Today I slept in until almost 11, then ate breakfast and went back to bed until 2:30. I recently read this article about sickness behavior that said that when you get sick, the germs not only make you sniffle and ache, but they make you anti-social and tired; essentially, we are meant to go into hiding while we are feeling badly. I guess it evolved to keep us safe while we were sick and unable to defend ourselves, and to give us space and time to heal. That makes sense.

After I finally got up and was completely ready to face the day, it was about 4 p.m., but it was so nice outside! I cleaned up the dog stuff in the back yard, gave the bunny a piece of raspberry stalk with leaves still attached, and took Annika sledding. I stood outside watching her play as the sun set, breathing the fresh air for the first time in what feels like forever. She wore herself out and my feet got cold.

We played a game together after dinner and ran a couple errands. Now I’m in bed, and I’m thinking about tomorrow and how I didn’t get any of the grading done and I’m not even sure I have all my plans put together. How dare I take a day off to recuperate after two 12+ hour days? I prioritized my rest and family today and now I’m having trouble relaxing because there is still so much to do. Does this happen to everyone?

I’m sure it will be fine – I’ll work really hard again tomorrow. I wish I could handle the workload and balance things better. Hopefully my students who don’t have their papers graded are understanding. A little bit of understanding goes a long way; I’m going to try to keep that in mind for this week.