Physical and Mental Health

I've reached a point in my life where I honestly can't distinguish between "not feeling well physically" and "not feeling well emotionally". They both seem to happen at once. Honestly, I suspect it's always been that way -- the gods know I can tell when my kids are getting sick because they get cranky and uncooperative and start behaving badly -- but over the last few years I've become a lot more aware of it.

Which brings me to this past week... or month. Or longer, honestly. I have several issues at work that really need to be resolved, but which have been dragging out because I can't seem to get the help I need with them. There are some issues going on with our department that are... troubling, but also far enough above my pay grade that I really don't see any way to address them. I've also been feeling run over physically -- not completely sick, but not really well either. Low energy, stuffy head, upper-respiratory cough, issues with digestion: nothing really acute, but I'm definitely not at my best.

That, of course, has put me behind on even more things, which is even more discouraging.

Added to that is the extra effort of getting the boys back into school (and back on a school schedule) last week, while Beautiful Wife is stressed out about setting up her semester (which starts this week).

I think what I need to do (for this twofold sort of problem) is a try to implement a twofold sort of solution. On the one side, prioritize sleep and drop everything non-essential at home -- basically, don't get hung up on finishing things that aren't essential (like writing) and just focus on the stuff I need to keep the house running (like feeding the boys) and to get better (like getting as much sleep as possible). The other side is basically just getting myself together for another push at my three most recalcitrant problems; if I can get any of them resolved, that will be a huge relief.

And somewhere in here I need to put in for some time off, but I need to talk to my boss about that. With everything that's been going on, I really haven't felt like I could do that, and that's... really not healthy, either. So, yeah: the goal for this week is to line up my work problems, figure out what needs to be done for each of them, and try to get some resolution there; and then do (or not do) what I can at home to keep myself as well-rested and stress-free as possible, and hopefully shake off the physical symptoms.

It's not much, but it's a plan.