Downtime Well Spent?

This holiday season has served up a succession of minor maladies. I've been through a round of antibiotics, and am punching out Tamiflu capsules hoping to knock out some annoying symptoms.

As a 1) dude who 2) doesn't get sick often, you can only imagine how little fun I am to be around. As my daughter pointed out:

Everyone gets sick. For some reason, you feel the need to talk about it all the time.

Touché. Here's what this little episode has reminded me: feeling healthy is an extraordinary gift and blessing. My hat goes off and my heart goes out to anyone who manages pain, injury, disease, low amounts of neurotransmitters, etc. Not to get all Epicurean about it, but pleasure is the absence of pain.

And having the energy to manage the day-to-day? I am barely a fit parent, partner (personal), and partner (professional) when virus/bacteria free. Suffice it is to say my friends from DSS would have stopped by were the Twins any younger than 17.

Consistent with that attitude, I'd like to tell you I've used this time to do something useful and profound, like creating my own custom GPT, reading one of the roughly three dozen books lying around this house, or building a bookcase to house them.

But have you SEEN how many streaming channels and shows there are? I am sure I have seen all of Netflix. And I find it inconvenient at best and rude at worst that podcasters are taking a couple of weeks off.

I have managed to walk Xavier and Daisy (currently a DIR - "Dog in Residence") a couple of times.

But getting antsy, thinking wishfully about getting better, and feeling the need to "do something" predictably leads to overextension. Resulting in the below.

Here's my point: I need the rest. To do, dare I say it, nothing. Instead, either I fixate on doing something "unique" and "special" (without actually doing any such thing, mind you), or foolishly do just the opposite of what getting better requires.

So if I am resolving anything for 2024, perhaps I'd like to practice resting the same way I focus on work and play.

And I hope you get or give a green dress in the New Year (but not a real green dress . . . that's cruel).