A vaccine booster puts me out for a day with chills and a mild fever (Advil helps!) so I really would prefer not to find out what an actual infection does.
The vaccine gave me, at worst, a sore arm for a couple days. The actual infection knocked me completely out for 3 days. I had enough energy to microwave and eat food a couple times a day, and sleep.
Yeah, my infection was 4-5 months after the last booster too, so there's even a chance I still had a little bit of protection going in. No long term effects thankfully, though exercise was really rough for a month or two afterwards, which really worried me.
I had COVID very early on. It had me coughing enough I started coughing up blood. It took over a year for the chest pains to clear. The vaccine barely felt like a speed bump, by comparison.
My second case of COVID was like very mild flu. Enough to notice (and so test for) but didn't really take me out. (Yes, I still quarantined despite that)
"Yet" because I have a couple of work trips coming up this fall. Commercial airplanes are flying Petri dishes of viruses and bacteria. The worst illnesses (flu and colds) I've had historically were following air travel.
I was in this boat all while living in a major city during peak pandemic. I was even the designated errand runner and grocery-getter while mask mandates were still all over the place and never caught it.
3 years later and we've moved to an isolated rural farmhouse with no neighbors and few interactions with other people at all end then I get it lol