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Last Week
I didn't get my ezine out two weeks ago. It was the first time that I missed a deadline. Even in college and graduate school I never handed things in late. But when in college and graduate school, I wasn't a mom trying to balance my work life with caring for my family.
Here's what happened:
7/5: My 5 year old niece is hospitalized for 3 days.
7/7: My puppy has an acute eye trauma with glaucoma. His eye is filled with blood and he can't see.
7/8: My father's Crohn's disease strikes hard. He is sick and in pain.
7/9: My husband's chest hurts.
7/10-7/12th: Mom has headaches; my daughter has melt-downs; I go to the vet 3 times; my email stops working.
7/13: My husband is worse. He's wheezing.
7/15: My daughter has an ear infection.
7/17: My husband goes to the doctor: he has an acute pneumonia and needs an inhaler.
7/18: I take my mother to the hospital: she has chest pains and numbness in her arm. I pick my daughter up from camp: she has a 104 degree fever which still climbs after Motrin and Tylenol (a pneumonia, unrelated to my husband's).
7/19: My daughter vomits blood and has 2 nosebleeds.
7/20: I see a dog get hit by a car.
7/21: People start to heal: my daughter feels better, my husband can breathe, my dog's eye-pressure is down and there is less blood in his eye, dad's over his Crohn's attack, my niece is fine, mom didn't have a heart attack, but her headaches are still here.
Me?
I cancelled clients last minute, missed a sample session, and didn't get out my ezine. I took a deep breath, sucked back my tears, and kept going. Phone calls went unreturned, assignments have yet to be written, taking care of myself went out the window, although jelly beans made a strange entrance into my sugarless life.
Every so often I asked myself: Claudia, if you were the client, what would your life coach say to you now?
The answer (which, of course, would come ultimately from me):
1. Muddle through as best as you can, and be gentle with yourself as you do.
2. When the crisis passes, take time to restore your Self:
Cry any tears that went unfelt.
Allow yourself to be as tired as you feel.
Talk to friends.
Don't rush to get everything done that you couldn't get done.
Get to the gym, even if it cuts into your work time.
3. Prioritize helping your child recover and spend time with her alone.
4. Forgive yourself for not being perfect, for not being able to do everything when the poop hit the fan.
5. Trust that everything will turn out all right.
Today I went to the gym, worked with clients, wrote this ezine, and hung out with my daughter alone -- we played ball, laughed, and ate dinner outside. I see her, snuggled in bed with her bum in the air, safe and healthy again.
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Copyright ©2005, 2009 Significant Self Claudia Heilbrunn
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My Significant Self is published bi-monthly by Claudia Heilbrunn of Significant Self.
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