I felt it as early as last week (let’s say Thursday-ish) and then spent all weekend powering through and in denial that I was getting sick. And then by Monday afternoon, after the hustling was done, I felt it settle in and decided to concede. I left work early and finished the day in bed. And then today (Tuesday) I knew it needed to be a mostly sick day. I had a few meetings I wanted to stay on for and by the end of the third, a chilly ache was pulsing from behind my brow. The head cold demanded it be recognized and heeded.

I settled into bed with tea, a heating pad and my current easy-binge show (Younger with Hilary Duff and Sutton Foster) and prepared to doze off and spend the rest of the day comatose.

But then, unexpectedly, I felt a creative energy lure me out of my pile of pillows. First my mind, then eventually my body. I didn’t know what to do with it. I think a month ago, this dopamine craving would have been too easily quelled with some low-stakes Instagram activity. I’d open the app and be soothed and stimulated by the colors. I’d send some reels and imagine my friends’ reactions. Maybe I’d share some snarky stories and wait for a few likes to come in. I would have stayed in bed, numb, and that would have been that.

Instead, I sat up. It wasn’t an immediate action, but I found myself turning off Netflix, switching over to Spotify, and playing some upbeat but chill music while I did a quick improv yoga flow. I created some heat, loosened my limbs, and was craving more of … something. Noticing the sunny weather, I suddenly felt jealous that I couldn’t get outside with my toddler to play and take some instant photos. So I did what seemed most accessible at the time and had fun with the light that was shining through my window. I felt like I was a junior in college again, setting up a still for a photo project. Except this was better. There was no deadline. No dread of having to hang my photos on the classroom wall and explain them to people. I set up the shot (with my Instax SQ1). I took it. I waited a few minutes to see it, and I loved it. It was just for me.

I eventually found my way back into bed to watch more TV, because I was shaking off a cold after all, but now I have this cool souvenir from an energetic burst during an afternoon home alone. That might not really mean much to anyone, but I’m having fun deciding where to keep this photograph, and that’s good enough for me.

And the improv yoga flow inspired me to actually pull up a Yoga with Adrienne video a little later in the evening, and I worked up a sweat during a 25 minute flow.

And then remembering that my sister in law gifted us a MasterClass subscription, I pulled dup the next video from Donna Farhi’s yoga series.

Hopefully I’m past the worst of the cold and tomorrow I can head back into the office, resume dinner plans and look forward to the weekend. I think relying on my list of things I want to lean in more actually did give me energy when I needed it today, and I continued to avoid the things that I know drain my energy.