Call me crazy, but when one has the leisure to do nothing, plenty of soup, tea, and instant noodles, and internet or television access, being sick can actually be a rather pleasant experience. Soothing, in fact. If you are pushing yourself beyond your limits, sooner or later your body will step in and say: Enough is enough. You need to take a break. And it will impose idleness on you through a complete lack of will to do anything productive.
I find it quite unfair that in our society, taking a day off because of stress is frowned upon, unless there is a tangible emergency or if one is physically ill. After all, if one can be physically ill for a few days, but get better after lots of rest and fluids, why can't one be mentally ill for a few days and take a few days off to get over that? I suppose it comes down to American (or perhaps not exclusively American) cynicism - if you claim to be depressed, you mght be faking, but if you claim to have a cold, I can see the snot coming out of your nose. Also, it's contagious, and you are not wanted in your workplace or school.
Honestly, if not for the fact that I was sick, spending a day eating instant noodles and watching old cartoons would make me bored out of my mind. I would also feel guilty about doing that instead of something productive like reading the book for my class, or writing one of the papers, or planning what I'm going to do next semester/the rest of my life.
When you come right down to it, sickness is justified misery, and I find the worst part of misery is the guilt. People in my situations simply are not allowed to be miserable.
On a last note, being sick makes you appreciate being healthy and being able to function. This earthly flesh is in fact a delicate instrument, and one needs to take care of it. It could so easily go wrong. But it hasn't. This is probably the easiest problem to solve in anyone's life. You know what to do, and it works every time.
Appreciate the simple problems in life.
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