matey, matey, man down

I am not someone who takes my health for granted. Like, genuinely. Before I even open my eyeballs in the morning, the first thing I am grateful for is my health. Every gratitude journal, every meditation, every littlethank you universe/God momenthealth is number one. End-all, be-all. Always. That being said, I am also pretty good at being healthy. I'm very in tune with my body, I know when something feels off, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I was properly sick. Probably COVID? Which I got for approximately 48 hours after Saint-Tropez because, obviously, of course I got COVID after Saint-Tropez. So waking up Monday morning feeling completely and utterly depleted was… weird. And I don't really know how else to explain it. I don't have a proper sore throat. I don't have a headache. I don't have sinus congestion or phlegm or any of the usual 'oh yes, I am definitely sick' symptoms. I don't even look particularly shitty. I managed to pull myself together for one lunch today, which has been my only excursion from the house. I just feel like someone unplugged me. Heavy head. Zero energy. Hot, then cold. And an actual fever for two days. I had honestly forgotten what having a fever even feels like because I don't own a thermometer. Which is probably a very annoying sentence and also a testament to how rarely this happens. Anyway. I am now 48-ish hours into being officiallyMAN DOWN, and because sitting still is one of my least favorite activities on earth, I have been forced into doing exactly that. Here is my extremely non-medical sick-day protocol. Oscillococcinum.I take it every few hours when I feel something coming on. Do I know if it actually works? Absolutely not. Have I convinced myself it does? Yes. It also tastes good, which cannot be said for most things marketed as medicine, so there's that. No gym.This was the first thing Chatty told me: your body is already fighting something, do not also ask it to survive strength training, Pilates, hot yoga or whatever other nonsense you were planning. Naturally, yesterday I thought I was feeling slightly better and decided to go for a walk. Epic mistake. The walk took me OUT. Hydrate like it is your job.I drink an enormous amount of water regularly but also added two electrolytes a day as well. I also added a green juice and ginger shot because I just FEEL like that cures all. Soup. Always soup.When I'm home-home, the thing that can bring someone back from the dead is my mom's sancocho. Or my grandma's. Colombian grandmothers have understood immune support long before wellness Instagram discovered bone broth . Ajiaco is also a good one but its kind of heavier so not ideal when you are sick. Since neither my mom or my grandmother materialized in my Cape Town apartment, I went with the next best thing: Kleinsky's (my fave Jewish deli in Cape Town) chicken noodle soup. Jewish penicillin. Thank you so much. And then the worst one: do absolutely nothing. Lay down. Sleep. Cancel things. Stop pretending you can 'push through.' This is, unsurprisingly, the part I am worst at. I have spent the last two days repeatedly thinking,Okay, I'll just get up and do one thing,only for my body to be like: lol no, actually you will be returning to bed immediately. There is something extremely humbling about your body simply removing your ability to participate. You can have your little calendar. You can have your to-do list. You can have 19 things that'have to' happen before the weekend. Your immune system does not care. So here I am, horizontal, drinking electrolytes and chicken soup, very sincerely hoping tomorrow is the day I turn a corner because I have approximately one million things happening this weekend. If shit really hits the fan, I have one final card to play: the Myers cocktail IV, my personal nuclear option. But hopefully we don't get there. Mostly, being sick has just made me think about how extraordinary it is to wake up and feel normal. To have energy. To move your body. To make plans without calculating whether you have enough strength to wash your hair first. To go through an entire day without thinking about your body at all. Which is probably why health has always been the first thing on my gratitude list. And tomorrow morning fever or no fever it will be again. Paid subscribers get the actual lists, guides and intel. Free subscribers get me feverish and horizontal.