You Gotta Stop

…and rest once in a while, or Life will force you to.

I work hard. In fact, I work my ass off with all that I do. I have my day job, which is a 40-hour per week venture in the information systems industry a.k.a computer stuff. It gives me a stable salary and benefits, and provides me the ability to do nice things for Umi. I have my publishing company, where I help other authors get their stories out there in the world. I freelance line and copy edit, helping authors make their stories better. I am an author as well. I’m a Commander on the Zombie Survival Crew, which can entail many different things. On top of all of that, I take care of my mother (Umi). Sometimes, like this past week, she takes care of me.

For the past week and a half, I have been very, very ill. It hit me fast and hard. I was at work Wednesday morning without issue, then by lunch I’d developed a scratchy throat and a bit of a cough. By the end of the day, the cough was more pronounced, and when I woke up the next morning at 5 a.m., I felt like dying. My fever spiked to 101.6, I’d sweat profusely because of it, and then I’d get the chills and was freezing, dropping my temperature to 98.2 and lower.

I’ve been working my ass off for a good long while now, not taking a moment to rest because when I’m not at work (the day job), I’m still working…at night, on the weekends, whenever. Running a business takes a lot of work and energy. Freelancing does too. The issue is that I haven’t stopped. I haven’t rested. I’ve been working straight through every hour of every day, sleeping maybe five hours a night during the week, maybe a bit more on the weekends.

And I believe that’s what got me.

Aside from Juliette having acute bronchitis in Denver.

I’m sure I caught it from her, but if I’d been rested, it likely wouldn’t have taken me out so quickly and fiercely.

Sometimes, you have to just stop and rest.

Even if that means unplugging for a day or two.

I was pretty much unplugged for five days. FIVE DAYS. That’s insanity to me.

But I didn’t care because I felt like I was dying during those first five days.

Lesson learned: stop and rest, smell the roses, or Life will force you to stop…and hey, that just might kill you.