A sick day.... what's that?

So here we are again.

I likely have The Virus- I was exposed earlier this week and have symptoms today. Mild, thankfully. I've had much worse. (Shout out to science and my vaccines and booster!) I'll test tomorrow so I have a definitive answer- or at least will hopefully have one.  This damn pandemic occupies way too much emotional and physical energy even when you're NOT infected.

But I'm going to take this opportunity to do some writing here.  I struggle with down-time. In fact, I've been in my work email most of the morning arranging the things I would have done if I were there today.  I kind of don't mind it, I accepted positions with responsibility and so, I take responsibility. Probably I could do a better job setting things up so other people can step up in my absence.  I'll spend some time on that this year.

Having said that, while I don't mind taking responsibility that I've accepted, I'm also getting a little tired of responsibility. Hence this Sea Change year. I've been working hard since I was 16- and, if you count babysitting jobs, since I was 13- and am working on accepting the reality that a) I'm getting older and b) it's okay to slow down.  I can still be important without an important job title.  (I'm going to repeat that to myself as an affirmation often, I think.)  And maybe I don't need to work AND take a sick day?

That is one of the developmental tasks of getting older, isn't it? That transition from work to rest.  I'm a big fan of Erik Erikson, and spend a lot of my time as a therapist helping people understand and adjust to these normative life stages (oooh that's even the name of the private practice I'm in!). But as with most things, the theoretical and the reality are different creatures.  Healer, heal thyself? Practice what you preach? So many cliches fit here- insert your own favorite.

There are a lot of things I intend to write about. I don't want to clutter up this one post with all of them.  So I think what I'll do is let this one stand alone, since it's meaningful to me in its own right, and start a new one with what I'm thinking of as my origin story for this new stage of life.  (I won't even think about getting into my previous origin stories... that's what therapy is for.)

So I suppose the theme of this post is: One Thing at a Time. Something I need to get better at.