I got sick this week  – sick enough to take two days off work without knowing who my subsitute would be and not really caring as long as I didn’t have to go into work.

I got sick enough I took a whole weekend off from yoga teacher training and well, from everything that didn’t involve laying on the couch or in bed.

I got sick enough that my big accomplishment for the weekend was showering and brushing my teeth.

I got sick enough I googled flu versus cold symptoms and fell decidedly in the flu column with a special shout out to the tiredness, unproductive – yet really, really annoying – cough, and overall body aches. Thursday morning I felt like my body had been worked over with a sock full of oranges Grifters style.

As the weekend progressed and I didn’t magically feel better, I began to wonder if I’d ever feel healthy again. I do this. When I’m sick I feel sorry for myself and to try to assign some blame as to why I got sick. It isn’t enough that it’s one of the worst flu years ever and I am surrounded all day by snotty, sneezy, coughy children. No, I need to know why.

A friend called me this weekend to check on me and her theory about my flu was less about my proximity to the little germ factories and more about totally stressing out about a high profile observation last week at work. And maybe report cards, grading and parent conferences coming up. As it turns out, she may be on to something or so says Parade magazine…

“Stress affects your heart, weight, and skin. It’s also linked with “poorer wound healing, an increased risk for developing depression, the common cold, and influenza, as well as associated with increased symptoms among those with chronic illnesses,” says Dr. Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon.”

So now I’m thinking the big work stressors combined with the little germ factories is probably what made me sick to begin with. Now I’m left wondering how I can counter all those factors…. hmmm, maybe some yoga?