Navigating Life With A Cold

I don't consider myself narcissistic. But when faced with the cold/sinus/allergy season, there is no fashionable way to navigate life. It would be ideal to hunker down and remain in bed until all the symptoms subside. But like the majority of working class America, I must got to work on a daily basis strung out on cold medicine or not. Accompanied by all the traits that come with a cold: nose running like a faucet, sore throat, head that feels like a ton of bricks, watery eyes, hot & cold chills, aches and coughing. However, I will say that living alone has its advantage when dealing with a cold. It's fine when I wake myself up snoring in the middle of the night or that there are used Kleenex and empty packets of Vitamin C in the bed. Or the time I was trying to wash dishes and every time I leaned my head down, my nose dripped. It was frustrating - stopping every minute to blow my nose. Finally, I stuffed Kleenex up my nose to get through the pile of dishes that had collected over my sickest days. This wouldn't have been a pretty sight for anyone else, but thankfully enough, it was just me and my cold. I stood at the sink in my mismatched flannel pajamas and wool fleece, unbrushed hair and warm fuzzy Santa Claus socks, and did not care how I looked. Going to work creates a whole other situation. Most importantly, I don't believe anyone should come to work sick while spreading germs. Most work environments are close cubicle-erected mazes - close quarters - that make it easy to catch someones cold. I'm constantly sneezing into my tissue, holding my hand over the phone receiver as I cough my head off, and either sweating or shivering, depending on the temperature in the building. I try not to make direct eye contact with fellow employees, because the state of what's going on from the neck up, is sometimes circumstances beyond my control. It's hard to be taken seriously when you're wiping your nose in front of people or excusing yourself to honk away. I've seen others with snot crusted up around their nose, it's not a good look. You would hope out of sympathy someone would tell you that you have some action going on in the nose area. Also, my focus is off. I find it hard to function up to par when the non-drowsy multi-symptom cold medicine has made me drowsy. I drift between reading an email for the fifth time and hallucinations of being on my couch with a mug of warm tea. Even responding to an email on cold medicine should be against company policy. Colds linger. In the middle of it all, I sometimes wonder if it will ever go away. Food is bland. Friendships suffer. Bad hair days are good days. Work feels like the seventh level of Hell. Ultimately, it's just a season, so it passes. Slowly, I can breathe out of my nose. The ringing in the ears go away. And the empty Kleenex box goes in the trash.