The benefit of resting.

So this past week I bitched about how much work I had and how damn tired I was. To give you a rundown of my personal ailments:

1) I had acute bronchitis for almost two weeks, caused by working on an extremely cold environment.

2) I now have a sharp pain under the ribcage, left side, courtesy of all my coughing. It is called intercostal muscle pain.

3) I had a knee surgery which demanded therapy, which I haven't had time to do, and my knee sometimes hurts like a motherfucker.

4) I have been suffering from extreme insomnia, which when I finally go to sleep, induces some extremely bad nightmares. Tsunami every Wednesday. Yey.

5) I am still almost fainting for no particular reason, I went to an endocrinologist who gave me a shitload of exams that I haven't had time to take. Oh, the winner of this one is, if a gland is making hormonal trouble, I will need to go back to the operating table.

I remember a couple of months ago where I told Joker that he needed to rest from a shitty job because if not, he would get sick as a dog. Every night thru messenger I begged him to do it. He eventually took a full week of rest, which he really needed. I was happy to hear him with loads of energy and happy again. The funny thing is? I talked and yapped about him getting some rest, and I haven't done the same. The Joker man has all the right to yell at me I told you so at the top of his lungs.

I have been taking my own advice for the first time in my life. I have been resting all weekend long. At first, I thought... You will never feel normal again. The word tired is not a good description of what I have been feeling. I can honestly say I was working myself to almost death. Now I understand when people go to the hospital for extreme exhaustion. I almost did go one night, but I stopped myself because I needed to be at the office first thing in the morning and I knew if I went to the Emergency room I would not make it.

In all the time I have been sick, there is also a funny thing that happens. I start to daydream. I start thinking about being at the beach. I start thinking of sleeping somewhere beautiful, where I can hear birds chirping and water flowing. And it gets more frustrating because I know I don't have time right now for any of it.

This weekend was the line in the sand. I made myself just relax. I am not going to think about all the work that needs to get done. I will not think about any header, any logo, any billboard that needs a revision. Just sleep, rest, lay... be still. Well, I am happy to report that I am returning to be a normal human being. Call Darwin, my friends. Me is almost a homo sapiens. If I were to pinpoint where I am in the evolution of man, dammit I am almost walking up right. I am happy.

None of us should do this, ever again. We need to say when we had enough, and we need to say it more often. I joked with a friend of mine the other day that I would never get a medal for all the work I've done in so little time. No one person would say, dammit Me, you achieved the Guinness World Record for advertising material this 2008. I don't know why I didn't stop working and actually rested. Even though my body was slowly winding down and it was clearly crying out for help, I didn't stop.

I learned my lesson, and I hope that you see this and think about yourself too. We are not super heroes. There is a fine line between being responsible and finishing the work on time and losing yourself while trying to deliver. Hey, maybe my ego got in the way. Maybe I wanted to prove myself so bad that I could do all the things I wanted that my body simply said, in a nice way, fuck off.

I will start to listen to myself a little bit more. Have a boss that is working you to death? Have a client who does not respect the fact that you have a life?

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My gift to you.

Enjoy life people. Much muaks, Me.