What to Write When You’re Sick

Juggling home life and work becomes tremendously harder with a sick child.

These are the days that really get me down. My 8-year-old son came home from school on Friday with The Sick Face. Complaints about a sore throat prompted a trip to walk-in care. Rapid stress test was negative, “just a virus.” Two days later and he still had The Face and The Fever. Follow-up call from the clinic: turns out he has strep after all, as the culture turned positive.

Any juggling of home life and work becomes tremendously harder with a sick child. On top of that, no school today for President’s Day, so the five-year-old was also home.

By the time the clinic called in the evening and we had a prescription for antibiotics, I’m not feeling well. I know my own body well enough to know when a fever is imminent.

I think about all of the writing time I’ve lost. Since I have to squeeze in an hour here or there around our busy lives, something like this sets me back for days. It is impossible to catch up.

I haven’t written in my blog for six days, when I usually write 2–3 times per week. That blog is my grief therapy. Sure, I could dash out a post really fast and “get it out of the way” but it usually requires more reflection. I’m not yet organized enough to have posts planned in advance, and usually I fear that would take away from the rawness of writing in the moment. I also consider that by not capturing right away, delayed due to life, when I finally go to collect my thoughts I will have lost some of the intention behind sharing that experience.

So here I am instead. Writing about writing, or non-writing as it were. Wishing I could spring up and find energy, but knowing that pushing myself does no good either. I need to rest and let the illness run its course.

You can support my work as a writer by becoming a Medium member. Or buy me a coffee!