Well that was quite an August!
Three years ago I took an email sabbatical for the whole of August.
It was brilliant. I learnt a lot about my email habit. (You can read my thinking at the time and the lessons learnt here)
This August, with not a huge amount of client work scheduled, I thought I’d take advantage of some downtime and get some things done for me, my business and my life.
No email sabbatical as such but a definite focus on my own agenda!
Then BAM! I had the rug well and truly pulled from under my feet and plans.
A simple (or so I thought) pesky insect bite on an early evening walk resulted in a dash for the local A & E department and then being transferred across town to another hospital and being admitted – I wasn’t expecting that! Nor was I expecting what came next! A three day stay, a shed load of antibiotics via IV in one arm and my other (the one with the bite) suspended so the pressure and fluid could drain. I escaped the surgery they were contemplating thank goodness! Home with more meds and more arm elevation (constructed a clever device from a cymbal stand!) then just as I thought I was on the mend my immune system had other ideas! A further allergic reaction followed and that was me back in A & E! Talk about drama!!
Anyway, I won’t bore you with anymore of my woes. I’m well on the mend now so that’s the main thing.
My point is we never know what’s around the corner! Best laid plans and all that.
The positive that has come out of this is some enforced downtime which I hadn’t acknowledged I needed.
I know. I know. I should practice what I preach!
I really am my own worst client 🙂
Anyway, sometimes it’s good to switch off completely. Like I didn’t know that already! Just wish I’d planned for it!
Hard I know when you work for yourself, have a demanding role etc.
Once I was better from the initial problems following that insect bite I had planned to be straight back in the office doing all those things I had initially planned for August, but having to stop and lie still for a while I realised how many overlapping thoughts I was having. How much I wasn’t actually thinking straight. How much my planning had become, well, kind of chaotic and my thinking along with it.
I do have some chaos going on right now and some of it (hate it as I do) I can’t control.
Being still helped to calm those overlapping thoughts that were creating the chaos in my mind and helped me focus on what I can control.
Being still allowed me some time to put some perspective on some of those overlapping thoughts (I’m still working on some . . . Rome wasn’t built in a day!) and, being still helped me decide to take some more time out.
Another week of time out has been exactly what the doctor ordered! On this occasion that was me being my own physician (and a good client).
So here we are September.
I’m ready for you.
I’m ready for what’s next.
Revived. Refreshed. I can manage some of that chaos now I’ve calmed the baulk of it!
Note to self: Avoid pesky insect bites next August and plan a proper holiday.
Second note to self: Chaotic thoughts need calming. Take time to calm the chaos. You know you are so much more productive without it.