Are you burning your candle at both ends?
I have singlehandedly raised four children despite their father's best attempts to interfere. I worked two and three jobs simultaneously to feed and provide for them. Now that they all have graduated, settled down and have children of their own, I remain a part of their lives. My most recent second job was lost to another company bidding us out in 2006, so I decided to go back to one of my loves; writing. My primary job involves some shorter days and some longer. The schedule changes monthly, but that is the beauty of writing, we can do so at any time. In the end of 2007 the earnings started picking up and so did my rankings.
Often times I would come home from work to find I had over a thousand views during the day. The comments from readers were encouraging and lifted my heart, but shortly after both the views and revenue took a nose dive, so I started looking for other places to write. Just because my children are grown does not mean they do not need help from time to time. In fact as they grow older, the expenses mount. It is difficult to look at a child/grandchild in need and not be able to provide for them.
Not only did I need the traffic to get paid but I did not just want to be randomly read here and there. I wanted to reach many people. When I researched alternative medicines it was the idea of helping others and to relieve suffering. I am no Mother Theresa. I do not suffer from visions of grandeur, but if the information is at my fingertips, should I not get it out? Should I not let others know for instance that turmeric relieves pain from inflammation? No one should have a corner on Mother Nature. It is meant for all to benefit from.
If not for readers, would we continue to write?
I owe so much to the readers. I cannot say "my" readers, as only when I publish something of interest to them will they read and comment. They are not "my" readers any more than I am a loyal customer to just one grocery store. We go where we find what we are looking for.
Some readers only read to get read back. There is nothing wrong with that. I will make every effort to return the favor at my earliest convenience. Sometimes, as yesterday, there are errands to be run; family to visit and care for. Trying to come home after a long day and research, read and comment can be time consuming. My husband is diabetic. I must see that he eats and not just anything, but something healthy. I have begun to understand the importance of good nutrition and must feed myself properly also. This takes a chunk out of the schedule too. Forgive me, you know I get distracted. :-)
Maybe you have this time management thing down to a fine science.
Maybe you have everything perfectly scheduled and always go to bed on time. I do not. Sleep deprivation is serious and it is only when we take it serious and actually set aside time each day or night to get our required sleep that we can feel our best. One of my good friends at Triond was cutting corners on their sleep and I was worried about their health so I researched for this article. One of the things that came to light while doing this research was:
"The problem of drowsy driving is under reported, so we have no real statistics to show the numbers. Statistics report that of 100,000 police-reported crashes 71,000 were injured and 1,550 are killed annually due to drowsy driving in the U.S."
I am one of those who have found myself nodding off at the wheel, so this truly caught my attention. I want to stay up and finish everything I start in one day, but staying up until 1 or 2 in the morning and then getting up to go to work at 6:30 is causing me to shorten my life expectancy and lower my ability to do a quality job. In writing this article I was trying to help them, but it helped me too. If interested you can find more information about sleep deprivation, how it effects our health, and how to remedy it. Take care, "eat well, rest well, and stay well" as Chan Lee Peng says.
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