Happy St. Crappies Day! We’ve reached that point in the semester where life is weighing us down and low-end establishments are starting to look like good career choices. Well don’t give up! I did not write a motivational piece below, but rather a reminder to rest. Read on if you’d like.

I wrote this over the summer, while I was pretty sick. Being sick again now, and in search of what to write I figured I would share what I had meant to before.

About a week ago my throat was sore, my body was heavy, I was working a lot slower than usual... I was getting sick. You might not know this about me, but I hate being sick. I don't like laying in bed all day doing nothing, I don't like not being able to go to work when I'm needed, and I don't like medication. So last Friday when I realized I was getting sick I didn't think much of it. I'd been sick before but never for very long.

It should have only taken a weekend to recover, but what I didn't realize was that I was already sick. In fact I had been sick all week long. I blamed my trouble with breathing on the humid air, my heaviness on lack of or too much sleep, my headache and excessive sweating on the heat, and my sore throat—I sleep in front of a fan every night.

If you've gotten this far you're probably wondering why I'm writing about being sick and giving you so many details. Well a week later I am finally up and working, but I'm not completely healed. I didn't have an ordinary cold or fever; I got sick because I was exhausted, and I was too busy to even realize that I wasn't just having an off week.

I started working again yesterday (I was finally able to work without having trouble breathing or taking a small nap—I got a ride). Work started off well: I talked to my coworkers, made a plan for the day, started the job, and quickly noticed the heaviness of my body, my dripping nose and the excessive amounts of trash I was lifting. I was still sick and my job required more of me physically than I had realized before.

Resting our bodies is something most of us don't put too much thought into when we’re busy. When I think about self care, I think of the ways I calm myself down or how I process things or what I do to relax, diet and exercise; I don't think of taking naps and sleeping a little longer than I would like to. But it’s what our bodies need every once in awhile.

We’re at that point in the semester where everything is starting to feel overwhelming and life is getting hard, but we need to remember to take breaks, rest our bodies, and enjoy our days while they’re happening.