BEING SICK doesn’t have to be awful. Some advice from Jim Tortolano’s Retorts column (Shutterstock).

As I write this, I’m just “coming down” from a pretty generic winter cold. If you’re like me, when you’re in that situation, you probably get a lot of unsolicited medical advice, most of which is pretty worthless.
The truth is there’s no effective cure for the common cold’s physical impacts.

But I believe I have collected some worthwhile ways to handle its psychological or emotional effects.

First, unless you are dead-dog flat-on-your back sick, clean up the place. Nothing makes you feel worse than waking up groggily from a nap to see piles of unwashed laundry, the floor covered with abandoned footwear and a palisade of still-wet towels hanging over various knobs, poles and handles.

You already feel bad physically and now you feel badder because you see yourself as a undisciplined slob.

If you are receiving visitors, make sure you curate them, by that I mean, screen them. Some visitors, regardless of intentions, can make you feel worse.

Some will criticize your health habits. Some will give you absurd advice – my father seemed to think that all ailments could be cured through the use of wheat germ, apple cider vinegar and lentils.

The worst are the ones who will tell you how lucky you are because you don’t have the painful, uncomfortable maladies they have.

On the other hand, they do make you feel better … when they leave.