On Holding it Together...and Faking it When You Can't

Do you ever have one of those days?  One of those days where literally nothing from the moment you wake up goes right and you're pretty sure that if someone looks at you the wrong way, you'll probably either scream, cry, vomit, or potentially all three at once?

This is not to say that today was one of those days, but god, do I have those days.  Waking up feeling like there are small jackhammers taking turns at the inside of your skull and knowing that no amount of sleep will ever make this better.  Going to class and getting an assignment back only to realize you completely bombed it.  The dining hall's bad and it's raining and if you had the opportunity to just fast-forward through this day to the next one, you would take it in an instant.

Well, thankfully, I've developed some coping mechanisms for days like these...as well as some ways to at least appear like you're coping.

1. Comfort Food:  This is no new discovery, but there are very few things in the world that comfort food can't at least make infinitesimally better.  I'm a big fan of soup and grilled cheese.
2. Caffeine: I may hate today.  I may want to punch the sun for being out when I'm in a bad mood.  But a little caffeine kind of forcibly perks you up.  It's hard to stay angry when there's liquid chemical happiness energy coursing through your bloodstream at roughly twice your normal heart rate.  It kind of makes me want to go run a mile or six.  Haha, I lied, nothing makes me want to run six miles.
3. Dress Up: No really.  This is my go-to way to push through when I feel like absolute crap.  At the very least, other people will THINK you feel awesome, and the positive energy that you get back from that will help.  Plus, inside tip -- dresses are the best thing ever.  They always look put-together and all you have to do is take them off the hanger and put them on. Also, sunglasses.  Learn it.  Love it.

So that's how I survive.

Holding it together,
Rachel Leigh

On The Sniffles (and the Coughs and the AchesandPains)

So I’ve been coughing up a lung all day and am now fully dosed-up on some heavy-duty cough syrup.  So, if nothing I say makes sense, please blame it on the codeine-induced lunacy.  Thank you, flu season.

Being sick in college sucks.  So hard.  I have to say, while I absolutely hate being sick (because, really, what kind of sick, masochistic lunatic LIKES being sick?), it has its upsides.  First of all, I love the fact that I can sleep all day, with no judgment.  I mean, yes, it’s more that I get to be so physically exhausted that even if I were being judged for sleeping at 4 in the afternoon, I wouldn’t have the energy to force myself to care, but still.  Though, I mean, I can rarely find the energy to force myself to care anyway.  Sorry I’m not sorry.

Another major upside is that, if I manage to gather the strength necessary to leave my room, I can do so without caring how I look.  Normally, it can take me an hour in the morning to go from looking like a sleep-deprived cross between an actual walking corpse and a permanent inpatient in the terminal disease ward.  From beginning to end, showering, drying hair, moisturizing, fixing hair, applying enough makeup to actually look like a living being, dressing, deciding I hate my whole closet, dressing again, grabbing a coffee to get my brain to catch up, and finally heading out the door takes about an hour and a half. 

When I’m sick, fuck all of that.  Who cares if I look ill without makeup?  I AM ill.  Get over it.  Also, for all you leggings-aren’t-pants haters, get over it.  I’m wearing a baggy t-shirt and leggings because it feels like not wearing clothes at all and I already feel like crap.  Suck it up.

Finally, and by far my favorite, are the no-worries eating habits that come with being sick.  The running logic in my family when someone was sick, they could eat whatever they could hold down.  This means, when I’m sick, I want nothing more than a grilled cheese sandwich and a massive bowl of soup and, regardless of how many calories that may contain and how much my thighs might hate me as a result, I can eat it without an ounce of guilt.  I feel icky, do not judge me for anything that makes me feel better.

Also, why am I the one person who DOESN’T get drowsy after taking a codeine-based cough syrup?  NOT TIRED WAHH. So glad I didn't have classes today, so at least I got some sleep then.

Snifflingly yours,

Rachel Leigh