Motion Sickness

I think I suffer from something called Motion Sickness. I am not sure if I do, but it’s possible I do. I sometimes dread journeys because of this. When a journey first starts, I am all giddy and excited about my trip. Moments later, my stomach churns and starts to bring great discomfort. No matter how I adjust my sitting position, nothing changes. I can’t work or do anything productive. I feel like I am about to throw up. Then it occurs to me I felt this exact way my last journey or even worse. I message my friend to tell him, “I feel terribly car-sick. I might throw up at any minute.” He replies, "How can you hate planes and cars at the same time?” Shoot. I  don’t really like plane rides either. I mean, I used to, but it just creeps me out for the most part now. “I don’t hate cars though. I just don’t feel well.” I say to him.  Then it all comes rushing to my head, it can not be a coincidence that every time I am on a journey, I feel sick. In preparation of this journey, I even had a good breakfast. I am thinking my conversation with my friend will distract me, but it doesn’t. So now I drop my phone, and my books, and continue typing this. No? Ok I Google it. Eureka! There is a name? Whew. I start to think back.

See, I have always felt this way from as far back as I can remember. But I always attributed what I felt to anxiety about going back to boarding school. It was a two-hour journey (thanks to Lagos traffic) from home to school when I was in secondary school. I always felt terrible, but because I thought it was my irrational fear of boarding school and senior girls, I never said a word. Sometimes, I’d tell my Mommy I felt horrible. She would give me medications for malaria because boarding school was synonymous to sickness. That was her way of preparing me for what was to come. Other times, she’d remind me that she and the rest of my family were just a phone-call away, there was no need to be homesick. Okay. But then, I became a senior girl myself, but still had these major sickness on the way to school. Whatever then. 

I sleep a lot when I am traveling. It is just occurring to me that it was my body’s way of coping. I always sleep. And when I sleep, I don’t feel ill. Oh! Today though, I can’t sleep. I have tried everything, but no sleep so I am struggling, hoping I don’t throw up on my books and computer. Oh well. Google says to stare into the horizon in the direction you are traveling at, and chew gum; both of which I am now doing. They seem to help but not for long. Google says motion sickness and reading are enemies. Aha! No wonder I am never able to read in a moving car or on the metro. Even if it’s a five minutes trip, I just don’t feel good whenever I read.

                                   

Trying--but failing--to do some work. Excuse the crooked handwriting. 

I accept my fate, and thank God I am not throwing up even though I still feel woozy, uncomfortable, and dizzy, like if I make an attempt to walk, I will fall down. So I sit up and try to daydream. The journey is almost over, thankfully. I look forward to that.  I stop working entirely and smile at the realization that I just converted my problem into a blog post. Every disappointment is truly a blessing.