By Katie MacBride, Editor-in-Chief

We’ve all been there: You wake up and just don’t feel “well.” You don’t have a fever, so you still go to school to avoid falling behind in your honors and AP courses, but you still don’t feel 100 percent. You sit at your desk trying to hold in a sneeze or a cough to not draw attention toward yourself since you’ve already coughed or sneezed three times since class has started.

But that was last year.

Now, in the midst of 2020, you cannot be caught dead in public and make even the slightest sound of a cough or sneeze without getting death-like looks from others. You cannot wake up one morning not feeling “well” without thinking… “Do I have the virus?” 

Not only has COVID-19 created massive changes in the world, but it has also created paranoia and a stigma surrounding “not feeling well.”

What are we to do with the cold and flu season fast approaching? What are we to do when allergies kick in? Are we supposed to go get tested every time we have a day where we just don’t feel well?

With schools making decisions on when to go back to face-to-face learning, these questions are not far-fetched. And as a student myself, going to school and knowing others who stick it out and go to school not being “well” is nothing new.

So the question is, what do we do? 

Do you pay the $150 to get a COVID-19 test, that is, if you don’t have insurance? Do you report to the school that you don’t “feel well” and are told to quarantine for 14 days for what ended up being a common cold?

With this vast amount of uncertainty in the world today, we don’t really know what to do. 

So if you find yourself in this position, if you find yourself just not feeling “well,” listen to your body. No one knows your body and feelings better than you. This year, “sticking it out” isn’t much of an option, so take a moment to slow down and rest. You are no longer allowed to feel “unwell” this year, but you can use that as a reason to stop and get the rest your body is telling you that you need.

Think about it – one day’s rest may seem unnecessary in the midst of college applications and honors and AP class workloads, but your body will thank you. You will also thank yourself for taking the moment to rest, potentially saving yourself from quarantining for 14 days and increasing your already stressful workload.

Senior Katie MacBride can be reached at 21macbrideka62@daretolearn.org.