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| Lizette @ Loch Ness in Scotland (photo by Francois Venter) |
It is now just over a week since we returned from Scotland. The trip was incredible, but it was exhausting. Much more than I anticipated that it would be. Francois told my business partner on Thursday that his body was back in the country, but his brain was still on a plane on its way home. In my case, it was the exact opposite.
While I took Monday off too, to take care of laundry and stuff, the only thing I managed to do was a training session with my personal trainer. On Tuesday I felt a twinge here and there in my legs, but nothing to concern me after such a session. On Wednesday morning I knew something was wrong. Even though it was my second day back at work, the whole office environment was somewhat relaxed as it usually is after the hectic pace of the financial year-end at the end of March.
So I did not expect my blood pressure to go up to the point that I was getting really concerned. I did my best to remain calm, and while it improved a little by lunchtime, I knew I had to cancel my training session - scheduled for later. However, I could not figure out why this suddenly happened. I was not ill, nor were my muscles strained after the session on Monday.
When I got home, I decided to assess where I stood physically and mentally to see if I could not find the reason for this spike in my blood pressure. It was not easy, but after an hour or so, I realised that my body was still stressed out over all the travelling we did - it did take us about 18 hours of almost non-stop travelling to get home, and it finally caught up with me. Add to that the months of stress at work, the really busy holiday, and my goal to edit my fifth novel in April as part of the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge, and my body told me to stop! It had had enough; it was time for me to take a break before it broke me. Moreover, the fastest way for it to get that message across was to elevate my blood pressure to a level that forced me to stop and take it easy.
Since then, my blood pressure has dropped to its normal levels (normal for me that is), and I have not had any problems again.
Now, what to do? I stopped editing my novel. I stopped trying to reach any target for April, including my writing target. As it stands right now, I am barely halfway to the target for the month with eight days left.
Of course, I had to have the requisite pep talk with myself that goes with not achieving my targets. I had to remind myself that I was not a failure. Not finishing the novel right now is not going to kill me (it might if I tried to though) and not getting another training session in this week, was not going to make me less healthy or make me gain more weight again (I actually lost some weight, not much but still no gains, only losses!).
So the image in the mirror staring back at me is now telling me: you are looking after yourself by not pushing this month. You can always catch up on the words, since on the total target for the year you are but a thousand or so words behind. On a target of 250k, it is not even a drop, so it will be easy to catch up. Relax! Take some time to read, or start meditating again - something I have been neglecting of late.
So here I am, eight days until the end of April Camp NaNoWriMo, and I am not going to make it. For the first time since taking part, I will not make the target and get my certificate, and I am okay with that.
With reducing the risk of getting a stroke, or suffering a heart attack, I think April is going to turn out well after all. So here is what I learned this past week: it is necessary to listen to my body too. I have always been more of a brainiac, but neglecting my physical being could be just as bad as not looking after my mental and intellectual well being.
I am also spending less time online and on social media until the end of the month. Daily posts to Instagram and my blog during the holiday, probably didn't help my case either. I am taking my own advice and making time for me. So I will be back in May.
Until then, be healthy and happy!
Lizette
