Why I Haven't Blogged This Week And What I've Learned From It

Do you remember in my last post how I said I needed to remember to ask for help more often? And how maybe I should slow down my life a little bit and not try to do so much? That was said under the presumption that I was DONE with the flu. Oh, I was naive. So very, very naive. Little did I know that in less than 24 hours, I would need to employ pretty much everything I said I needed to work on in that post. Because from Monday afternoon until Thursday evening, I was out of commission with the flu worse than I've probably ever had it.

I'm talking leave work and call in sick the next day even though I have no time off left for the year sick. I'm talking fever of high-100 to high-102 for 3 days sick. I'm talking could barely leave the couch sick. And finally, when that nasty fever broke, sweating through 5 shirts in one night (gross, and possibly TMI, but I wanted to make sure you get the full scope) sick. Yesterday I no longer had a fever and didn't want to take another unpaid day off, so went to work in a pretty foggy state of mind. I didn't have a fever any more, so there was a least that.

This morning, I FINALLY seem to be on the mend. I still feel a bit weak from being sick for so many days, but no fever and that feeling of cobwebs in my brain is gone. My energy level has overall improved as well.

Why am I telling you all of this? Am I trying to elicit sympathy? Trust me, that is not my end game. I'm sharing the ugly truth of my flu bug this past week so that you can understand that I actually did start taking my own advice and asked for help, slowed down, and really tried to take better care of myself (with reminders from Dan of course).

Tuesday afternoon, I left work early and let Dan know, and asked if he could pick the girls up from daycare. This seems small, but bear with me. If I weren't actively trying to get better at asking for help, I would have probably said "Honey, I'm not feeling so great so am going to lay down for a few hours and hope that I'm better. But don't worry, I'll pick the girls up from daycare." Not that he would have accepted that, but the mere fact that I asked for help? Trust me, that's a step in the right direction. Dan must have told my parents that I wasn't feeling well, because they came over around dinner time and actually took Eloise for the night AND brought her to daycare the next day. Angels, I tell you. My parents and Dan's parents are angels on Earth. I was in no condition to parent, and it just made that night SO much easier for both of us.

Wednesday morning, I woke up still feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. I had a fever hovering around 101 (F) for most of the day, but was freezing:

Instead of trying to be Super Woman yet again, I sucked up my pride, and let my boss know that I wouldn't be making it in that day. I brushed my teeth, laid some clothes out for Annie so Dan didn't have to decide what she should wear, and went back to bed, letting Dan get her ready AND take her to daycare. After a while, I dragged our comforter and a pillow downstairs so I could curl up on the couch, turn the fireplace on and watch some Hallmark Christmas movies on the big TV. Again, these may seem like small actions and staying home an obvious choice but I am SO bad at letting of things like this, so giving myself permission to take a day off to get better was a big thing for me.

I will confess that I DID throw dinner in the Crock Pot somewhere around 11:00 that morning. I just couldn't 100% do nothing all day. It would have made me more anxious knowing that there would be nothing ready when Dan and the girls got home. I also debated blogging, because I knew it wouldn't be until today at the earliest that I'd get around to it again. In the end though, I actually took my own advice and decided against that. And honestly, had I written anything that day, it would have been a hot mess, trust me.

Aside from dinner, I didn't do a damn thing the rest of the day. Around 3:00pm, after a nap and a few crackers and a lot of water, I think my fever finally broke because I was POURING buckets of sweat. It was gross you guys. Worse than any fever breaking I can remember. Just disgusting. BUT, I knew it meant that I was on the mend. I was able to get up, and actually finished putting dinner together after it did what it needed to in the crockpot. I felt some energy coming back too - I was getting better FINALLY!

I share all of this with you because if you're like me and have a hard time asking for and accepting help, or you just try to go go go and think there will be no consequences, I want you to know that you MUST. SLOW. DOWN. Especially as we enter into the cold/flu crazy busy holiday season. I learned 2 things this week from being sick:

1. I DEFINITELY need to slow down. I thought maybe I was putting too much on my plate before, but now I KNOW I was. I had not been feeling well parts of last week, but thought if I rested for one evening that would be enough for me to power through. One evening, people. What was I thinking? I was totally wrong. Had I allowed myself to slow down and take a step back for longer than I did last weekend, I might have avoided the worst of this flu.

2. Asking for help, well, it HELPS. (Seems obvious, right?) Contrary to my long-held beliefs, I was not a burden. Our parents helped a lot this week. I asked Dan for a TON of help this week. And while I know it was probably more stressful for him for a few days, in the end it was better for both of us that I did, because it meant I recovered faster than if I had tried to power through. The sooner we can get back to our normal routine, the better it is for the whole family.

Because, really, who wants to be laid up on the couch when you can be down on the floor playing with these kids instead?

#SlowingDown #Exhaustion