New CDC Guidelines!

Hey there!

Things have definitely started picking up this week and not only have I noticed it, but my body has as well. Unfortunately, I spent the majority of this week napping in bed due to being sick. Luckily, it was not covid, but it still took a lot of energy out of me. My immune system has definitely been compromised from how much I have been doing the past couple of weeks and not giving my body any time to rest, which is a very important thing to remember to do. 

Other than laying in bed and feeling like a sloth, I tried to get outdoors some and visit with friends. One of my friends and I have been trying to go on a walk every morning since the beginning of winter quarter, and for the most part we have been pretty successful. Since we live in such a beautiful place, going on walks is a great way to get outside, socialize, and get a little bit of exercise in as well. In addition to my daily morning walks, I have recently been trying to rally some friends to go on walks at sunset with me too. All of the students in Isla Vista jokingly refer to the sunset walk from the beginning of Del Playa to Devereux Beach as the daily "pilgrimage" since it is the time of day that the whole community leaves the inside of their houses and walks to the same location. It has actually become a very fun tradition because not only do I get to enjoy a beautiful sunset with my house mates, but we also always run into at least 10 other people that we know. Sometimes the people we run into we are very close friends with and see often, but my favorite is when I run into people that I haven't seen in a while and it gives us the opportunity to check in and catch up with one another.

Since I was focusing on my health for the majority of the week, this weekend is not looking very promising. It seems as though I am going to be pretty occupied with catching up on lectures that I got behind on and assignments that I haven’t started yet. I am hoping that I continue to feel better and that I will be able to focus and finish everything I need to do fairly quickly so that I am still able to do a couple of enjoyable things this weekend. I am planning to workout both days this weekend since I definitely slacked off on that when I was feeling under the weather. Being sick this week was a little challenging not only in terms of falling behind in school but I also found that I was starting to feel pretty bad about myself since all I was doing was laying in bed all day. However, it is important to remind myself that resting was what my body needed to recuperate and as good as working out is for you, if you push yourself too hard it will only hurt you more. 

On the bright side, even though I am going to be catching up on school work the majority of the weekend, the weather doesn’t look that great which means I probably wouldn’t be spending my time at the beach even if I didn’t have homework to do. Additionally, the weather this weekend is low 60s and partly sunny, which is my favorite weather to go hiking in so I might try to gather a group of friends to go at some point. Let me know if you have any good hiking recommendations in the area, I love Saddle Rock Trail for a quick hike with good views and it is accessible for most people!

I hope that this post inspires you to do something good and healthy for your body this week! Here is a picture taken from the daily "pilgrimage" location :)