The Pitfalls of Me, Myself and I

My husband, Will is a hard-working primary school teacher. He valiantly fights off childrens' germs for 6-week terms at a time, like some kind of brave immune-system-warrior. And then, when the term finishes and he's given a glorious week or two (or six!) to relax and recharge, those same germs sense that his defenses are lowered. This means that, without fail, he gets ill at the start of every holiday period.

Last week was half term for Will and, like clockwork, a beast of a cold set in. I married a very generous man, and he kindly shared his cold with me. Now my body takes things like colds very seriously - we (my body and I) approach them with a single-mindedness and dedication that in other areas of my life I'd be proud of. I went to town on this cold, and have spent the last few days under a heap of snotty tissues on the sofa.

None of this is a problem, really. I have Netflix and plenty of chocolate; I'm ok. However, it has been a real hiccup for my work on the Discovery College. This week in my day off and over the weekend I had intended to finalise job descriptions to advertise for the upcoming Witney Pilot, and make initial applications to four charitable funds for varying amounts, as well as respond to a few offers of volunteering from wonderful strangers. I just about managed to hold my brain together long enough to finalise the job descriptions, but nothing else got done.

In the majority of my roles to date I've worked within a team, and whilst there have always been things that only I could do, there's been a reassuring sense of shared responsibility. However this project's pace is currently dictated solely by me: if I am not doing it, it does not get done. This can create a lot of guilt during any 'down time' I have and, as I've discovered this week, if I can't make progress because I've been slayed by my husband's monster-cold...

I'm passionate about this project, and it is absolutely worth every once of energy I'm putting into it, but I'm so looking forward to having my energy matched by a team of people who are just as motivated and excited by this as I am!