At last feeling myself again! Last Monday saw the results me of pushing myself too far. What with a part time shop job and trying to run a gardening business plus all of the other stuff that goes on in life, I have been ignoring the little signs my body has been giving me to slow down and take a break. Monday morning I had my shop job, and during my shift I felt progressively rough, nauseous, and drained. This carried on and I just about made it to the end of the shift, at which point I was done. I felt so rough I got in touch with the doctors to get checked out and to make sure that it wasn’t my Crohn’s playing up. Typically they didn’t have any free appointments at all, so I got in touch and explained the situation to my IBD nurse, Gini, who was brilliant as always. She reassured me it was unlikely to be anything to worry about but just to be on the safe side she’s sent some blood test forms over to just check things out.

After that I slept. Then had a bit of a nap. Then I slept again. I needed it! Looking back: between the two jobs I’m not sure I’ve had a full day off of work for about three weeks, as I work weekends at the shop job. My shifts here start early, usually between half 5 and half 6 in the morning. More often than not I have gardening jobs after this as well. On days off from the shop I’ve just been going straight to the gardening. And thats just my work! I know I don’t sleep enough to support this life style, but by the time I’ve worked and given myself time to do other stuff that I love doing, and seeing the people I love spending time with, I’m not left with much time for sleep. In short: I’ve been a busy boy.

Thankfully I had a couple of days completely off of work and I did’t let myself work at all. I caught up on stuff, spent time with Holley and my family, and most importantly I let my body rest up. As a result I’m feeling a lot better. After this week I have taken a step back to look at the bigger picture and I am realising how important it is to spend more time on me, and spending that valuable time with people I love. I am making plans to sort the work/life balance out, so that I can earn enough to live without running myself into the ground. Its something that’s really important and something I know I need to work on and get right. I will get there!

Thanks for reading people

KBO