Question: Hey Regan, what do you do when life changes your plans?
Answer: Most of the time, I’m pretty flexible when the unexpected happens. My husband served in the Army, I’ve raised two kids along with a number of cats, dogs, and other pets. My mother has dementia…
Granted, I won’t claim to be thrilled about flying monkey wrenches and such, but I like to think I can manage those moments.
Then May happened.
If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you might’ve noticed that May’s newsletter didn’t arrive in your inbox.
Why?
Because one of those monkey wrenches dropped into my life. I had some health trouble in May that I thought would resolve fairly quickly.
Spoiler alert: I was wrong. So, so wrong.
An eye condition I’ve dealt with in the past basically boiled over. While I’m on the mend now, it meant a hard shut down of computer and phone screens. I even had to stop crocheting. Ugh! I’m not the most patient person (despite many previous life events that gave me time to practice patience), but this time my body didn’t give me any choice.
Plus, I underestimated just how much energy it would take to recover. After weeks of thinking I had this episode under control, I’m still juggling symptoms, stressors, and outcomes.
And my doctors have thrown down the gauntlet: if I want to get well and stay that way, I have to commit to some serious new self-care strategies right now or pay a higher price in the future. (Y’all I thought I was doing pretty good with self-care before this…)
If you’re in my Facebook reader group, you know I had an agressive writing schedule mapped out for this year. Gotta rethink it. I had a system in place to connect with readers online and let everyone know about my new books. That too has to be reworked. Everything I do is taking more time than it used to, because I have to keep stopping to rest my eyes.
Self-care will be a full-time gig for the next eight weeks, minimum. I have to be patient with myself, even – especially – when I start to feel better. Pushing my eyes too hard is a proven recipe for disaster.
So this is a big thank you for everyone who has sent support and good wishes my way. I’ll be here, practicing patience, writing as the eyes allow, and interacting online as much as possible.
Live the adventure!
5Jun2021
ps Have a question for me? Post it in the comments and I’ll answer it in an upcoming post.
