Being sick sucks. That is a statement we can all universally agree on. Everyone on the planet would rather feel healthy and energetic than worn down and tired. There are large illnesses that affect some, and small illnesses that come and go throughout the seasons. It is the small ones that affect everyone. No one on the planet can say that they have never had a cold, the sniffles, or an upset stomach. At least one of these is bound to plague every human being at least once in their life time. We often complain so much about feeling not well when we are sick, that we forget what it feels like to feel good. However, when we are not sick, rarely does anyone take notice and realize how lucky they are to not be coughing up a storm or throwing up.

Whenever I’m sick, I throw myself a self-pity party. I sit in my room — or the bathroom if I have the flu — and wish I was dead or complain about how much it hurts to be sick. I want my mommy, I want water, I want tea, I do not want food, I want, want, want! And what I want the most is to just feel well again. I’m sure we’ve all done this, complained and asked for the world when we are sick. It’s in our nature as egocentric beings to complain when things aren’t going our way.

The issue here is that when things do go our way, we often take it for granted. When I’m not sick, not coughing or throwing up, I don’t celebrate that I feel well. I don’t think about how great it is to be able to breathe without snot running down the back of my throat or how walking doesn’t hurt after each step. This is something I realized while I was sick. I had a stack of used tissues next to my bed and couldn’t sleep because breathing was near impossible. All I could think is that I couldn’t remember what it was like to breathe easily, how feeling good was a foreign world to me. Then I realized that every time I felt well it went unnoticed.

I didn’t notice on a daily basis how easily air moved through my lungs, how it felt to have food digest soundly in my stomach, what it felt like to have all of my energy. But when I was sick, I noticed all that I lacked. I noticed my clogged nose, the queasy feeling in my stomach, the lack of energy from my body wearing itself out trying to get better.

Whether or not we know it, we all take our health for granted. I realized this and all I can wonder is why. Why do we never notice when we are well and lack thankfulness for being well? Yet when we are sick we complain about the health we lack. I think being aware of this can actually be a good thing. If we are more thankful for when we are healthy, maybe being sick won’t be so bad.

Either that or we’ll just feel worse. Who knows?