ИконописI can’t believe I’m writing about Christmas gifts in the middle of January!  Why am I doing it?  I guess the reason is because the value of this very unpleasant gift is just now becoming clear to me.

On December 15th (my 41st wedding anniversary), I got sick with a very bad case of the flu.  I actually coughed so hard that I cracked one of my ribs.  I spent all of Christmas, the rest of December and the first week of January either in bed or on the couch – too sick to even be able to think.

Now I am starting to get better, but I still don’t get dressed unless I have to because the pressure of my bra on my cracked rib is too uncomfortable.  I also don’t have my energy back to where it was before I got sick and have to still rest a lot.

So what is good about this Christmas gift?

I was physically forced to stop doing.  For almost 2 years I had been a ‘doing’ machine.  You’d think as a ‘stress-relief’ specialist, I would know better.  But in the process of helping everyone else resolve their problems, I forgot about myself.  My life became imbalanced and other areas of my life suffered.

I wasn’t exercising and eating properly.  My spirituality suffered because Sunday was my only day of rest and I became very sporadic about church attendance.  My relationship with my husband and children suffered because I was always working.

As a result, my body was forced to take some serious action to get my attention.  And it did a very good job.  I have had over a month now of not being able to work.  Our finances are an interesting challenge but the experience has been invaluable to me.

I have reviewed and reorganized my schedule and given myself realistic limits on how much I can and will do in my business.  I have made sure that there is time for the other very important areas of my life.  And I have given myself some down time to do nothing – if I choose to.  I had a huge wake-up call.

Thank heavens it wasn’t something more serious.  So, as I said in the title, I definitely received a Christmas gift I didn’t want, but it was the most valuable gift I received this year.

What about you?  Is your life going the way you want?  Are there things in your life that you would like to change, but don’t know how?  If you are ready to get more balance in your life by removing some of the emotional blocks that are stopping you, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or Tapping) and I are ready, willing and (once again) able to help you.