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On Friday evening, I started noticing signs of a cold. A slight tickle in my throat, was the first sign. I decided not to consume sugary drinks while I had this cold, primarily Coca-Cola. Saturday throughout the day, I have to talk loudly for 6 hours of the day, and caused my throat to dry out. Having a projector shine in my eyes all day started to give me a headache. I felt too lazy to go and get a drink from the store on Saturday and just drank water for the day with the essential oil (lemon) which is good for cleansing the body. Come Sunday, I had a massive headache and went to work not feeling so well. The bright projector and hyper kids exaggerated the headache, and now I had a runny nose. I felt worse after the first class, and immediately went home for my afternoon break until classes start again at 6:30. I lie in bed and try to relax. I awake from a nap and went to head to class a little early to prepare, and take a small rest before class.
As I'm sitting at my desk, I finish the bottle of water I had, and the big jugs we pump our water out of were empty... great! I feel like crap, have a dry throat, have to shout for an hour and a half teaching kids and keeping their wandering attentions. On the way to class, I saw the water machine the school provides for the parents to refill the thermos their kids drink from. FYI a dedicated hot water faucet is available in many places with easy access. This one also has a room temp option! Such a sigh of relief! Classes went surprisingly smooth and quickly the entire day despite being sick, which I was thankful for, because at the end of the day my colleague said he noticed how I became visibly worse throughout the day, which accurately described how I felt. Sunday Marked the second day without a sugary drink, and just water with lemon oil. When Monday morning arrived, I felt a huge headache, stuffiness, congestion, runny nose and had a full on cold. Being hesitant and lazy, I didn't want to go and get some groceries or the medicine. I reflected back to last week about deciding to take action, and did so. I immediately prepared to head out and get the food and medicine! At the mall I grabbed some food and then visited the pharmacy for some cough medication. Scrolling through my photos trying to find a photo of the kind I purchased previously (as it was very effective), I tried to convey I was sorry for the delay. Then, as I raise the photo to her, the pharmacist raises her hand 90° and there is the box right in front of my face. Man, there it was. I was that customer who comes in asking for something and not realizing it right in front of my face. tsk tsk. Back outside, I consume the second packet of yogurt I purchased from Vangaurd (think like a juice box but flexible plastic) and admire the packaging while enjoying the pleasant aftertaste. In North America, people eat yogourt out of a bowl or cup, either plain and mixed with ingredients. Here, yogourt is drank and sold individual contains like any other bottled beverage. Typically, I get two before work as they are healthy and cheap ($0.56). But 7 Eleven doesn't carry the strawberry ones, and I'm a huge fan of strawberry. As I've said before, I can now notice the little enjoyments I have in life. It's great having a life where this happens somewhat frequently and I'm thankful I am able recognize them when they happen. I spent pretty much the entire Monday in bed, on either my iPhone or iPad, I seriously need to do something about my screen addiction. Come Tuesday, I felt improved and decided to take a second day of keeping it pretty low key. As much as I enjoy time with people, I have no problem going through periods of being alone. I think it's important for people to have access to both time with others and time alone. By now, I hadn't had a sugary drink since Friday night, had only drank wanter with lemon oil, and since Monday morning I have been drinking a concoction which has proven very helpful. It's simply a water bottle filled with warm water, lemon slices, the oils, the cough medicine (which are like this small brown round balls the size of crumbs) and honey. I heat up some water in the kettle, pour in some honey, add the lemon oil, toss in the medicine and the add two fresh lemon slices. I then add the hot water slowly, allowing the ingredients to mix together. It's not bad to drink, keeps the throat wet, and the lemon and honey offer a variety of benefits to the body. Throughout the day my body felt sore, and as a result did a few yoga stretches. I knew attending yoga would result in me sweating a ton, and offer assistance to getting over the cold as the skin empties toxins when sweating. Additionally, when doing yoga I now breathe completely through my nose instead of my mouth. This results in more focused breathing and keeping body heat inside thereby raising my body temp and causing more perspiration. With all the fluid loss, I need to rehydrate my body, and giving it my mixture will really help flush whatever is left. My Wednesday yoga class also gives a good sweat so by Wednesday evening I hope I'll be feeling normal again! And probably by the time this is published, Ill have gone 24 hours without spending any money! Try doing this, its actually not as easy as you might think. I'm pretty happy with how quickly my immune system is working through the cycles I notice in a cold. And proud of being able to cut the sugar drinks off, as well as not spend money today. I've been keeping these bits of progress under wraps because I've noticed if I do not discuss objectives I am advancing online, they are far more likely to be achieved. My biggest example of this is my preparations to move to China. Self-reflection and self-observation are both important for us to keep out personal development moving forward. Being able to make many incremental observations, and being cognizant of it, allows you to better understand who you are. Cheers |
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