Sick tips for Uni. | Blogmas 2018 | Day 4

Everybody has at least one area of their life that has been or are lacking. I had a great childhood. My parents support and love me endlessly. My siblings are my ride or dies and I have a good few solid friends who know me better than I know myself. Now that's not to say everything is perfect, but I have been pretty lucky with regards to all that. My downfall is my health, particularly in the last 3 or 4 years. Things are definitely better than before but my health still brings a lot of struggle into my life. (I'm actually working on a health update at the moment so keep your eyes peeled for that post if you're interested in my health journey!) With that said, todays post is dedicated to my top tips and tricks on how to deal with being sick while at Uni (or school or work or basically just life haha).

*Future Holly interjection*
I wrote this yesterday and I think I may be psychic because I woke up SO SICK! So as I sit here in bed with my pouding head as I try not to puke, I guess its time to follow my own advice! Anyway, back to past Holly...

Uni is essentially a germ pool where you spend 20% of your time getting sick, 60% of your time being unwell and the other 20% feeling like you're just about to come out the other end of it before we go right back to square one. Unless I have suddenly lost my ability to do maths, thats 100% of your time feeling under the weather. Now my extremely scientific and accurate results here are purely based of my experience of 1st semester and with my poor excuse of an immune system, it may no be applicable to everyone. That being said, the general concensous seems to be that you get sick alot at uni and unfortunately you don't get a say in the matter. So, as a very professional and experienced sick person, here are my sick tips for Uni... see what I did there... sick tips. Such comedy gold.

Tip 1. Remember that your health ALWAYS COMES FIRST.
Now this comes in at number one becuause it really is the most important one. If there is one thing that I have learnt over the last few years, it is the sheer importance of your health and what happens when you don't make that a priority. Let me tell you, it is not a pretty picture. Health is the centre of everything and poor health can affect every aspect of your life. When my health was at its worse I couldn't attend school, couldn't hold a job, I had to drop all my hobbies besides reading (which even then I couldn't do as much), I felt like I lost my friends, my anxiety got worse, my whole life just came to a crashing halt. Now this is a real extreme example but if you refuse to prioritise your health, there is a real possibility you could be heading to much more serious health issues. If you are sick, your priority is to be healthy again. Above everything, is your health. If you need an extension, ask for it. If your health is coming in between studies, talk to your tutor. Your health is first and any decent Uni should understand that too.

Tip 2. Do the boring healthy things
Yes, I know they are boring. They are dull and time consuming and generally not that enjoyable but there is a reason these things get repeated so often. Up the fruit and vegetable intake. Reduce the sugar intake (and I personally find reducing dairy and gluten help speed up the healing process). Drink tons of water. Take your vitamins/supplements (I personally live by Doterras -contact my mamma for more info- and blame my inconsistancy with them for the decline in my health after months of being my healthiest in years). Get some fresh air. Excersice regularly to help avoid getting sick in the first place. You know these things but somehow we forgot to do them still. Probably because its not fun, but hey you know what else isn't fun? Getting sick. Go eat an apple. (Please, you can get one in the reduced section!)

Tip 3. Manage stress!
Again, this is likely something you have heard before. Stress is bad. But, this is actually something that while I knew, I have really come to understand a little more recently, and actually I am so interested in the physcial responses to stress and just how much it can impact us. There is this fabulous video by SciShow Psych ft. Hank Green which I think summarises it all quite nicely and gives you a great insight into the power of stress - deffo reccomend giving this a cheeky watch if you've got a spare 5 mins. While we all know stress doesn't feel good, there is a good chance that its contributing to why you got sick or even why you're struggling to recover properly. This is something I am working on right now as I am a very highly strung person who is basically anxious like 78% of the time. But, what I have found useful so far is journaling, music, gentle exercise and meditiation. I do these things somewhat sporadically and think I might try a little week long experiment to see how these techniques work in practice, any body interested in that? The point is, these are all things you can incorperate into your life, even as a busy Uni student.

Tip 4. Be a lazy potato
If you are sick, you need to rest. Its annoying and inconvenient but that's just the way it is. 1 day of responsible rest will always beat a week of recovery after refusing to achknowledge your need to rest. Try and attend lectures if you can but there will be other socials. The FOMO at uni is so real but in some ways, that works to your advantage here. There is always so much going on, that is is garunteed you can find something to do once youre well enough. Lie down, sleep and rest.

Apologies if you were hoping for something revolutionary here, but the truth is that with health, there are no short cuts. It takes effort and perserverance and self dicipline but it is so worth it becasue when your'e healthy you can really live your best life.

Do you have any secret health tips? (Please tell me because I need them all)

Hope you have a lovely day and I will speak to you tomorrow,

P.S- Get well soon!