On Christmas Eve, I found myself rushed to the hospital with stabbing pain in my back so intense I could barely breathe. I felt like I’d swallowed a sword. For the first time in my life, when a doctor asked about my pain level from 1-10, I actually said 10.
After 36 grueling hours of tests and more needle pokes than I care to count, they discovered a gallstone blocking my bile duct. I needed surgery. To complicate things even more, they had to go through the same incisions they’d used just a year before to remove my uterus, fallopian tubes, and cervix.
My body has been opened, rearranged, and asked to heal itself yet again.
This isn’t exactly how I planned to start 2025. This was supposed to be my year of health, of scaling my business, of going bigger than ever. My novel BECAUSE FAT GIRL is in airports and bookstores nationwide, gaining traction daily. I have ghostwriting requests, a long VIP client waitlist, and I was in the middle of launching my 33 Asks® program. I had book tours planned for the East Coast and a whole trip planned to Europe.
Time on the sofa wasn’t what was calling to me, and while I was still prioritizing sleep, my body was in a stage where mentally and physically I wanted to get shit done. I even wrote about how rest was not right for me in this stage of my life here.
But life, as it often does, had different plans.
Here’s the challenge – and beauty – of running a creative business: I’m everything. The visionary CEO, director of marketing, executive assistant, and sales team all rolled into one. While I have amazing contractors that help out, ultimately, the business relies on me showing up.
Thankfully, I’ve built such a beautiful community in my personal life and through School for Writers® that support arrived immediately. People offered to help promote my products, sent kind notes of love, delivered food, and most importantly, reminded me that it was okay to step away and heal.
So instead of launching 33 Asks® in January as planned, I’m:
- Sleeping
- Watching TV
- Playing a fun new iPad game all about queer witch farmers called Wylde Flowers (10/10)
- Finally reading ACOTAR (I’m behind the times)
- Learning what my stomach can handle now that I don’t have a gallbladder
- Napping
What medical issues have taught me over the years as a business owner
Through this experience, and the many other health issues I’ve had before, I’ve learned some valuable lessons I want to share:
- When rest is needed, take more than you think. Triple it. I thought two weeks would be enough – but after having my abdomen opened for the second time in a year, I need at least a month, maybe longer.
- Build a community that allows you to be human. Find people who celebrate your ambition AND support you when you’re doing nothing but playing iPad games on the sofa. Perfectionism is a trauma response – we need communities that understand our ups, downs, and everything in between.
- Have a return plan, but don’t rush it. When life throws curveballs, use that pause to really consider what’s next. Should you resume previous plans or recalibrate entirely? Take time to journal, reflect, and strategize your next steps.
Yes, it’s scary financially to face another major medical issue as a sole proprietor. But I trust that my community will help me through this, just as I’ve helped them through their challenges. This is why it’s so vital to create spaces where we can be human; because those spaces are increasingly rare in today’s world.
Build a creative life that handles the ups and the downs
I am able to both be productive when I’m feeling inspired and rest when I’m feeling sick because I’ve purposely built a life that allows for both.
If you want to do that too, check out my Creative Life Blueprint course, where I’ll show you exactly how to create a sustainable creative practice that works with life’s inevitable challenges instead of against them.
For now, I’m focusing on healing. I’ll share my new schedule when I know it, but until then, I’m practicing what I preach about taking the rest we need when we need it.
Because sometimes the most productive thing we can do is sit on the sofa reading ACOTAR, playing Wylde Flowers, and binge-watching Abbott Elementary.
