Ahhhhhh-Chooo!

© Jacquelyn Johnston, M.Ed.

Have you seen that ad on TV of a woman wheezing and sneezing, just about to give up the ghost, while a jingle in the background sings “shall I go or shall I stay”? Next up, you see a magic product that is going to make her feel so well she can go to work. Surprisingly, she makes the decision to stay at home, and the next shot shows her sitting blissfully in bed, all smiles, and every sign of ‘flu misery wiped off her face. She has, of course, taken the magic potion.

And have you noticed the number of magic elixirs being marketed to help you mask your cold symptoms? Fast, effective solutions out of a bottle? They’re about as good for you as the fast effective solutions other people get out of another kind of bottle.

I wonder where this compulsion comes from that makes us keep going no matter what. Picture this: you’re feeling miserable and feverish, your head is spinning and your nose is running faster than an Olympic sprinter, and all you want to do is stay in bed and sleep. Yet many an ad says “take this and go to work”. No one will even know you have a cold. And so you take a dose of this magic potion and soldier on. You drive when you should be sleeping, you walk into the workplace with about 50% of your normal energy, and you “attack” the task at hand somewhat more slowly than normal.

You also make a contribution to the workplace germ pool. You leave millions of them on desk-tops, the paper you handle, the coffee-machine, the photocopier…and goodness knows where else. As the day wears on you get the symptoms back that you had at 6 am and you drag yourself around, determined to get through the day, dreaming every minute of the moment you get home and back into bed. Oh my, what a valiant soldier you are.

Folks, that’s presenteeism at its worst. You haul your physical self to the workplace, denying that you really ought to let your body do its job, and slowing everything down (except the multiplication of germs) in the process. You are physically present, but that’s about all. You’re feeling woozy, and I wonder who is benefiting from your being there.

Now here’s a thought: a cold isn’t just something you catch, like the measles or chickenpox. It’s your body telling you you’re overloaded with toxins, and that you need to give your liver, among other things, a chance to do the inner laundry. Contrary to popular belief, there is no substitute for tons of rest and lots of fluids. Chicken soup wouldn’t hurt either. Masking the symptoms means introducing even more toxins into your body, paving the way for the next cold. Ever heard people say “I just keep getting one cold after another”. Well it’s usually not a new cold, but the old one you never allowed to quit.

What’s the alternative? You decide. Maybe it’s time to listen to your body, to have a plan for getting real, for leaving the symptoms behind forever. Want long-term solutions? No idea where to start? I invite you to go contact me for a free consultation. You will see how the little things we do to damage ourselves on a daily basis can have long-term consequences.

In the meantime, try some real chicken soup—not the processed stuff out of a can, and get back under those covers.

Sniff-be-gone!

Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Johnston M.Ed.
Solutions and support for optimal health