stop for sick

There is an advertisement on TV at the moment for Codral cold and flu tablets.

Here’s the link for you to check it out.

The guy says,

The world doesn’t stop for sick.

The whole commercial is about how you’ve got to keep going, keep pushing through; time won’t stop for you so, here, take a quick fix tablet and get back on that maniac conveyer belt called life in the 21^st Century where sick days cannot be taken. We don’t have time to get sick, we simply can’t. We need to take something to relieve the symptoms so that we can keep functioning and ‘soldiering on.’

Source

We don’t have time to rest, and when we have to rest, we spend that time worrying about what we’re going to do to get back on top, fast. 

Crap! I’m sick – I’ve got this to do, and now I’m not going to be able to.....need to find a replacement...need to catch up on work....don’t have time to get behind....quick, body, HURRY UP AND GET WELL BECAUSE THE WORLD DOESN’T STOP FOR SICK!!!

It’s a whirlwind blur. Its physical chaos, amplified with mental stress because it’s not OK to be unwell and take time out. 

So year after year, we pop those quick-fix tablets to deal with symptoms. We hurry our recovery with instant remedies and compromised rest. We’d probably rather take the time to just rest properly, but it doesn’t seem to be an option because we feel we’ll be left behind as life marches on

.

On Facebook the other day a friend posted:

I’ve had glandular fever for two weeks, its so crap, need to get back to work!!

I felt frustrated at that comment – it reflected so deeply this hurry for a quick recovery, intolerance to being out of action. I wanted to cry out, “, don’t try and speed up your recovery because that will ultimately slow you down.” I had plunged back into university after my glandular episode because I was ‘so behind’, and worked so hard I never recovered properly, taking those very Codral tablets from the advertisement.

And I felt angry because she’d been sick for a grand total of 2 weeks and she thought her life was awful: what about me and so many others who have been sick for years and have had to drop everything we were doing, indefinitely? Self pity got the better of me. I forgot that it took me a journey to understand some of the things I understand now....and I’m just starting out compared to some of the wise people I know.

No wonder people always ask me if I’m better yet. No wonder people moan after a week long bout of the flu that they are bored and hate being sick. We don’t have patience with our bodies. We are part of the instant rat race, the race that never stops, not even when our body is crying out,

STOP! PLEASE, PLEASE STOP, YOU MUST.

And then we wonder why one day our body puts the handbrake on, and refuses to move another inch. It says, “I’m done. I’m not going on; you have worn me out till I have nothing left to give you.” Then, when we have no choice but to withdraw from all responsibilities we realise that maybe we could have taken some time out earlier, before it came to this. 

Work, or university, or school, or motherhood says you can’t stop; you can’t afford to be sick. But believe me, you can. You can take a week here or there – and it might cost you greatly at the time, but compared to having a complete health break down later, is there any question? If I have kids one day, I want to start them off believing that taking time out when your body needs it is more important than 100% attendance, or even your reputation as a committed worker. We’ll read good books, and drink fruit smoothies and wait till they are running around with health before they go back to school. It’s called wise. 

Busy always has more time than you realise, and responsibilities must go on hold for sick. We’ve got to stop soldering on, and start resting when we’re sick – even if that means we have to be different from the ‘world’. It’s called big picture.

World, stop for sick!