{"id":22713,"date":"2026-03-11T13:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T13:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/the-office-cold\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:14:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:14:48","slug":"the-office-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/","title":{"rendered":"The Office Cold"},"content":{"rendered":"

I almost skipped my blog today. I woke up with a cold and all of you, especially this time of year, know what that\u2019s like.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the dreaded office cold, that annual bug that burns its way through a staff. Those who contract it first are the lucky ones\u2014they get the misery over with. The rest of us cower behind our desks, avoid contact with the infirm and wash our hands so frequently that the skin begins to slough off.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s me, gobbling vitamins and thinking seriously about wearing a surgical mask as the coughers and sneezers close in. I\u2019m like one of those noblemen in Boccaccio\u2019s Decameron<\/em>, hunkered down waiting for the Plague to strike.<\/p>\n

When the cold finally hits it is almost a relief. I want to stagger back to bed and disappear under the covers for a few days. No need to write a blog. They\u2019ll understand. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s when my mother\u2019s voice pipes up. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with me,\u201d she\u2019d always insist, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Mom could be standing there with an arrow through her head and she\u2019d still insist she was in perfect health. It went beyond denial. It was almost delusional. While others groaned and moped, she kept going. Her favorite action to take when she felt something coming on was to scrub and wax the kitchen floor. I\u2019m not kidding. <\/p>\n

Was my mother crazy? Maybe not. She was a child of the Great Depression, a time much like today when people faced tremendous fear and uncertainty. Deprivation was everywhere and with so much going to pieces around her, I think she felt it was irresponsible to get sick let alone give in to it. It\u2019s not a health regimen I\u2019d recommend yet for Mom it worked. She could endure the physical wretchedness of a cold or flu but to think of herself as a sick person was more than she could bear. She\u2019d rather pretend she wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m not quite up to that but in the end I decided I should write this blog. I thought of all the times my mother was obviously under the weather\u2014obvious to everyone but her\u2014and she still managed to get me to hockey practice and rehearsals of my garage band. I\u2019m not going to be a kamikaze about my cold. I know how to take care of myself, more or less.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful, though, for the example my mother set. I\u2019ve written before about her incredible faith, a kind of daily faith she wore like a second skin. She drew on that faith when she didn\u2019t feel well, especially toward the end when there was no denial powerful enough to change things.<\/p>\n

And maybe that\u2019s the lesson I can learn from catching the annual office cold. A certain amount of stubbornness in the face of sickness is a virtue. It helps us dig down into our faith and keep going when the sniffles hit. Now if you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019m going back to bed. <\/p>\n

Edward Grinnan is Editor-in-Chief and Vice President of GUIDEPOSTS Publications.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I almost skipped my blog today. I woke up with a cold and all of you, especially this time of year, know what that\u2019s like. It\u2019s the dreaded office cold, that annual bug that burns its way through a staff. Those who contract it first are the lucky ones\u2014they get the misery over with. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[376],"tags":[35,36],"ppma_author":[481],"class_list":["post-22713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-managing-life-changes","tag-encouragement","tag-success"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Office Cold - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Office Cold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I almost skipped my blog today. I woke up with a cold and all of you, especially this time of year, know what that\u2019s like. It\u2019s the dreaded office cold, that annual bug that burns its way through a staff. Those who contract it first are the lucky ones\u2014they get the misery over with. The […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guideposts Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edward Grinnan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edward Grinnan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42ac4bf7241c7dd84b6c62c1bd41c04c\"},\"headline\":\"The Office Cold\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Encouragement\",\"Success\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Managing Life Changes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Office Cold - Guideposts Articles\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/the-office-cold\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Positive Living\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Health and Wellness\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Life Advice\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Managing Life Changes\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/positive-living\\\/health-and-wellness\\\/life-advice\\\/managing-life-changes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"The Office Cold\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\",\"name\":\"Guideposts Articles\",\"description\":\"Strengthening Faith. Providing Hope.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Guideposts Articles\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/gp-logo-white.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/gp-logo-white.svg\",\"caption\":\"Guideposts Articles\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42ac4bf7241c7dd84b6c62c1bd41c04c\",\"name\":\"Edward Grinnan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=gcdbe4f5ce340405b7eafc2f82dcb7da0\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Edward Grinnan\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/author\\\/edward\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Office Cold - Guideposts Articles","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Office Cold","og_description":"I almost skipped my blog today. I woke up with a cold and all of you, especially this time of year, know what that\u2019s like. It\u2019s the dreaded office cold, that annual bug that burns its way through a staff. Those who contract it first are the lucky ones\u2014they get the misery over with. The […]","og_url":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/","og_site_name":"Guideposts Articles","article_published_time":"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00","author":"Edward Grinnan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/"},"author":{"name":"Edward Grinnan","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/42ac4bf7241c7dd84b6c62c1bd41c04c"},"headline":"The Office Cold","datePublished":"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/"},"wordCount":539,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization"},"keywords":["Encouragement","Success"],"articleSection":["Managing Life Changes"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/","url":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/","name":"The Office Cold - Guideposts Articles","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-03-11T13:29:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-10T06:14:48+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/the-office-cold\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Positive Living","item":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Health and Wellness","item":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Life Advice","item":"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Managing Life Changes","item":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/health-and-wellness\/life-advice\/managing-life-changes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"The Office Cold"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/","name":"Guideposts Articles","description":"Strengthening Faith. Providing Hope.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#organization","name":"Guideposts Articles","url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gp-logo-white.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gp-logo-white.svg","caption":"Guideposts Articles"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/#\/schema\/person\/42ac4bf7241c7dd84b6c62c1bd41c04c","name":"Edward Grinnan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=gcdbe4f5ce340405b7eafc2f82dcb7da0","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3bdd378cba4ed4557fbf1985b1368ee39198b3c083f3b99bdcacc4797e2634bb?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","caption":"Edward Grinnan"},"url":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/author\/edward\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":481,"user_id":30,"is_guest":0,"slug":"edward","display_name":"Edward Grinnan","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=https%3A%2F%2Fgpbookstore.org%2Farticles%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2Fguideposts%2Fassets%2Fimages%2Fdefault-avatar.png&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22713"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=22713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}