Yesterday, I felt fine. But since this morning, I realized that as the day has progressed, I have been feeling worse and worse. My nose started to stuff up. My head started to hurt. I started to sneeze over and over again. And when I started to sound like a telephone operator – I realized what is happening – I am getting a cold.

I hate colds. I hate being sick and not being able to do anything about it. It’s a catch-22 with me. They say that people get sick because they run around too much and never rest – that’s exactly what I do which explains why I get sick. But then when I am sick – I can’t take a day or two off and sleep off my cold. So I have to run around exactly as I always do except sick.

Sure, I do what I can to battle the cold. I take TheraFlu, drink tea with honey and eat chicken soup – but all that does no good when I am up at 5:15am every day and not in bed until 12:30am that night.

The funny thing is that a long time ago, someone came up with a great way to combat what I call, “Working Man’s Flu”, which is a flu brought on by working your tail off. This person’s advice was really helpful to someone who is constantly on the go and wants to avoid getting sick. I wish I would have taken this person’s advice before I got this flu. I mean, it’s not like I don’t know this person – it’s me.

On April 16, 1997, I wrote a Penny called, “I Got Sick”. The column was about the fact that I was really sick and had like eighty ailments in one week. So, in keeping with my column’s theme of using a personal experience to help others, I complied a list of tips for people on the go like myself to ensure that they don’t wind up as sick as I was.

So for those of you who bust your hump as hard as I do – and for my idiot self who needs to read his own columns and take his own advice – here are my tips on how to avoid, “Working Man’s Flu”:

• Always make sure that you eat something in the morning and carry something on you to eat when you have no time for lunch like a banana, or a can of Ensure; something that will make your stomach think you had a meal.

• Try to get the proper amount of sleep at night. Or make the sleep you get count. Try to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and make the sleep you get worth it. Don’t watch TV or read a book, just go to bed.

• Try not to do more than a few things at once. Always remember that the more things you do at the same time, the less your body will be able to function.

• Whatever you eat, make sure that it is filling and healthy. I am the biggest fan of Taco Bell that you can imagine, but if you have one meal a day, try and make it a more healthy one.

• Know your limits. If you are run down, hungry and tired, and are invited out for the evening, don’t go. Stay home and get some rest. Believe me, one night’s rest equals a few day’s work.

• And most importantly – TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE!!

Looks like before I write another column – I should read the ones I have already written – I may learn something.