After telling my new boss I rarely get ill, what happens? Yes, you got it, I come down with the worst flu I’ve had in years. Luckily, it was a weekend. I’ve spent the best part of the weekend in bed, which is unusual for me, even when ill.
There are many upsides to having an overactive immune system but the downside is that when things do hit, they hit like a truck. There’s often this accelerated illness and healing curve that feels three times more brutal than it did when I was a child. The cold part (which is only now really starting to materialise) is fairly gentle but I’ve spent most of the weekend with a temperature and my brain feeling like it’s about to explode out my head like a Cadbury’s Crème Egg advert.

Having a fever does strange things to me cognitively. I’m not exactly sure how, but my decision making process is always compromised to the extent that I don’t really trust myself to make decisions when I have a temperature. Likewise, my creativity changes. The imagery and ideas alter slightly to give me something that feels (even after I’ve recovered) decidedly other. I’ve used this to good effect in the past. One of the first ‘serious’ short stories I attempted, Fever, was born out of a fevered dream. The story was pretty flawed but the imagery was enough for Kelly Link to write nice things about it when I submitted it to the Online Writers Workshop.
Sadly, this time there have been no fevered dreams, and I’ve had such a temperature that trying to think about anything has felt like too much effort. A friend linked me this video, and it did make me laugh, because it is so true.