Last Wednesday after I came home from my one-hour evening walk, I felt a slight discomfort in my throat. As I always do whenever an issue arises in my day-to-day living, I turned to God in prayer and asked Him to heal whatever was wrong with my throat. And I promised to thank Him once the discomfort went away.

When I woke up on Thursday morning with my throat still unwell, I drank three cups of hot water in a span of three hours, hoping that the hot water would work wonders on my throat. But guess what! Instead of getting better, I began feeling chilly after eating lunch in the afternoon. It was like I had a fever.

Knowing the value of health, I skipped playing the piano on Thursday afternoon and went to bask in the sun, again hoping that the heat from the sun would dispel my fever. As I sat outside feeling the heat of the sun penetrate into my skin, I felt an immense sense of gratitude for the hot weather.

But the hot rays of sunshine did little to restore my health. Not only did I continue feeling chilly after I went back indoors, I also felt a weakness in my muscles. That muscle weakness made me contemplate skipping my one-hour evening walk. On second thought, I decided to go for the walk when the clock hit 4.55pm.

Walking, too, didn't make me feel better. Instead, I grew sicker after I came back home. In addition to feeling chilly and weak, I started having a headache. That prompted me to retire to bed early, thus missing a chance to check my social media accounts at night as it has been my habit.

I did inform my father on Thursday night that I was feeling unwell. In these times of Covid-19 pandemic, Dad was alarmed to hear I was sick. He interrogated me further on what exactly was wrong with me. And then he quickly contacted my brother Paddy, who is a doctor, to apprise him about my illness.

Paddy phoned me an hour or two later to check on me. When he asked me the symptoms of my illness, I told him that I was having a fever and feeling weak. Fearing that I could have contracted the dreaded Covid-19 disease, Paddy urged me to drink plenty of water and eat lots of vegetables to ward off the virus.

Come Friday morning, my health deteriorated further because I woke up without having an appetite for food. I ate only two apples for breakfast and then hopped back into bed - not to sleep but to rest. As I lay in bed feeling weak, sick and restless, I thought of the athletes and soccer players who display great energy on the field during competitions. And then I wondered whether they ever thank God for their verve and vitality.

Because of my lack of appetite, I didn't feast on anything for lunch on Friday afternoon. The mere sight of food just disgusted me. And when supper time reached, I only munched on a juicy mango. And guess what again! Ten minutes or so after munching on the mango, I felt sick to my stomach which forced me to rush to the toilet where I threw up the mango I had eaten.

Paddy phoned me again on Friday night to inquire how I was faring. And he again urged me to drink plenty of water even if it would make me urinate a lot. Dad, on his part, cajoled me to swallow two tablets of Panadol and see whether they would cure me. I followed Dad's advice, then jumped into bed and slept soundly for the next eight hours.

When I woke up on Saturday morning (that's yesterday), I was feeling much better. My appetite for food was back. For breakfast, I drank tea and sawed energetically at four slices of bread. I also had an appetite for lunch. And when evening reached, I went for my one-hour walk which I sort of enjoyed. Thankfully, I have been getting my groove back since yesterday.

But I am still not out of the woods yet. As I pen this story on a Sunday afternoon, I am having a dry cough - a remnant of the discomfort I felt on my throat on Wednesday evening. I am however grateful that the fever, the headache, the restlessness, the muscle weakness and the lack of appetite I felt on Thursday and Friday are now gone.

To be honest, I have never been as ill for the past eleven years as I was on Friday. That illness disrupted my praying, reading, writing and exercising routines. And it has taught me to value my health. From now on, I will be more grateful for such simple blessings as having an appetite for food, feeling energized during the day and sleeping soundly at night. I urge you to do likewise, my beloved reader.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on what a recent illness taught me, you might also enjoy another one I wrote some time back on "Appreciating Good Health". Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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The great German novelist Franz Kafka once said that "a book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us", and I stand by that since I find reading to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying. And reading has made me love books so much that I feel better at the mere sight of them. There are times I sit at my desk and wish I could get hold of certain books, read them and add them to my personal library.

It seems I am not the only one who loves books because whenever I read "Saturday Nation", a local newspaper, I usually come across people who profess their love for books. And I recently heard Eliud Kipchoge, one of the greatest marathoners of all time, say that he is an avid reader. Hearing that Kipchoge loves learning as much as he loves running made me tip my hat to him.

Because I love books, I thought it wise to share with you, my dear reader, some of the books I enjoyed reading this year - the way former U.S. president Barack Obama does. (You see, Obama is an avid reader as well. At the end of each year, he usually tweets a list of the books he enjoyed reading in the course of the year.)

Among the numerous books I read this year is Tony Robbins's Awaken the Giant Within, a voluminous tome about how to release our potential. Robbins bares his soul in the book as he shares his experiences such as how he hired a crooked employee who swindled him out of thousands of dollars. He also narrates with disarming frankness how he achieved his dreams of owning a mansion near a beach and learning how to fly a helicopter.

Having achieved his dreams, Tony Robbins authoritatively gives us tips on how we, too, can achieve ours. One of the tips is building a strong word power, which he says will help us express ourselves effectively and interestingly. He also advises us to read avidly. Miss eating a meal, he suggests, but not reading a book. That has inspired me to keep on devouring books and to never let a day pass without me reading something.

As I read Awaken the Giant Within, I found myself admiring Tony Robbins's depth of knowledge and style of expression. He expresses himself in a folksy and confident way, often using the pronoun 'I' to state his points. Such is the style of expression I am endeavoring to employ in my writings.

This year, I purchased and read two books by John Mason - one of my favorite motivational authors. I like John Mason because he writes his books in short chapters. And he packs a lot of wisdom in those succinct chapters. From the two John Mason's books I read this year, I learnt that we are each born an original; we should therefore not die a copy. That insight has encouraged me to keep on cultivating my uniqueness even when naysayers disapprove of how I do my things.

I also gleaned from one of those two John Mason's books that we ought to regularly spend time in honing our craft. Mason recommends devoting at least one hour everyday practicing our craft, an advice that has made me resolve to be playing the piano for one hour each day since I'd like to be a great hymn writer of Charles Wesley's caliber.

You might be reading this and thinking, "Wow, Thuita, thanks for those enlightening words of wisdom." But hold on! I've got a few more books to tell you about.

This year, I also devoured a couple of novels. I read novels not only because I am a sucker for riveting stories but also because I believe they improve our word power and communication skills, and ultimately the quality of our lives. Some of the novels I read this year fell flat for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed a few such as Alex George's A Good American and D.J. Delffs's The Martyr's Chapel. Those two novels are in a word, captivating.

Since I am deeply Christian and a Jesus freak, I included in my reading repertoire a few books that would strengthen my faith in God. I read two English translations of the Bible and books by such renowned evangelists as Max Lucado, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen. And after reading those Christian books, I can honestly say they deepened my faith in God and in His Son Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrated yesterday. Adieu!

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on books I read in 2021, you might also enjoy another one I wrote last year on "Books I Read in 2020". Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.

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