Sick Hypocrite

Everyone seems to be getting sick everywhere. The flu is raging right now, and I would really hate to catch it. Every time that I’ve ever been sick, I always deny it for no good reason. It’s not a I-know-I’m-sick-but-I-don’t-care sort of thing, more of a I-genuinely-don’t-think-I’m-sick-til-everyone-tells-me-I-need-to-go-home thing. For instance, freshman year, we were doing this fun lab in biology where we got to dissect a fish. I remember feeling totally fine at the beginning, and then coming down with one of the most painful headaches I’ve ever experienced. My head was screaming, and people told me I wasn’t looking too good. I truly believed it was just a bad headache, but soon after I began to experience chills and fatigue. Like the dummy that I am, I pushed through and even went to marching band rehearsal, which somehow ended up being indoors for the day. I could barely function during the rehearsal, but blamed my headache and swore I wasn’t sick. I went home and slept for 15 hours after that. St. Patrick’s Day of sophomore year, I had a date planned to go see the new live action Beauty and the Beast movie, which I had been so excited to see. I was hit with the same symptoms, but popped in some Tylenol and went on with my day. I wore 3 coats during the movie, genuinely believing it was just cold in the theater, and I could barely function on the way home. So far senior year, I haven’t really been sick(knock on wood), and I really appreciate not feeling like my head is twice as heavy and clogged as usual. Despite the fact that I have totally been a culprit of going out when I’m sick, it’s a huge pet peeve of mine when other people do it knowingly. Especially when they then think they have the right to complain about it. “I’ve got a 102 degree fever and I feel like crap!” “Then go HOME, Max!” None of us want any of that. People in my friend group are starting to get sick, and while I haven’t felt any symptoms, I’m getting paranoid that I’m next, so this rant felt fitting.