.
College provides countless activities for students to socially interact with each other. However, when you’re sick, you’re basically a hermit crab. All you want to do is stay wrapped up in your warm blankets with Netflix playing beside you while avoiding the outside world. The mere thought of leaving your bed gives you anxiety. You feel you are incapable of carrying any conversation and you have no energy to leave your warm, comfy bed. Not only do you lack motivation and energy, you also are afraid someone will get contaminated with your illness, or you will cough all over someone’s food in the dining hall (unintentional, of course). You also fear the possibility of having a stomach-induced-emergency-situation, and no one, I repeat, NO ONE, wants that to happen in public. Just stay in bed; nothing bad can come out of it.
3. All you want to do is sleep.
Sleeping is your #1 priority and your favorite hobby when illness strikes. It overpowers all social activities.
4. You convince your roommate to buy you food.
If you are blessed with a great roommate like I am, he or she will be be very generous and understanding of your sickness. They may even be so generous that they will purchase food for you, since you're basically glued to your bed. He or she will understand that you are incapable of leaving bed, so they will do you a great service by buying you food. We may have a loss of appetite or a loss of taste, but we still need to eat and our sickness prevents us from walking to the dining hall. This is one of those times we love our roommate more than anyone else.
5. You feel bad for your roommate.
Although your roommate is always there for you, you feel bad that he or she has to live with such an annoying germy human. You feel bad that when he or she is in bed trying to fall asleep, you’re up having yet another coughing fit or are are moaning in pain which prompts us to shake open the pill bottles, making even more noise. We just hope that they don’t get so annoyed by all our noise and do disgusted by all our germs that they want to leave us. For most people, including myself, our roommate is one of our best friends, but we still fear them getting fed up with us when we’re germy balls of grossness.
6. You stock up on drugs.
Dayquil, Nyquil, Ibuprofen, cough drops, or any other drugs that the school bookstore has to beat your sickness will do. You're gonna need them if you want to get back to having a social life.
7. You miss the days your parents took care of you.
Gone are the days mommy and daddy took care of you when you were sick. They are no longer available at your beckon call to supply you with everything you need to feel better. You have to figure out how to do that on your own and that can be very difficult for college freshman and even some sophomores.
8. You wonder when you’ll be a functioning member of society again.
When you’re sick, you feel like you are never going to get better. You wonder when you won’t feel like vomiting or coughing so much that you feel like you will break a lung. You also want to be able to attend all of your classes and get back on track with your social life. You no longer want your squad to consist of you, your bed, Netflix, and pills. You want to get back to the real deal. And don’t worry, that time will come. Just be patient, rest, and nourish yourself and you will be yourself again in no time.
