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Lauren Long (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

We’ve all experienced this at one point or another right? We wake up with an intent to spend the day doing what we want to do, only for it to hit the wall and explode into a thousand little pieces. 

This can happen for any number of reasons: 

1. We get distracted and start scrolling through our social media.
2. We start doing what we want to do, only to feel guilty about not doing the things we need to do, e.g. housework or laundry. 
3. We’re doing what we want and someone unexpectedly calls on us and interrupts our workflow. 

There are many other reasons, but the three listed above are what came into my head, and I have had experience with all three. 

It can be super frustrating when you are working on something and you have a good creative flow going, and someone comes to the door and stays for half an hour, because not only does it kill your drive, but if all they are doing is complaining about something and then they leave, you’re left feeling irritable that they just wasted your time that you could have been using to do what you wanted. 

I had one such experience last year, but I’ve found that if I wear my noise-canceling headphones when I’m working, I can’t hear anything other than the music. Thus, there are no interruptions, and I actually get way more done when I have my headphones on because I’m focused on what I’m doing. 

Another reason we may find ourselves spending less time on what we want to be doing is when we’re catching up after being away/being sick. 

The second-to-last weekend of November 2024, I had the pleasure and honour of experiencing Taylor Swift’s ERAS tour in Toronto. I bought the tickets in August 2023, and my mom, sister, brother-in-law and I attended the final night of the shows in Toronto. 

It was such an incredible experience, and even though I was exhausted from the sleep deprivation and the whirlwind of a weekend, I came home feeling strangely refreshed and eager to dive back into writing. But fate and my immune system had other plans. 

The day after my parents and I arrived home from my sister’s house, I started feeling under the weather. My first clue that I was coming down with something was my swollen uvula, the little piece of tissue at the back of the throat. I immediately looked up home remedies to relieve the swelling, and after drinking fluids and gargling with warm salt water, it returned to normal. 

Colds can be stubborn though, and I had to contend with a runny nose for two days before the cold moved from my head into my chest. 

Am I surprised I got sick? No. I would have been more surprised if I hadn’t, because I only had two nights of decent sleep the entire weekend. We caught the red-eye from Kelowna to Toronto on Thursday night and arrived at our hotel at 3 A.M. BC time on Friday morning, went to the concert on Saturday night and didn’t get back to our hotel and into bed until 2 A.M. on Sunday, and then had to be up at 6 A.M. to catch our flight home a few hours later. 

The lack of sleep, coupled with being around 65,000+ people, would definitely have an effect on our immune systems. Amazingly though, I was the only one sick out of the four of us who went to the concert. 

The cough I had lingered for a few days, and in the first week of December I didn’t get a lot done because I was recovering from my cold and spent a lot of time sleeping. I did all my laundry on the first Monday in December because I was feeling better, but I found out the hard way that I’d overdone it because my energy levels were low the next day. 

You may ask, “How does this tie into not having time for the things I want to do?” Well, being sick takes a lot out of you, and you’re focused on getting better so you can resume your routine. 

When I could finally sleep through the night without having to take cold medicine, I was still catching up on sleep. All the things I didn’t do when I was sick piled up and it takes a bit of adjusting after you’ve been sick to get back into the swing of things. 

I used to be really hard on myself if I didn’t get everything done in a day that I wanted to, but a comment from a friend made me realize I don’t have to be Superwoman. Yes, it’s a nice feeling when you get lots done, but you have to let yourself rest and recharge too. 

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Born and raised in Quesnel, BC, Lauren Long is a strong advocate for mental health and well-being, as well as being a major Swiftie and a role model for positive body image. She believes in the value of truth, and that truth matters. When she’s not writing, you can find her on the pole, on the training mats or curled up with a good book.