The Leg Thing...

The leg thing had me worried. I'll be honest and say that my first reaction was that I was having a stroke. I know, pretty farfetched for a guy who is only 32, but not impossible. Especially when you factor in the headaches.

I was actually talking with another strategy guide author the other day and mentioned this leg pain and the headaches to him and what he told me confirmed my recent decision to impose more down-time on myself, regardless of the pressure to work round the clock.

He was working ridiculous hours in attempt to meet another nearly-impossible deadline (sound familliar?) when suddenly his arm went numb. Then his leg. Then his other arm and leg, followed by his chest. He was obviously very concerned. He did some searching online for answers, went and got bloodwork done and had a physical and everything appeared to be normal. Except for the fact that the symptoms pointed to anything and everything ranging from stress to Multiple Sclerosis. He tells me he eventually went to a neurologist to have these "body migraines" looked into a bit further. Fortunately, it's very likely that the problem is stress. Way too many hours in front of a computer, way too much stress, way too weird of a sleeping pattern.

As for me, I don't know what caused the leg pain the other night. WebMD suggests it was likely a pinched nerve, but the simultaneous arrival of the headaches and my fellow author's tale tells me it could have been a very mild case of body migraine. I don't know.

Regardless, I am making a serious effort to take more time away from the desk. In fact, I may even ease back on my blogging too. I never minded the ridiculous hours I work when on a project because it always balances out with complete downtime. I've often joked that I either work 80-100 hours a week or 0. There's no way to completely smooth that out to a nice 40 hour per week average (and frankly I wouldn't want to) but I have to make an effort to work less during those crunch times. Kristin and I are going to try and ensure we take two nights a week off from work & schoolwork and spend at least one day on the weekend not working. No matter how busy we get. We just need the downtime for health's sake apparently.

Neither of us are workaholics by any stretch, but crunch happens. It's unavoidable. I just got to find a way to not let it get out of hand.