Apr 7, 2021
Have you ever been too sick to
work over a long period of time?
I’ve been sick for over five
weeks and I haven’t fully recovered yet. Being unable to work has
been difficult for me. When I used to be an employee, being sick
didn’t have the same effect on me as it does now. As entrepreneurs,
our business depends on us to be there for our clients and our
team.
Being sick the whole of March
2021 and still feeling weak in the first week of April has taught
me some great life lessons I want to share with you in this
episode.
“Getting sick is something
you can’t control – the only thing you can do is focus on getting
healthy.” - Sigrun
If you’re more of a reader, scroll down to read the lessons I’ve learned
from being sick and unable to work for five weeks.
In this Episode of The Sigrun Show:
- How my sickness started (1:15)
- Diagnosis: RS virus (3:38)
- Second diagnosis: Pneumonia
(8:30)
- Reading six books in one week
(13:42)
- The life lessons I learned during my sickness
(20:11)
10 Life Lessons I Learned From Being Sick
- You can’t control everything
Sometimes things are out of your
control. Getting sick is one of them and when you do, the only
thing you can do is focus on getting healthy. Often that means
doing absolutely nothing. For two weeks the only thing I was
capable of doing was watching Netflix. I couldn’t read or sleep,
but I could watch Netflix, so that is what I
did.
- Your health is your number one
priority
It’s easy to say that health comes
first but actually making it your number one priority is another
thing. Despite having a chronic illness – or maybe because of it –
I haven’t put my health first. But getting sick for five weeks is
definitely a wakeup call. I don’t want it to happen again. If there
is anything I can do to prevent it, I will.
- You’re not as indispensable as you
think
We sometimes think we’re the only
ones who can do certain things – until we can’t, and someone else
has to do them for us. Being as sick as I was, I couldn’t do any
coaching calls, no podcast recordings or any internal meetings with
my team. I couldn’t even send a voice message because my voice was
on the verge of going away. And still everything continued without
me. The world didn’t fall apart. My team took over and ran the
business without me! No coaching call got cancelled, a podcast
episode went out every week and overall my clients were very well
taken care of.
- You can prepare for this
Even though I didn’t plan on
getting sick and I don’t wish this on anybody, it’s actually
interesting how well my team and I were prepared. First of all,
having a team is super important. Second, making sure that there is
a backup for everything is crucial. Last year we started to
practice our backup strategy. If anyone went on holiday, there was
a person on the team who could take
over.
With my sickness we have been
forced to figure out a backup for everything I do. I had batch
recorded 5 podcast episodes and my podcast manager recorded the
intros for me. My marketing director who has been with me for over
6 years stepped in and did my coaching calls. I had just hired an
integrator who was supposed to take over a lot of my tasks and she
had to jump into the deep end and only got instructions over Slack
from me. And it all worked out! My team stepped up and I could work
on getting healthy. I am so grateful for my team.
- You can be sick and still be there
If I hadn’t shared on social media
that I was sick nobody would have known. When I was the sickest and
could barely breath I could still comment and reply on social
media. When people heard I was sick they told me to relax, sleep
and get off social media. But actually social media was my
connection to the world. I loved being able to see what people were
doing and comment and reply on posts from friends, family and
clients. Being sick doesn’t mean that you are too sick to be there
for others.
- Allow yourself some slack
While I was the sickest I would
allow myself all the things I don’t normally eat or drink. To be
honest I felt sorry for myself and I think that is just Ok. Of
course I made sure to eat healthy but I also allowed myself all
kinds of treats that made me feel better about being alone home and
sick.
- You can ask for help
Being in isolation at home alone
was tough but it was made easier because of all the help I got. My
sister checked on me twice a day and my mother too. My sister went
shopping for me a few times. And my mother brought me cooked food
every second day. Friends of mine also sent me messages and asked
if they could help but I already had enough help. And then my
husband flew in to take care of me which was of course the
best.
- What doesn’t kill you makes you
stronger
It sounds cliche but this
experience - which isn’t over yet - has made me mentally stronger,
even though the physical strength isn’t there yet. I’ve realised
that I am capable of more, that my team is capable of more and that
my clients are capable of more. There are things that I have not
made a priority which will now be a priority for me in my personal
life and in business. It is like having a reset - I can set new
rules now - and follow them.
- What you’ve putting off becomes more
important
There are a few things I want to
do in my personal life and in business that I’ve been putting off
for too long. Now these things have become top priority for me.
I’ve rearranged my calendar and as soon as I get healthy I am
dedicating my mornings to my priority projects. For now my mornings
are dedicated to sleep - as getting healthy is my top
priority.
- Enjoying non productive things that make
you happy
I used to be an avid reader, as a
teenager I would read 5 books a week. Then I read less and less
over the years and sometimes only 1-2 books a year. In 2007 I set
myself a goal to read 26 books in one year and I did but since then
it slipped again. I joined a business book club a year ago to read
more again but even that hadn’t done it for me. Becoming sick
renewed my love for reading, especially non-fiction murder
mysteries. I had focused so much on business books - on being
productive - that I almost forgot how joyful it can be to read a
good mystery and just enjoy it without feeling the need to be
productive.
Did you ever have a similar experience of being sick and
unable to work? I’d love
to hear from you! You can
follow, connect and share with me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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