[Karen} No, I’m not married. I have no kids but I do support my 79 year young mother and I have a dog named Mr. G. I say this because like you, every day I work hard, very hard actually. My days are always extremely full and for the most part, very enjoyable but exhausting. The thought of being wealthy, having more money to donate and time to volunteer and just have the ability to do what I want when I want is on my mind.
What I have found is that I have been in a dangerous cycle of working all day and night building all of my businesses and volunteering with my local real estate investor group. Of course, I attempt to spend time with my mother, even if it is to go sit down with her and watch TV for some quality time or take her shopping but right after we’re finished, I go back to work so I don’t feel too guilty.
The problem is that for the last six to eight months, this cycle has begun to include going to sleep at 3am or 4am in the morning and me still waking up exhausted no matter what time I rise but it is usually about five hours later. I really think that my internal clock is actually broken. After all, how could I go to sleep so late and still wake up so early and why would I wake up if I am still exhausted? We hear about sleep deficit, well, I think that my account is seriously overdrawn because I am in no way catching up. I know full well that this is wrong but do as I say, not as I do because every day the clock runs on and there I go again. I have actually seen the sun rise as I sat at my computer a couple days in the last 5 months but that is the extreme. My magic time seems to be 4am.
I have a friend and fellow investor who is only two years older than me that recently suffered a stroke. A group of us were away on a business trip. Yes, just like I said, work, work, work. I will never forget sitting down next to him that very day and telling him that he needs to get more sleep. I just wrote that I am a firm believer in do as I say, not as I do. He is just like me, in the past, we often sent emails to each other at 3am and we would find that we were both still awake. Do you think that his stroke would teach me a lesson? Nope!
What did it take? Well, yesterday I was talking to my property manager. I mentioned that I had sent her an email last night but was calling anyway because I was not sure if she had seen the note. The fact that she then proceeded to ask what I was doing sending notes at 3:15 did not go unnoticed. Fortunately, the conversation went on and she said what finally hit home, and that is “who is going to take care of your mother if something happens to you”.
I get it. It finally hit me. She is completely right. I kept saying to myself I’ll get some sleep tomorrow and everything will be fine. The problem is I never did. The reality is that if something happens to me, there is nobody else. I have two married brothers but the thought of my mother relying on them scares me. Don’t get me started on that.
So now what? Well, I will strive to take better care of myself. I will continue to eat right but now I will get to sleep and then start exercising again. I will commit to excel in these all important building blocks of healthy habits
From now on, all I have to ask myself is for what and who is all of this for?
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