I thought I was having a heart attack last Wednesday. I was sitting in my office, and suddenly had crushing chest pain that radiated up through my throat to my jaw and my left arm was numb and tingling. It was the scariest experience of my entire life. I thought I my office was going to be the last thing I saw before the end. A work up at the hospital did not indicate a heart attack, so they sent me home and told me to take the rest of the week off. I was told to “rest” and “take it easy”.
Yesterday, I went back to the hospital for shortness of breath. They did an even more thorough work up to check every aspect and function of my heart. Finding everything to be in good shape, they sent me home. I was again sent home with instructions to take the rest of the week off and “rest”.
It has become apparent that I do not know how to “rest” or “take it easy”. When I was a little girl and would visit my Abuelita, she spoke very little English. One thing she did say, as we left, is “take it easy!” I always smiled and waved and laughed a little, thinking how cute my little Grandmother sounded saying those words. I had no idea what “take it easy” meant then, and I don’t know what it means now!
When I was at home “resting” last week, I had my work computer with me, logging on and trying to keep track of what was going on and delegating work, responding to emails, and ensuring deadlines were tracked and kept. On top of that, I was doing laundry, cleaning bathrooms, and loading the dishwasher. I slept some…I think, to check the box. Okay, yes, I have “rested”. I kept waking up in the middle of the night in a state of mind that I can only describe as angry. For several minutes, I would flop around like a fish out of water, unable to get comfortable or relax my mind enough to drift back to sleep.
I returned to work on Monday, but I was back in the hospital yesterday for shortness of breath. They did an even more thorough work up on my heart and determined that everything was good. They send me home again with instructions to stay home and “rest” for the rest of the week.
Yesterday was a kind of moment for me. I hollered “TIME OUT!” at myself in my mind. This was ridiculous! I had finally had enough of feeling this way and dealing with this frustration. So, I decided I would stay home from work today and completely boycott work and any thought of work for an entire day! For all of you workaholics…self-proclaimed or unaware…it IS possible. IGNORE the work texts, do NOT power up the work computer, do NOT check the work email, and let the work phone calls go to voicemail. (If you are in the military like I am, recall messages are unique and you know you have to deal with them, but for real, they are not likely going to be sent on your one day!)
I’m doing a one day REBOOT! When something isn’t working, what do they say? UNPLUG AND RESTART!!! It works almost every time! So why not try it? It’s one day. The world will not stop spinning without you at work in one day. If the place burns down in that one day, well, everyone has new stuff to deal with the next day, including you!
If you try this, let me know how it works for you. I am literally in the middle of my reboot day right now. I am sitting on the couch next to my napping puppy, watching my favorite shopping channel. Yes, I cleaned the kitchen, but there was a sour smell coming from something over there that I couldn’t handle, and I needed to get rid of it! LOL I have a nap planned and the rest of my time is just whatever. I give myself permission to start powering back up at 9pm. I will only bring “uniform prep” and “lunch pack” apps online. I won’t bring work function apps online until tomorrow morning.
Best of luck to all of you who give this a try with me!
