I’ve been dealing with a cold for nearly the last two weeks. The first week was a total wash as far as drawing goes, though I was able to keep up with the things that needed keeping up with.
This week has been better, but I’m still enough lacking in energy that I decided to do something “fun” for this post. What is it? A list of things to do when you’re under the weather.
Here goes.
Things to Do When You’re Under the Weather
Health Related
Drink lots of fluids
Eat chicken noodle soup or something similar
Take your vitamins
Get lots of rest
Take your medicine as prescribed
Drink ginger ale (I crave ginger ale when I don’t feel well. That probably comes from the way I was raised.)
Take things easy in general
Stay inside where it’s warm and comfy
If you have a cold, dice pungent onions (the kind that make you cry) and set them around in bowls (My sister told me about this. I have a bowl of chopped onions sitting on my desk, and it does seem to be making a difference with my sinuses. She said it helped when they had COVID a year or two ago, too. Who knew?)
Art Related
Watch art videos
Browse images on websites like Pixabay
Get out those old photo albums (if you have them) and look through those
Sketch or doodle
Look at art supply catalogs (or browse art supply websites)
Listen to podcasts
Sort your pencils
General Ideas
Read
Watch movies
Surf the web
Work on a jigsaw puzzle
Play solitaire
Listen to an audio book
Cuddle with your dog or cat (if you have one)
Weird Things I Think About Doing When I’m Under the Weather
Think about a new website or redesigning your current website (I know what you’re thinking. This is not something one normally does when one is ill. For some reason, it’s usually high on my list when I’m not well. Call it a quirk in my mental makeup.)
Think about writing a novel (This another one of those personal mental quirks. When I don’t have the energy to draw, writing seems to be a good replacement. Speed writing (setting a timer and just writing) helped me write this post and a few other things this past week.)
Walk laps (we have a fairly open floor plan, so I can walk laps through several rooms. Normally, this is good exercise, but I also walk laps when I’m thinking something through. Oddly enough, when I didn’t have the mental acuity to do anything else, walking laps was a comfort this past week or so. I cannot explain that other than to think it was something to do.)
The Bottom Line
We all respond to illness in different ways. The things you do depend a lot on how severe the illness is (I got off relatively easy this time), how long it lasts, and many other things.
But I hope you’ve enjoyed my somewhat silly list of things to do or consider doing the next time you’re under the weather!
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