Thank you Nic

Thank you Nic. 

Yesterday was a tough one. 

My car (my mobile office) was at Novus for a windscreen replacement (stone-strike on the motorway in the weekend).

I injured my foot last week and the swelling and pain was keeping me awake – I had booked in to see the Doctor at 10am.

There was a sick child at home (again).
The kitchen renovation is STILL not complete.
The afternoon was stacked with appointments.

There was more than usual communication between myself and my colleagues as there is a lot going on just now. 

I knew that on Friday (today) I would be out of the office all day – it’s the school Ag Day and Gala. There is limited reception, but I am also the MC and musical entertainment… 

My 10am Doctor’s appointment turned into an x-ray being required, and a follow up nurse visit. 

The day was not getting any easier, without a car, and out of the office, all work was being done on the move.

After my meetings I would need to get my car (who knows when that would be – some time before 5pm) and suit up (suit in the car) to go to Rosalind’s auction in Orewa.

Anyway, at around 11am I met Nic, the radiologist. She could see I had been working in the waiting room, hotspotting on my laptop off my phone.

She could see that I was pretty stressed and started asking a few questions. I hit her with the list. She hit me with the truth. 

Well, Matt, you can’t do it all. 
I used to try and do it all, she said. But I figured I can’t. 

Then she opened up a can of my own advice on me. 

I think you need to make sure you are eating well. You can still go to the gym – even with your sore foot – you can exercise other areas of your body.  
You need to get plenty of rest and you need to go for walks in nature. 
And you can’t do it all. So put it all back into perspective and do what you can, and look after yourself. 

I mean seriously – does this not sound like me giving myself my own advice? 

We are getting into the silly season, there is only so much that we can do. Look after yourselves, and each other out there. Thank you Nic, I needed a word like that from a kind stranger yesterday.

___________

I am going to break my ‘One Blog One Message’ rule, because this is closely related. Plus it’s Friday, I have already broken the ‘Thursday Blog Publishing’ rule. 

This week I celebrate seven years off the booze. The reason it is relevant is because I could not have done yesterday hungover. And much more risky for me, yesterday evening would have been a ‘get smashed’ kind of evening. And then I would let my kids and my school community down with a crappy hung-over performance at their Ag Day today. 

Most people manage to keep a good handle on their drinking, I was not one of them. I was a heavy, most-days kind of drinker. With extra heavy days mixed in.

I ended up at my wits end some time seven years ago. I was unwell most mornings. I was missing out on parenting. I was alienating my family. I was making mistakes at work. 

My father passed away from cancer and he barely drank a drop – I was waking up most mornings and could feel the poisons in my system knowing that one day an irreversible process would start somewhere in my body. Then I really would be in the shit. 

Of all things, I ended up calling a hypnotherapist – I just googled a local lady. I had stopped smoking through hypnotherapy, it had worked and was painless. So I thought ‘I want this to stop, my willpower is not strong enough, I can’t do it myself, maybe hypno will work for drinking too’. That’s how I started stopping, and how I have continued.

So I am going to extend Nic’s kindness today. If you know it’s a problem and you want to talk, reach out – there is your invitation. I am a busy man, but I have time for this. What can be more important than lifting one another up?

Have a great weekend. The market is looking better. Make the most of it. 

-Matt