The days of hitting the pavement with bronchitis and a 102-degree fever seem to be behind us.
There was a day not too long ago when we would look at a fellow classmate with a box of tissues and cough syrup on their desk and we would think "respect." Now, if anyone were to even think about going to class with so much as a cough, they better be prepared to get stares of disapproval from a lecture hall full of students.
Our post-COVID-19 era has developed a societal standard that contradicts what the past 40 to 50 years have prioritized: incessant perseverance. While this turn of events has emphasized wellness and self-care, it is possible our generation has consequently started to lose its edge.
The wellness wave that has swarmed our post-pandemic society has been a long time coming. Before COVID-19, competitive natures were encouraged and were exponentially more competitive year by year. This was causing our generation to produce sleepless zombies that operated as machines. Downtime and self-care were viewed as indulgences rather than necessities.
Basically, if you weren't pounding a whopping 800mg of caffeine per day, you were lazy. There was always someone that was working harder, sleeping less and ultimately on a steeper path to success than you. Therefore, to stay home because you were feeling under the weather was almost shameful. To waste several hours, even days of precious time to take care of something that could be left up to the hands of modern medicine was an absurd idea.
The cream of the crop would never let a little cold stop their life.
Obviously, this was not a sustainable way of life. And don't even get me started on the poor quality of life as a result of this cultural phenomenon. However, our post-COVID-19 era has seemed to set our priorities straight with its newfound sensitivity to wellness.
But we overcorrected.
Yes, the recent attention to one's mental and physical well-being has been a significant and even life-altering movement. But it has gotten to the point where being under the weather is almost socially unacceptable.
