If you’re one of the unlucky ones that has endured Covid, or any other kind of ailment in the last year, then I hope you’re doing ok. But for the rest of us, is anyone else out there feeling weird that they haven’t been sick?
Peak cold season is November to January in Europe. Combining cold weather with the stress of end-of-year and the sudden relaxation of time off is usually a bad combination for me. Between December and mid Feb 2020, I was struck down with one illness after another. There was a cold, a second cold, a tummy bug and an almost-constantly blocked nose.
And then Covid hit, and with it came lockdown. With increased hand washing, mask-wearing and less exposure to other people, it became much harder to actually get sick. Flu season was basically non-existent. Theoretically, in protecting yourself from Covid, you protect yourself from many of the other contagious diseases out there, too.
So here I am, in the middle of winter, with snow and ice and low temperatures all around, and I haven’t been sick for a year. And it feels weird. Although I’ve had some bouts of tickly throat or fatigue or general meh throughout the year, none of them went any further. And now I almost feel like my body wants to get sick. It almost feels a bit unnatural. It feels like my body wants to stop and force me to lie in bed for a few days and feel like crap. What are the consequences of being so hygienic all the time? Is it good for us, or are we risking our long-term immunity and our body’s ability to recover?
At some point I’m going to be struck down with a cold, and I know I’ll be lying in bed thinking back to this time where I’ve been healthy for so long and wishing for it. But I can’t help these thoughts pop into my head. What about you? Are you feeling weird too? Or is it just me?
an aussie in austria 
I’ve also not had any flu or cold in the past year. I blame the office environment for making us sick every year and this just goes to show! Isn’t it some sort of OH&S that we get to avoid getting sick from the workplace? I don’t think HR would be very supportive of this reasoning.
Yeah the office is definitely a big part of it – and all the people that go into work even when they’re sick because they don’t have a work from home option or they don’t have enough sick leave. Enabling work from home is good in more ways than one!