How Life Should Be | Teen Ink

How Life Should Be

December 9, 2009
By Anonymous

I should be in school right now, lucky me. I have the swine flu. Though perhaps not as deadly as some might have you believe, there is no better word to describe the experience of having it than “debilitating”. Despite the splitting headache, three-digit fever, and hacking cough, the chance to assume a vegetative state while watching movies all day, and having my every need attended to, is still a beautiful thing. This is not to say that I am unmotivated or lazy, I am simply expressing my own slight yet unfortunate propensity towards a universal human weakness. During a time in which I am going through the many tedious processes that mark my transition into post-secondary education and adulthood, any opportunity for excusable sloth is more than welcome. The experience is comparable to reentering the womb, the ultimate regression. Between painful coughs and fever sweats, my only thought is, “This is how life should be.” All things must pass, however, even the days of bliss spent on sofas, under blankets, and within calling distance of one’s attentive mother. No medal is awarded for indolence, no diploma is awarded for a degree in apathy. Transitions, from the womb to the world, from sick to well, from high school to college, all entail a new level of responsibility.
My torpor is beginning to lift. Already, my thoughts have shifted from acetaminophen and ibuprofen to French and Pre-Calculus. My potential as a student, as a human being, is returning. Time is growing short in the area of college applications, and more than one person besides myself is beginning to feel the first twinges of anxiousness. Nevertheless, I will be ready. As my fever breaks, broken also is yet another remnant of immaturity. I am moving away from sickness, away from the mundane, to an institution of higher learning. I will always enjoy time to simply exist, to not think, but not now. Now, I am moving forward into a new frame of existence, one not defined by standard dimensions, but by the length of a discussion, the breadth of study, the depth of an idea, and the time it takes to achieve all of which I am capable.
I will finally be going back to school tomorrow, after the longest absence due to illness that I have ever taken in my life. I will return to school, I will make up my late work, but I will have made just one of many steps towards the academic sphere. While amidst the fog of the swine flu, I have finished my essay. I am ready.



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This article has 3 comments.


RandiHeald said...
on Oct. 1 2010 at 9:19 am
Really caught my eye with descirbing the feeling of sickness and health. Everyone knows how it feels to be sick but you really knew how to express the way you felt.

LaVonna SILVER said...
on Feb. 4 2010 at 2:59 pm
LaVonna SILVER, Owatonna, Minnesota
6 articles 0 photos 27 comments

Favorite Quote:
"dont let education get in your way of learning" -my American Lit teacher

nice..really caught my attention:)

Edzh said...
on Dec. 29 2009 at 4:28 am
This is hella creative and well written! It was enjoyable to read, but when I look back on it, it seems to lack substance.