Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

2023 has started out a bit rocky.

Dean and I spent Christmas with my parents and were also able to see my sister’s family. As soon as we all parted ways, we came down with a vicious cold. We tested negative for Covid, but every adult and child—aside from Dean and my brother-in-law Sam—fell ill. We had abysmal sore throats and absolutely no energy.

While I was laid out, Dean lost his job.

Suffice it to say that the first week of January wasn’t our favorite.

I’m still struggling to catch up to the non-stop pace I was somehow maintaining before the holidays and Dean is applying to multiple jobs a day. We were looking forward to—albeit woefully underprepared for—Dean’s parents to visit us the first weekend in January. Of course, their car broke down when they were about halfway here. They still made it and were thankfully fine, but had to find a dealership and get a rental car.

It’s felt like we’ve all been starting 2023 about a hundred yards back from the starting line.

I’m trying to remain positive about this.

I hadn’t been sick since 2020, and that cold wasn’t too bad. Maybe I’ll get away with another three years of no illnesses. Regardless, this has given me another boost of appreciation for my general good health. I really had no energy and lost a ton of my drive. Plans I had made for pitching a new book and editing another one completely fell by the wayside. I couldn’t concentrate, so my pile of books I’ve been meaning to read and blurb have languished. Any social media campaigns I had completely derailed.

Perhaps it was good for me to slow down for a while. It certainly put how much I was doing on a day to day basis into perspective when I physically wasn’t up to it anymore. I have a greater appreciation for my normal energy and will continue to try and take care of myself.

Dean wasn’t happy in his job. Yes, it gave us benefits and financial stability, but he was stressed out. He was working off the clock to try and keep up and to keep his job and he was terrified for about two months. The situation isn’t ideal, but hopefully he’ll be able to find a place that’s a better fit for him. It also forced us to explore alternative health insurance options, and I found something through the Independent Book Publishers’ Association that actually gave us assistance because Dean is currently unemployed. We’ll still be able to afford his epilepsy medication on this plan, which was a big concern. And now we know that this service is available to us.

I’m not looking at this rough start as a bad omen for the year. Rather I’m looking at it as a cleansing. A refresh. A shake-up.

It’s time to look at what we’re prioritizing and putting time into and perhaps make some adjustments.