NickVenturella.com 3-18-23 - Slogging through the valleys

The thing about moving forward fast is that when a wall suddenly appears in front of you and you hit it, the world around you keeps moving at the pace you were on.

...Or at least it feels that way.

The last three weeks or so have felt like going top speed in life and trying to mitigate or avoid various obstacles life throws at you (imagine some sort of video game where the pace of obstacles coming at you is rapidly increasing).

Any parents out there will likely relate (and if you’re not a parent, it’s the equivalent of having too much on your plate that you can’t afford anything happening to you or you’re sure all the plates will fall and disaster will ensue).

Are you getting anxious reading this yet? I am as I write it. 

Over the last several weeks… 

School closed at least four different days across those weeks for snow. This throws off everyone’s regular routine, and mom and dad don’t really get snow days — we have the internet so work keeps happening. That scenario is its own juggling act.

Then school is back in session, but you get the call that your kid is sick and you need to pick him up from school. Slight fever, so you have him rest, give children’s Tylenol and observe symptoms. Do home covid test to rule it out. Then, it’s after hours and things are worse. Time for an urgent care clinic visit. He’s got strep throat. Get medicine, move on.

Next week, the older child wakes up not feeling well. Ruled out covid, ruled out strep, it’s just a cold. Over the counter meds, gotta just deal with it. He does like a trooper, but it’s a real doozy of a cold.

Strep child is now done with antibiotics, but a day or two after the last dose he’s complaining that his throat is starting to hurt again. It always happens after hours, so we’re back at the urgent care clinic. The antibiotics weren’t effective. Strep again. Get more aggressive meds, move on.

Another day or two the cold child is complaining of his ear hurting. Likely an ear infection. It’s the weekend, so back to urgent care. Double ear infection, get meds, let’s move on.

Dad’s new job is going well, but it’s intense. It’s a warp-speed moving, 5,000-employee start up where the method of organization in the company is chaos (which wouldn’t bother me if I wasn’t still new just learning to navigate it), and we have some impending deadlines important to my role and our huge annual conference coming up in a few months. Just gotta keep pushing…

Then I come down with that doozy of a cold. Enter: wall. I’m stopped physically and mentally, but the world around me is rushing forward without me. Now I'm grasping just to hang on to whatever I can grab of the “world” so even if I can’t lead the momentum I’m not shrinking in the rear view mirror (my thought is, being dragged along is better than being left behind).

The light at the end of the tunnel is that spring break is next week. I took off work, the family is going to do something fun, my best friend (and the other half of my music duo group, Gemini’s Rival) is coming into town so we can see some concerts together. We need everyone healthy by spring break, but I have to push forward right now even though I feel miserable. 

My wife is extremely supportive and picking up my slack, but I know it’s hard and not sustainable. I am able to get to bed early a few nights in a row. The sleep helped. I’m taking every over the counter cold drug I can. I finally feel like I’m coming back to life enough to keep going (like in the movie Back to the Future when Marty McFly is playing guitar and disappearing until his parents in the past kiss for the first time, which restores his existence — okay, maybe not that dramatic, but you get the idea).

I navigated the work chaos like a champ. Things are on track there. The kids are nearly 100% healthy, I’m getting close, too, and knock on wood, we’re going to enjoy spring break.

If you’ve read this far…congratulations, you must be a persevering kind of person. 

Here’s the moral of the story: Life is always going to have ups and downs. You can never enjoy the peaks without slogging through the valleys to get there.P.S.  My wife just woke up with the cold now, too. Not to the peak just yet, but we've got this, we know what it is, and how to beat it. I promise we'll still be on track by the start of spring break next week.Be well, have a safe spring break!

----------Updates----------upcoming Madison, WI-area live music performancesMore shows are in the works, stay tuned.Lone Girl Brewing CompanyWaunakee, WISun. July 16, 20233 - 5pm---------- 

Stay positive. Stay healthy. Be kind.Sincerely,Nick VenturellaStrategic/Creative ProfessionalNickVenturella.com