I’ve managed to get sick.
It started yesterday in the afternoon, as some of the telltale signs were showing up. The good thing about my body is it gives me some warning before it decides to shut down (or sputter) for a few days. As I noticed these signs and took a glance at what I needed to do over the weekend, I had to make a decision: to give in to my impending sickness or give up to my impending sickness. And, as with other similar-ish words, there is a big difference.
When I give in to something, I work with it. I don’t surrender to it, I just handle with what it has dealt me and try to work around that. In the case of being sick, I just geared down. I didn’t write yesterday. I wrote a scant amount today — and late at that. I slept for 10+ hours. I have been taking medication. I’ve drank lots of water. I’m still getting stuff done, but not nearly as much as I’d like so that my body can heal up faster. That will allow me to get back to my normal self far sooner rather than far later.
When giving up, you give it everything until there’s nothing left to give anymore. You’ve exhausted all of your reserves. You’re out of gas. Sure, you put up a good fight until the end, but now the recovery time is that much more challenging. When it comes to me being sick, if I had decided to give up then I would have been working my tail off until tomorrow, when I finally could do no more. And I’d be out of commission until the end of the week in all likelihood.
Giving in means you go with the current. Giving up means you have put yourself in the position if getting swept away by it.
I’m already feeling better because I chose to go with the flow rather than fight against it. When you find that part of you starts to send signals to other parts of you, think long and hard about which part you’re going to listen to.
Because it’s a hell of a lot better to simply stay afloat than to drown while swimming in rough seas.
Photo credit: portobeseno (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
