Week 4: School + Work = Overload + Sick

I have to say that week four was highly uneventful. It started with a Tuesday that was so slow in the clinic all the students were basically practicing on one another. This isn’t a bad thing, but I was hoping that it wasn’t going to be like that for the rest of the week. The one highlight for the day was that we finally got the workbooks that go with our textbooks. They had been back-ordered from the publisher and we have to have them completed by our graduation date.

Wednesday morning I woke up with body aches. I immediately started panicking that I was getting sick. By the end of the school day I was a wreck and very grateful that my only client at the salon that evening had rescheduled. My sweet husband made two stops on his way home, one to get me some soup and another at Jamba Juice for their Cold Buster drink. I was highly determined to shake this thing off before school the next morning, but I was not so lucky. I could feel it before I woke up on Thursday that I was definitely sick. Still hell-bent on going to school and not losing any hours, I was convinced that I would be able to make myself feel better if I just took a shower. When my husband woke up and realized that I was trying to force myself to seem halfway functional he demanded that I get back in bed. He told me that I had been pushing myself too hard between work and school and that this was God’s way of telling me that I needed to take a day to recuperate and let my body heal itself. I pouted, I complained, and I defended myself. He said he wasn’t buying it and that he would call the school himself to let them know I wasn’t going to make it that day.

I hate admitting it when he’s right, but he was. I was on overload. My body needed all the sleep I got that day. The aches and pains and chills were uncomfortable to say the least, but my body was determined to make me rest. I was able to go to school on Friday and I had a long day of clients that I enjoyed, lots of polish changes, fun designs, and pedicures. Saturday was a busy day. I had a client first thing for a manicure/pedicure, then my regular weekly manicure with Lauren, who has decided that she loves the paraffin wax dip included in her service. After I finished with Lauren, I took a pre-planned half day at school so I could go to the salon and work on clients who I have not been able to reschedule during the week. Lauren is one of those said clients. I worked until 5 p.m., which also included me getting my hair chopped off into a cute, much-needed pixie cut.

I am looking forward to a more normal week this week. My body feels rejuvenated, but my husband has already warned me to not push it. I haven’t mentioned to him yet that I am booked at the salon every evening after school this week. Oh well, I will sleep in January!

— Karyn