I'm glad you found the post interesting, I did as well.
As for the excerpt, I think he's choosing what he hopes will be a reasonably relatable example for the broader point that the experience of pain/discomfort/suffering in the moment is not at all the same as the memory thereof. Specifically, I think there might be a few things going on here: 1) folks really do differ in how "tough" they are, whether due to life experience, disposition, or whatever - maybe you've suffered worse and so being sick doesn't seem so bad!, 2) there's likely a bit of hyperbole for comedic effect and/or to garner sympathy going on, both by the writer and by folks who are sick saying things like "I don't want to live!", 3) many folks use "flu" for any illness worse than a cold that primarily presents as respiratory and stomach problems, whereas I think he's referring to actual influenza, which can range from "I had a mild fever and a stuffy nose" all the way to "I can't eat, my whole body aches, and I can't really sleep because I'm shifting between feeling freezing cold and burning up due to a high fever." I suspect he means more the upper end of the spectrum there (I've had a flu like that, and while it was miserable, I didn't "want to die").
More broadly, even if that fragment is more extreme than I would characterize that situation, I do know that I've had situations where I consciously know "this too shall pass", but it's hard to really *believe* that and accept it fully in the moment of suffering. Then, looking back, I remember having those thoughts, but they seem ridiculous in hindsight. Like that flu I mentioned - I was on a business trip, and so stuck in a hotel room and miserable for a few days. I remember *that* I was very uncomfortable and not liking it, and I remember that time seemed to pass very slowly, but now in hindsight, those experiential aspects are fairly week and vague.
Re: "Hail Idun" Variants, and Any Questions of Which to Ask More?
As for the excerpt, I think he's choosing what he hopes will be a reasonably relatable example for the broader point that the experience of pain/discomfort/suffering in the moment is not at all the same as the memory thereof. Specifically, I think there might be a few things going on here: 1) folks really do differ in how "tough" they are, whether due to life experience, disposition, or whatever - maybe you've suffered worse and so being sick doesn't seem so bad!, 2) there's likely a bit of hyperbole for comedic effect and/or to garner sympathy going on, both by the writer and by folks who are sick saying things like "I don't want to live!", 3) many folks use "flu" for any illness worse than a cold that primarily presents as respiratory and stomach problems, whereas I think he's referring to actual influenza, which can range from "I had a mild fever and a stuffy nose" all the way to "I can't eat, my whole body aches, and I can't really sleep because I'm shifting between feeling freezing cold and burning up due to a high fever." I suspect he means more the upper end of the spectrum there (I've had a flu like that, and while it was miserable, I didn't "want to die").
More broadly, even if that fragment is more extreme than I would characterize that situation, I do know that I've had situations where I consciously know "this too shall pass", but it's hard to really *believe* that and accept it fully in the moment of suffering. Then, looking back, I remember having those thoughts, but they seem ridiculous in hindsight. Like that flu I mentioned - I was on a business trip, and so stuck in a hotel room and miserable for a few days. I remember *that* I was very uncomfortable and not liking it, and I remember that time seemed to pass very slowly, but now in hindsight, those experiential aspects are fairly week and vague.