Vacation? Will My Body Allow It?

I work...a lot. I have a job that allows for proper vacation time, being in a union, although my actual schedule is dependent on the people for whom I work. If you have read my blog, inconsistent as of late, we all know I cook for a living. The job, no matter where you work, is hard on the body and mind, with physical labour in a hot environment, hard floors taking a toll on the joints, and especially long hours. I am lucky to be in a union where the labour laws are never broken, vacation time is given, not a lot of overtime, ergonomically safe - it is institutional cooking in comparison to my past work. Currently, when a client is running on a specific schedule, I run with them, so if the time-on is February to November, that's my schedule too. No time off in between, I am at their beg and call. I like being busy and I like this schedule, no matter how long it seems through the summer months when all my friends are having holidays and fun in the sun. I am waking up when they are laying their heads down to sleep.

I am currently on my off time, vacation so to speak, and that means downtime for me, a workaholic. At first, I was happy and slept in until 5am (wow) and relaxed watching World Cup games - which means I'm not too far away from work. Amazingly, my body changed internally - more like my immune system went on vacation too. I guess working was keeping my immune system working and once I stopped, my body said "okay now is the time to get sick" which is exactly what happened. First I had a cold, which lasted 2.5 weeks, and is still in question if it was COVID for the second time. I tested three times, all negative, but I had all the symptoms, and even lost my sense of taste! Once that was finally done with I thought all was good to go but my body decided it wasn't done yet. I got a UTI, a urinary tract infection, and the antibiotics prescribed didn't work. I needed to retest and have a different round of antibiotics. Simultaneously, I had a fever, chills, night sweats, nausea, a cough, headache, and body aches, all symptoms of a worsening UTI or the flu. I'm still not sure what it was that took me out but 3 pills into the second antibiotic and I was right as rain.

In the meantime, I am now 3 weeks away from heading back to work and while I have been home I haven't stayed idle. I have changed my whole living space around, cleaning years of dust away. I have rid myself of some cluttering furniture and fixed some broken items around the apartment. It has been cold out and with the darkness creeping in earlier every day, daylight hours short and chilly, I haven't gone outside as much, and when I do go out, it's not for long. My body still getting the energy back from my ailments. 

I never have enough saved up for an actual vacation, and I doubt I would get on a plane and travel alone. It's not that I don't like travelling, I just don't have the motivation to get out of dodge. For me and all the work I do, physically and mentally, just stopping is a vacation in itself. After the years of the pandemic and the times of unemployment and "lockdowns" my home has become a haven, like so many others that were sitting in their homes looking out at the world, wondering how we were all going to survive "the plague". Before the pandemic, my home was just a stop-off, after work before going out to meet friends, socialize, eat out, etc. When that all stopped, our home became our safe house, where we were away from the virus that was killing the world. I like hunkering down in my own haven I have made - my nest, my den, my cave so to speak.

As I count down the days to Christmas and the New Year, I also count down my vacation days. When people ask me what I did on my time off I will tell them nothing, absolutely nothing. I rested my mind and my body and reset myself. My body decided it was time to defrost and reset anew like I am doing to my freezer right now as I type this.