Do Female Sportscasters Get Sick?

Our view of ourselves due to temporary circumstances

*I wrote this in January 2024. This was going to be my 1st Substack post but I put it off until now *

Who feels glamorous in the morning?

How lovely do you feel in the morning? Does a morning with less sleep or cold recovery make things appear much worse? I experienced this one morning in mid-January. It was day 15 of Covid-19 and still had morning congestion and cough that came with it. I was sitting in my living-room on a snowy morning, drinking coffee and hacking. I felt less than lovely. My husband, Mike was watching the sports news. I knew he was stressed thinking of his day ahead doing his job in this weather.

I was too exhausted to be envious, it’s the kind of defeat that comes with middle-age

The 26-year-old female sportscaster was perky, slender and stylishly dressed. She obviously wasn’t hacking up a lung like I was. For a moment I felt too exhausted to be envious, it’s kind of a defeat that comes with middle age. I felt bad that Mike had to see this side of me; glasses, sick, bed head and pj's. I know he sees the best and usually the worst of me, and he loves me anyway. I feel bad for the pang of jealousy I feel of someone much younger than me and then I feel worse for letting my insecurities get to me. I was also curious. Does she get sick? What does she look like at 5 am with a cold, hair unwashed, no fashionable clothes or makeup? Obviously, she wouldn’t be going to work and standing in front of a camera on those days. I can’t compare myself to someone half my age and with a team of people to help her look her best, but yet I do. I am being unfair to myself. I know the mantra of loving yourself no matter how you feel physically or emotionally, but easier said than done.

A lot of how we feel has to do with our temporary circumstances and how we are feeling in the moment. It’s hard to see the world unbiased or feel attractive with a bad cold, sore knees on a gloomy January day. I know when the sun shines again, and I recover from this and shower, I’ll feel better. I remind myself I’m not a mess. I am sick. I am tired. I am HUMAN!

Shocking self-talk

I think about my self-talk and am shocked at what I saying to myself. “Look at you!! You are gross and sick. You are useless and not making money because you are out sick. You are not worthy of love.” I can’t imagine saying that to my own worst enemy!!! Would I tell anyone else this? Of course not! I rephrased my internal dialog to myself with, “You kept going this year, it has been one of the most difficult and you are fighting battles no one knows about, yet you keep going. You are a good mom, a pet mom, you take care of everyone, but do not always take care of yourself. You are worthy of love no matter bad you think you look or feel at the moment.” That is how I would encourage anyone other than myself. It’s sad to think how we all can be our own worst enemy.

It starts with being kind to yourself and others

I know I am worthy of love, on good and bad days. I need to love myself even when I feel “less than”. It’s hard and I'm still trying to figure out how to do that. It starts with being kind to myself and giving myself some grace as much as I want to crawl up in my bed and wallow in self-pity. Some days I feel like I’ll never crawl out of this hole, but I know that is my temporary state of mind that is lying to me. For now, I'm going to eat breakfast, then feed and medicate my pets. Then I will shower and dry my hair even though I’ll be taking care of animals all day. I know getting ready for the day won’t fix everything, but it’s a start. It looks dark now, but brighter days are ahead, and my view of the world and also myself will change too.

Questions:

Do you think how you feel physically can affect you emotionally?

Have you ever unfairly compared yourself to someone else?