I took a look at the side of my bed today and remember that a few weeks ago, I had the stomach flu and that was the spot where I vomited. I got the stomach flu from eating a sandwich I bought outside. I get sick here and there, such as getting a cold or the fever, but rarely do I ever get a stomach flu. In fact the last time I got the stomach flu was probably years and years ago so I’ve been pretty much oblivious to what it feels like.
However, during those few days under the sickness, and in my entire adult life, I have never experience sickness like that before to the point where I felt like I wouldn’t be able to reach the next day.
During a period of 24 hours, all I did was sleep. I felt like a heavy weight was put on me, preventing me to get up and do anything. And when I did get up, I could barely stand, going from place to place guided by placing my hand on objects around the house. It was impossible to drink anything, even water, without a feeling in my tongue salivating me to throw up. Food was not an option either.
When I was in bed, I had major chills, a feeling of being extremely cold on the inside, but then hot in the outside where I was sweating a lot. Going to the bathroom was a frequent thing for me to do, since I constantly felt the need to puke, but getting there felt almost impossible. Finally, I was sent to a doctor, where, upon getting from my house to the car to the point of getting a needle inserted into my arm, breathing was very hard to do.
To say the least, it was an indescribable feeling; almost as if that entire time I had the stomach flu, it took an extreme of effort just to stay conscious, and when I was conscious, I was at a point when I was breathing so hard, wanting all the mental and physical pain to stop, that I all I was thinking about was one question:
“If I could do anything just to breathe normally again…”
After I got a shot from the doctor, I began to recover within a few days. It all had felt like a nightmare that finally ended. When I was able to speak, move, and talk normally again, I pondered back on what had just happened.
I just went through something that is considered minor to a lot of people, but to me, it was something that I have never felt before to that extent. I mean, being on the verge of throwing up and trying to repress it from happening telling yourself, “Don’t throw up, you can hold it in, just wait it out…” all while breathing heavily for hours and leaning over a trash can is an experience that I never want to experience again in my life.
And yet, there are some people in this planet that go through this type of pain – not stomach pain per se – but other types of pains worse than mine on a daily basis.
Sometimes I go through my day wanting more than I already have, whether this is having more friends, more money, more stylish clothes, more entertainment, whatever it is, I forget the one thing that I take granted for everyday that I should want more of – and that is having one more day to live.
Having the stomach flu perhaps wasn’t a life or death experience now that I think back on it, but it taught me that most people in their lives keep complaining about the things they don’thave, rather than looking at things they do have.
Because, they are never happy in life. They are always looking for something that they don’t have and when they don’t have it, it causes frustration, and sometimes even anger.
I knew that after I had recovered, that moment of just being out of misery was one of the best feelings of my life. I knew that it might be impossible to look in the future that same type of feeling, but it did allow me to look at my life from a different perspective that I am not normally aware of.
And that perspective is simply being alive – being alive today. Many people take life and healthy body for granted, but when you are you grateful for being alive, for being able to justdo things without pain, it gives you a boost of energy to do more as well as a feeling of happiness inside.
Perhaps it’s time to revaluate the things we don’t have, and look at the things we do have. I’m not talking about having a house, having a pet dog, or having a car, I’m talking about being able to breath, move freely, and enjoy life in the moment. That “ability” is something that we shouldn’t take for granted because who knows when someday we might not have it again, say even for a few days of having the stomach flu.
Photo Credit: madmolecule
