I've been feeling so overwhelmed lately that I felt the need to shut down for a week after last week's trip to Chicago. I've been sleeping about 16 hours a day since I returned home on Saturday. Needless to say, not very many book chapters, blog posts or client problems are addressed when one spend entire days on end sleeping. But I needed it, so I gave myself permission to rest and sleep. I know if I push myself too hard, I will end up incapacitated by a nasty MS flare.
I woke up today at noon with a little energy and managed to make good progress on a book chapter. And I formulated a new schedule for the 29 Gifts book that, if followed to the letter, will *just barely* allow me to meet my February 1 manuscript deadline to my publisher. Basically, everything else is going to fall by the wayside for the next two and a half months. Y'all won't hear from me much around here. I will not be working with any new clients (despite the fact that we need the money right now). My cats will not be given access to my office, no matter how badly they want to sprawl across my keyboard. My husband will not be allowed to talk to me during my waking hours and will be required to take care of all household and pet care duties -- of course, he'd say he does all of that anyway.
I've begun cycle nine of my 29-Day Giving Challenge. Here's a brief list of gifts offered so far.
Day 1 (X9): I gave an hour of my time to be a guest on a great blog talk radio show.
Day 2 (X9): I gave my time to speak at the National MS Society Convention in Chicago. I told the 29 Gifts story to a mixed audience of other people living with MS, health care advocates and medical providers and researchers. There are about 400,000 people like me living with MS in the United States and the MS Society is dedicated to help us advocate for our rights and fund research to find a cure to this devastating neurological disease. For more info about MS, or to donate to help the Society in it's mission to create a world free of MS, go to www.nmss.org. You can watch the speech here if you want to.
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Day 3 (X9): Before leaving Chicago I had brunch with a fellow 29Giver and gave her some perspective about a gift she was planning to offer to her father. She doesn't get along with her dad and was feeling resentful about sending him a gift. She felt stuck because she knew that if she didn't send the gift, her father would call her brother to complain and harass him. I suggested that she go ahead and send it the gift to her dad, but to view it as a gift to her brother. That made her feel better about sending the package because it was being given out of love instead of resentment.
Day 4 (X9): I gave myself a lot of sleep since it was my first day home and also gave some time and attention to my husband and cats.
Day 5 (X9): I gave a bit of time to our sister project, Operation Teddy Bear Care, by helping to prepare a presentation about the project.
Day 6 (X9): I gave a bit MORE time to our sister project, Operation Teddy Bear Care, by editing a press release about the project, which was published today on Yahoo News. Please BUZZ IT UP and add comments to help increase our Yahoo News ranking. Share it on Facebook, Digg and StumbleUpon too so you can to help spread the word!
Day 7 (X9): I gave a little bit of free time to an existing client to weigh in with my opinion on some name and tagline ideas her team generated.
Day 8 (X9): I'm sharing a link to my new favorite blog with all of you. It's called KISS THE PAPER. It's a visual blog published by two sisters, one of whom is my good friend, business partner and fellow 29Giver Kate Prentiss. If you love it, leave a comment and let the ladies know!
