I've been teaching Switch all week with this prickly feeling in my back and a rash that was getting bigger and bigger. A doctor confirmed that it's shingles.

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Thankfully, it seems that I have a pretty mild case. I have a patch on my back that is larger than my hand and all bright red and blistered and feels like little bits of glass prickling in my back. But I don't have any pain. From what I hear, Shingles is excruciatingly painful for some people.

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It's a big wake-up call to me though. I have been working far too hard all year to produce the Switch Webinar Series and a new website, and then the last two weeks, I've been doing big hours upgrading all my course manuals and application forms. I was enjoying myself so I didn't see it as stress, but I can see now that I've been in such a frenzy of busy'ness for so long that when one task finishes, I just leap into the next and carry on.

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Added to that, I felt angry at a couple of people last weekend, and suddenly - BANG! I've got shingles!

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When I looked up the metaphysical meaning, it said "a release of stored up negative energy, little bursts of anger, or a sign that you need to slow down and practice self-care because your immune system is compromised by your stress".

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Yip! Guilty of all 3 issues.

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My first response was anger at myself for letting this happen to me. I should have seen it coming and intervened sooner. So then I did The Switch to let go my anger at myself, since that's not going to help matters. Then I immediately stopped all my editing projects. They can go on the back burner for now. I'm going away this weekend for a bach holiday with my husband to celebrate our first wedding anniversary, so this is going to be a lovely relaxing weekend of doing no chores and no to-do list stuff. I apologised to my body for getting caught up in the mayhem and not noticing that I needed to stop. I thanked my body for making me stop. I did another two Quick Switches this afternoon to let go the people situations that I felt angry about, and I did a Deep Switch on some anxiety that might have been fuelling my busy'ness, and now I just need to wait and let my body get back into balance and fix this. Already, on Day 5 all the prickling feeling is gone and it's looking a lot paler.  

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Practitioners don't always get it right! We are just human too. But hopefully my experiences can help others to take a look at their own lives and see if they need to make some changes for more balance as well.