I guess we’ll go back to Monday 5th January 2015 since that date is now forever etched in my memory. You see, I had naively decided this day was going to be “the first day of the rest of my life”. I had gotten married and quit my job as an Account Manager just before Christmas. On Monday 5th January, when everyone else was going back to work, I was going to figure out what on earth I was going to do with the rest of my life!
You see, I’m an extremely conscientious person. I’ve always applied myself wholeheartedly to whatever I undertake. I’ve always wanted to do my best. I was a straight A student in school and college. When I graduated in 2006, I started my (what turned out to be) 8 year career in business. That time was filled with success and high praise from my employers, colleagues and clients. But what I mainly remember from that time was the overwhelming, unrelenting, stifling stress. I put an enormous amount of pressure on myself to be ‘perfect’. I quit my job at the end of 2014 because I was sure that if I didn’t, I was going to have some sort of breakdown.
So, back to Monday 5th January 2015. The first day of the rest of my life. I went to bed the night before feeling excited and motivated. I woke up sick. It was just one of those regular old chest infections, the type of thing I would get once or twice a year for as long as I could remember. This one was different though. The antibiotics absolutely floored me and I never quite recovered. For several months later I suffered with constant chronic nausea, diarrhoea and light-headedness. I lost over 2 stone in weight, and with it over half my hair.
