18 August 2011

Neglect

I've neglected a lot of things lately and obviously my blog is clearly one of them.  I am on the path to correct my ways, but first let me say it's been one crazy summer in which I learned a rather important lesson.

I pride myself on my multi-tasking abilities and while I am constantly busy being Mom, employee, daughter, friend, etc. I often forget to pay attention to myself.  As a result I woke up one day in June and found I was suffering severely from my own self-neglect.  I was both physically ill and rather depressed and the stupid thing is, I didn't even know it until I reached the point when I just wanted to stay in bed all day.  Anyone who knows me, knows staying in bed all day is not ever my M.O.  I prefer to go, go, go until I drop and then get up early and start again.

A small miracle occurred in mid-June that helped propel me out of my funk and into change.  An old boss of mine emailed me about a potential job.  I know I've already shared that I got a new job, but my reaction to that initial email made me realize just how unhappy I was in my job and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel elevated my mood.  Somehow that also inspired me to finally call the doctor as well.  I described earlier my health scare which luckily turned out to be something simple.  Earlier this week I had (very minor) surgery to fix the problem and I am happy to report that I now feel better than I have in months.  It is pretty amazing actually.

So, now that I am feeling energetic again and excited about my life changes and generally much happier,  I realize how foolish I was to neglect myself for so long.  How could I have been the best Mom, employee, friend, etc. I could be when I was feeling so awful?  Sometimes taking care of yourself is not selfish.  Who knew?