I always like when the month starts on a Monday because then I have no excuses to make. Like sometimes I'll say "I'm starting my diet on Monday" but then it's like the middle of the month and I'm like "That's too confusing to keep track of, I'll just start my diet on the first" and then... it's a vicious circle. So February 1st was a Monday and I decided, stupidly I might add, that I was going to start my Be Healthier campaign by quitting coffee.
Exactly.
Now let me pause and tell you a little bit about my self: My name is Susana and I am a coffee addict. I'm not Gilmore Girls addicted (oh, how I miss them) but close enough. According to my mom, my grandfather used to drink a huge cup of coffee along with a box of cookies every night. My parents used to get up every morning and the first thing they did was turn on the coffee pot. Every Sunday we read the newspaper and drink coffee. Everyone in my family drinks coffee. Everyone I used to work with drinks coffee. So why quit if everyone else is doing it? Well, because a) I hate that I'm addicted to something (not exactly healthy) and b) coffee is bad for my sensitive tummy.
Unpause. On top of this new crazy idea I also had the delusion that I would go hiking at least three times this week, just for starters.
Yeah, not so much. Sunday we had to meet my brother's advisor and half-way through the meeting I began to feel nauseous. My siblings and I walked a few blocks from there to Burger King and (I must've been sick) nothing on the menu looked appetizin. I didn't want anything! Even though I am one of those people that prefers BK fries to McD's fries. We walked back and I was so dizzy I fell onto the bed and fell asleep. Monday morning I thought nothing of the day before (again, stupidly) and didn't have my coffee even though I wanted it. I wanted it very badly. It just doesn't feel like a day has started until I've had my coffee. It was on this afternoon that a small pain began on the left side of my forehead. I've quit coffee before (usually for Lent) so I was prepared for this to happen but nausea was overpowering.
Tuesday I spent all day in bed and started to feel very warm, this is unusual because I'm cold even in the Summer. I made my way downstairs to the living room and put a brave face on for my family but then I couldn't get upstairs again and slept on the couch, pathetically hugging the pillows.
Wednesday the pain in my forehead grew to the size of a football. This was probably the worst day of all. My body was shaking, I was sweating, the rooms were all turning round and round, and I had lost my appetite for good. I spent the day on the couch. My mom came home that afternoon for lunch and FINALLY asked what was wrong (really? am I that lazy that it takes three days to realize I'm not well?). I gave her my symptoms and prayed that as always she had a remedy. She goes upstairs to her room and hands me a dark-red pill. I'm a little scared.
Me: "What is it?"
Mom: "Just take it"
Me: "You're supposed to offer me a blue pill too"
Mom: "I don't have any blue pills"
Me: "Then I have no choice?!"
Mom: "What difference does it make what color the pills are?"
Me: "A big difference"
Mom: "I have to go back to work. You want the pill or not?"
Me: "I'm a little scared"
Mom: "I don't have time for this! If you want to feel better take the pill"
And so I did, and it worked. Well, it worked for only a few hours. It only masked the pain in my head, I could still feel the football growing, throbbing, behind the veil, ready to attack. That night I fell asleep (or rather, I tossed and turned) on the couch again. By the morning of Thursday I couldn't take it anymore. The pain was so unbearable that I thought of pulling out a tooth or cutting off a finger just so that maybe I could feel something else. I knew there was something else wrong with me but I also knew that my caffeine withdrawal was adding to the shittiness I felt. So I rolled off the couch, crawled to the kitchen, propped myself up to the counter and prepared a pot of coffee. I waited with my mouth dry and my hands shaking for the last drop to fall and then I quickly poured myself a cup. I dropped some milk and threw in some sugar and swallowed that sucker down like I was in the hot desert and it was a cool glass of water. Within seconds--SECONDS--the football-sized pain in my head shrunk to a tiny pea. It was miraculous.
Of course once you complete one task another one is waiting right around the corner. Suddenly, I was famished. Turns out I hadn't eaten in a couple of days (but hey! I lost like two pounds!) and now I was dizzy from having laid down on one side of my head for such a long time. So it took another day for me to get completely better. Methinks that I had the flu or I was trying to fight off the flu during this week and that's what created the double-punch of this week.
Now because I'm trying to be all cheery and positive let's see if I can find a silver lining in all this.
hmm...
I watched a really good PBS special about national parks and monuments :)
I did lose those two pounds which means that I'm on track for my resolution
My arm feels better (it was hurting from carrying some boxes)
I didn't have to call in sick to work four days because I don't have a job
Well there you go. Next week it's that "holiday" that I'm going to try and be non-negative about (there's no way I'm going to be POSITIVE about it, not when everyone else is getting some).
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