Thursday! 2-41: Remember the Basics and Take Good Care
V2, I41
When we last left each other, I was rushed for time and halfway through a training class dense in both information and interaction. I also wasn’t feeling on the top of my game — a summer cold had its claws into me and I was stuffy of head and a little more tired than usual. You, delightful readers that you are, were encouraged and creative and ready to commit various acts of art even though the world wasn’t giving you the best opportunities to do so. We were going to take the best shots we could.
Well, I’m not sure what happened with you, but the world decided to put its boot squarely on my chest and shove. What I thought was a summer cold got worse Tuesday, so that Wednesday, I was entirely worn out and barely able to finish the class. I had a sinus headache and had developed a bit of a cough that, also, gave me a headache.1 Fortunately, I had the end of the week off, and I used that to rest and take plenty of headache meds. Except my wife (who was also sick) had a nagging idea that we weren’t dealing with a simple summer cold. So, we took tests.
Yep. You guessed it. We got the Disease of Completely Mysterious Origin.2
By the time we got tested, we were feeling better (though not great) and had come almost to the end of the new isolation period. We are okay. We’ve been out for a day or so, running errands, following the best and most medically-sound guidelines we can find3. We called off the usual family dinner and have gotten a solid chunk of rest and decent food.
Ah. Food. Do you know how much better good food can make you feel? Good food is medicine and if you spend most of your time eating store-made food and snacking out of bags, you’re going to feel like crap. What’s more, you’re going to get used to feeling like crap. When we sat down — finally — and ate a solid meal? Bliss. Aches faded. The off-and-on headache I’d had most of the week turned off. My brain felt less fuzzy and I could focus better. I hadn’t felt quite that good in many days.
[I’m still looking for a few good Patrons to help me do the writing thing all the time. Want in on the ground floor? Be my Patron: $2, $5, or $20 a month! ]
Here’s one of the things about being a creative dynamo that most of those guru-types won’t tell you with plain honesty: taking care of yourself doesn’t take a huge plan. You need three things, and only three things. Want to know what they are?
Eat good food.
Stay hydrated.
Get rest.
Of course there are others you can tack on. Attend to your spiritual needs. Be around good people. Full your mind with good books and good music. But when you’re up against it and functioning is all you feel like doing, those are the basics. We forget them pretty easily. I know I did, more than once, this past week. I think I forgot to drink anything at all most of the day Wednesday and when I finally remembered, I wrecked a 32-ounce cup of iced tea.4 Then I wrecked another one. Taking care of yourself when your schedule is screaming at you, your brain isn’t running at full speed, and you don’t feel wonderful is not easy. We modern humans do not build those basics into our day. Back in Ye Olden Tymes5, we didn’t need to make a point of remembering to eat and drink. We had eating and drinking times, most of which happened at the same time as a bunch of other people. We ate together. We drank together. We danced together. We whacked muddy fields with sticks together. We brought out our dead to the carts together. We quested for the Holy Grail together.6 These days? Well, when was the last time you even saw a grail, much less a holy one, hmmm?
I guess what I’m rambling on about here is how it’s important to take good care of ourselves and each other. Remind each other to stay hydrated and not to eat take-out all the time. Make sure your friends are getting decent sleep, as much as you can. Check in on each other — not just mental health checks, but physical health checks. If you can, get together and share a meal or a drink. Remember the basics and stay on top of them. That way, you can make your art for even longer and, believe me, we need that.
We all do.
What I Wrote Last Week
How, you might ask One headache up front and the other one in the back. Like moose busting up the Double Deuce in Road House, only Wade Garrett didn’t come help me.
I prefer to call it the Wuhan Flu but others call it COVID and more than a few folks call it “how I made a butt load of money”. That, though, is a subject for an entirely different kind of newsletter, and I don’t get paid nearly enough to write those.
Which may or may not come from a governmental agency. Again, not paid enough to wade into that puddle either!
I know. I know. I should have been drinking water. But I don’t liiiiiiiiiiiiike plain water! Or those water drip-in things. I like iced tea, so that’s what I drink.
The Renaissance Festival
I might be confusing us with characters in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, though.