A Small Personal Update

I meant to send out a newsletter last week. And I meant to post on Instagram more than zero times over the past two weeks. I meant to respond to work emails. And, I meant to send a few emails to relatives. 

Instead, about ten days ago I slipped on ice, fell entirely on my head, and ended up in the ER. I have a concussion (I got a concussion? I had a concussion? I’m not actually sure how the grammar works here). Anyway, I’ve been on forced rest time, or, as the ER doctor explained it, “clean living”. During this time I am supposed to stay away from screens (which is incredibly challenging even when you’re really really trying, so I think we might all be doomed there), avoid alcohol, sweets, and fried foods (perfect for holiday eating), do a lot of “resting”, and drink lots of water. Reading is okay, except that sometimes it isn’t. Exercise is okay, except sometimes it isn’t. Me being me, I assumed that I’d lay low for a few days and pop back better than ever.

Instead, it is over a week in and I’m still not doing great. My brain is definitely working now (yay!), but I tire easily, and am still feeling the need to take a lot of physical and mental breaks throughout the day. As much as I’d like to be kicking off the year with a bang -- announcing some new things in the works over in Verdi land and recording loads of new podcast episodes --  I’m finding myself forced to keep that quiet. Instead, I’m working on being incredibly kind to myself. I’m journaling, I’m listening to music and audiobooks, I’ve started meditating again. I am seeing clients this week and am really excited for that, but I’m not doing any of the other things that typically make up my workload. I’ll still be taking on new clients this month, but I’m limiting the number of sessions I do per day to make sure that I don’t go overboard. My husband has and will be continuing to take on more and more parent duties as well as more and more Verdi operations duties. I don’t think I’ll be on Instagram much. 

At the moment, while I type this on my laptop with all the blue light removed (it is very orange!) and have a timer set so that I don’t spend more than 20 minutes total on a screen, I feel somewhat hopeful about what the next month will bring. 

Ben (the aforementioned husband and business partner) has been slowly taking on more roles over here at Verdi land and we now are in a position where I’m forced to hand more over. I’m not sure if this will be a surprise or not, but I’m rather a type A personality and the process of handing things over has been hard for me, even though I know it is a good idea. This forced process might be good. I don’t have a choice, and that’s likely a good thing. 

And, again with that Type A personality thing, I’m not great at slowing down in general. I have a hard time not making lists, not constantly trying to improve processes (even ones as mundane as my post-shower skincare and teeth cleaning routine), not chilling out. Now I don’t have a choice. And, as of now, I’m feeling kind of grateful for that lack of choice. 

I’m also feeling grateful for the clients I have and the new ones coming on board. I’m grateful that I’m getting the opportunity to do only the work that I’m best at -- only the client facing work (and writing this weekly post). I’m grateful that I get to shed the other things and I get to decide how quickly or slowly I take on new folks. For now, I’ll just be taking on 2 new clients this month. That replaces a couple folks who are graduating out so it doesn’t actually increase my capacity. I hope that by this time next month I feel ready to increase that capacity further, but we’ll see. 

As always, I’m rooting for you. 

XOXO,