Today marks 10 days in on my 30 posts in 30 days challenge. Where did the challenge come from & why am I doing it? Here’s the back story:
It’s been a tough year! We’ve been tormented by allergies (San Antonio allergies are super bad and they are year-round; there’s no off season), so we took a break and I took the kids to stay in my parents’ empty house (they’re on a mission in Chile) in Arizona for the summer to see if it would make a difference for their allergies — it did! Being away from home and keeping kids entertained without all their “stuff” took some effort and didn’t allow for much writing time for me.
Within just a couple weeks of returning, my husband headed out of town on a 6 month trip for business, on the same day that school started for the kids. Our youngest started kindergarten and I just knew I would have TONS of free time with all the kids in school all day. Boy, was I unprepared for that transition! I wish someone would’ve told me that it would take a few weeks to figure this new schedule out and how to use my time effectively.
But after a few weeks, I got it figured out! Life was great and I had gotten myself into a great schedule that included spending a couple of hours working on building my blog every day.
And then, I got sick. It started with a cough that was keeping me up all night and turned into pneumonia. I had several days where I was sure I was going to end up in the hospital, but I was lucky enough to avoid that. Having never experienced pneumonia before, what has completely surprised me is the recovery time that is needed. I took my course of antibiotics and a second medication when the first one didn’t work. And the cough and terrible crackling in my lungs finally subsided.
But it’s been several weeks since the worst of it and I’m still battling it every day. My body is just weak and tired. I still need a nap every day, just to make it through. If I start to feel back to normal and overdo it, things get really bad again with some of the crackling in my lungs, the pain my chest, and the need to use an inhaler — this happens a few times a week.
So, I spent at least a full month doing hardly anything. I could hardly think about my blog; I would share things to my Facebook page, but that was really it. At home, I was doing the bare minimum, just keeping us going . . . making sure there was food to eat and that everyone got to school each day.
Along with the physical challenges, it was really hard mentally/emotionally to be going through all this on my own, with my husband away, and the weight of taking care of my 5 kids on my own. I was extremely blessed by church members who brought food and offered their love and concern for us. But pulling myself up and out of the constant mental and physical fatigue has been so difficult and nothing that anyone could help with.
So, I decided I needed a challenge. 30 posts in 30 days! I had seen other bloggers taking on this challenge, kind of a jumpstart, and I thought it was just what I needed. It turned out, I was right. It’s easy to sit and watch Hallmark movies all day when you don’t feel well — and this is the perfect time of year for that! But making forward progress on a goal when you don’t feel well is quite a challenge. But taking on a challenge that requires me to move in a positive direction each day is helping to pull me out of the mental fatigue.
To anyone who took the time to read this far, thank you for following along with my challenge and for helping me out of my slump. I’m looking forward to 20 more days and 20 more posts!
And if you ever find yourself in a similar slump: find a goal, challenge yourself, and then make it public so you don’t quit!
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