Confessions of an Incurable Melancholy: Schedules, Sickness, & Sabbaths

For weeks now, I had been getting sick. For most people, getting sick is a pretty quick process, but for a Melancholy-Choleric, getting sick doesn’t fit into our schedules, so we just don’t allow our bodies to break down like they’re threatening to do. I sucked on elderberry lozenges like hard candy, and I took up drinking Echinacea tea (though I typically loathe the taste of “dead leaves in water”) solely for the purpose of staying as well as possible. You see, I had four major vocal events to get through that December, and I simply didn’t have time to be sick in bed or lose my voice, so I did anything and everything I could think of to not do so.

The week leading up to this last performance – singing two rather out-of-my-range songs for my cousin’s New Year’s Eve wedding – I had been coughing more frequently and feeling more and more tired. But, I had no time for that nonsense, so I chugged more tea, popped more Echinacea pills, and sucked more elderberry lozenges.

I made it through, but barely.

During the reception, I began to feel wimpy again, but I still had to get home before I could really allow myself to fall apart.

On the drive back to Texas, I gulped down coke after coke in my attempts to keep my puny, exhausted body awake and alert, and I was ever so thankful that a friend called to talk with me for an hour or more on the tail end of the trip.

I kept thinking that if I could just make it home, I could have two entire days to be sick before I was needed anywhere again.

Finally, I did make it home, and after unloading the car, I nearly collapsed onto my bed. I turned off my alarm, took the prescription, knock-me-out cough syrup I keep on hand for these lovely occasions, and determined to spend the entirety of the next day in bed.

This part is where I had to laugh at myself: I had consciously scheduled a day to be sick.

Only a Melancholy-Choleric would be so determined to be in control that she would choose her preferred day to fall ill and do whatever it took to follow the plan. What a mess I am!

As I learned on that long ago trip, we HAVE to learn how to take care of ourselves — even when we think we don’t have the time.  The takeaway point here is that if you don’t have time in your schedule to be sick, then you had better schedule time to prevent it!

The problem had been that I had allowed myself to get run down. I had been super stressed for weeks, then had been with family and friends nonstop since arriving at my childhood home a few days before Christmas. While I had hidden away for short periods of time while I was there, none of those times had been substantial enough to be truly refreshing for this introvert. On top of being physically run down from fighting sickness for so long, I was also mentally and emotionally exhausted from lack of “me time.” I needed to schedule that day alone to do nothing but spend time with God and allow Him to refresh me mind, body, and soul.

No doubt it is for this reason that God instituted the Sabbath, a day of rest, for His people. He knew we needed that downtime to stay healthy in all aspects. As God knew, I hadn’t really given myself a Sabbath in weeks, and my body was showing the signs of this neglect. Thankfully, He also saw fit to lead me to a place where I had no choice but to rest in Him and just stop for a good long while.

As I begin to heal from my illness and be restored in both heart and mind, I pray that I will take note of this lesson: Observe the Sabbath! Schedule thy day of rest! And live well without interruption from needless exhaustion and sickness!

HEAR, HEAR!