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4 Differences Between Being Sick As A Kid And As A Young Adult

Being sick isn't fun.

Jan 23, 2017

4 Differences Between Being Sick As A Kid And As A Young Adult

This whole week I've been run down. No voice, a bad cough, chills and lack of energy have left me feeling pretty yucky. Coming home for the weekend has got me reminiscing about what it was like to be home sick. Here are the 5 biggest differences:

1. Staying home from school

Being able to sleep in and stay in bed all day made kids almost wish they would come down with pink eye. Getting sick meant being able to read, watch TV, bake cookies, and catch up on rest instead of going to school. Being sick as an adult is different. It means going to school and work armed with tea, tissues, cold medicine and trying really hard not to get others sick while still trying to be productive.

2. Having others take care of you

My mom would make me chicken noodle soup and tea, and if needed take me to the doctor. While I enjoy having both the freedoms and responsibilities of an adult most of the time, its just not as comforting to microwave a bowl of soup in your dorm room while doing computer coding as it is to have mom bring you homemade chicken noodle soup while your buried under blankets.

3. Sleep

As a kid, I bounced back from being sick super quickly, probably because I was able to get lots of sleep. In college it's a different story. While I try to take good care of myself, drink lots of water and sleep when I can, I'm busy. I have class for 3 or 4 hours a day,then 4 hours of homework, a work study job, and club and volunteering I'm involved in, plus I want to be able to spend time with friends. While I wouldn't trade any of that for the world, it does make getting enough sleep to recover somewhat difficult.

4. Getting diagnosed

As a kid it seems like your mom always knows exactly what's wrong with you and when you should go to the doctor. As an adult I'm never really sure when my "long cold" is just that or when it warrants a trip to the campus nurse or the doctor. So if I am sick for longer than 4 or 5 days, figuring out what is wrong with me involves talking to all the girls on my floor, going on WebMD and being told I have cancer (seriously don't go on WebMD), and calling Mom or Dad or both before deciding what I should do.

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4 Differences Between Being Sick As A Kid And As A Young Adult

Being sick isn't fun.

1. Staying home from school

2. Having others take care of you

3. Sleep

4. Getting diagnosed

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

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"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

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What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

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Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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