The tingle that triggered a rest-olution
In May of this year, I felt a tingling sensation in my left eyebrow while heading to bed one night. I touched it and felt what I assumed was a small acne outbreak. I shrugged it off and went to sleep, but in the morning, the tingling had increased, and the outbreak was now on the surface, except it wasn’t acne.
Later that day, the breakout increased, moving across my forehead and eventually up to my scalp. I thought it was an allergic reaction to something, but I was wrong about that, too.
When I finally asked my wife to have a look, with wide eyes, she said, “That looks like Shingles.”
The next day, I went to the urgent care clinic, and they affirmed my wife’s diagnosis. That was the beginning of nearly two months of physical pain and scar tissue that has since healed, but I still feel a little bit each day.
The first thing the doctor asked me on that first visit was if I was under a lot of stress. I didn’t think I was under that much stress, but apparently, that is the cause of most Shingles outbreaks. When I wasn’t healing as quickly as I’d hoped, despite numerous medications, I decided to take the doctor’s advice and chill out.
You may remember this stretch between June and July, and though I still did a little work, I had reduced my workload considerably during that time. That helped me heal a bit faster but also gave me plenty of time to consider what was next for The Hungry.
When I returned regularly to the newsletter, I narrowed the focus to talk more about the power of newsletters and storytelling, which many people didn’t like, but we’ve got to live our truth, right?
That mid-year break was valuable, and I vowed to take June off every year going forward because that break allowed me to spend more time with my family (June is always a busy month for us), but also because it helped me reconnect with my purpose.
It’s such a good idea, I’m doing the same thing with December.
Starting immediately after sending this message, The Hungry will be on winter break from publishing, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop working. I’ll be rethinking and retooling The Hungry to become an even better version of itself, with some significant updates coming in early 2025.
I’ve learned my lesson from talking about what I plan on doing, so you won’t hear about those things until they’re ready, but they will be beneficial. You can count on some things for next month, though.
- Emails will still go out throughout December, but they will be reduced dramatically in scope (news, links, and good finds)
- Enrollment in the Insidr community will be closed effective December 1st while I build up some features and content
- I’m removing advertising spots on The Hungry until further notice.
Also, in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve doubled down on my storytelling efforts. I recently finished Stories Sell by Matthew Dicks, which is by far the best book on storytelling I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a LOT. The book is tremendously helpful, showing me better ways to turn personal stories into opportunities to build trust and loyalty with others.
In January, I’ll continue sharing my stories as they relate to the work, but I’ll also talk about what I believe are ways to associate your stories in a way that helps your potential customers relate to you and become loyal fans who buy everything you sell.