In July 2021 I had a heart attack that nearly killed me! It’s not the first “near death” experienced our family has endured but it was definitely a wake up call for me. The worst part of the 10 days in ICU wasn’t all the invasive testing, nor the uncertainty of what was happening, nor the fear of what was going to happen – it was the terrified reaction of my boys when they visited me for the first time. So I’ve been on a bit of a journey with my health since then. I’ve made lots of changes both physically and mentally, that have affected my personal and my business life.
I’ve recently achieved some of my physical goals – I’ve reached my goal weight and I’m training in my second fight camp (boxing). But there have had to be a lot of changes along the way to get to where I am now. And some of those changes were in my business. Here’s what I’ve learned.
My business can run without me
My heart attack happened on the 21st of July. That’s smack, bang in the middle of end of financial year (EOFY) so there’s a lot going on! A lot of the initial EOFY work I do myself while my team are busy on other things. This was also the year when Single Touch Payroll (STP) finalisations were extended so I hadn’t quite finished all of those. Now it’s typically frowned upon to take your laptop with you to the emergency department and work on STP while the medical professionals and poking, prodding and monitoring. So I called my team and let them know I was in the hospital (at this stage we didn’t know it was a heart attack) and checked they were under control. It was the following morning when I was admitted to the CCU (Coronary Care ICU) that I let them know things were a little more serious than we first thought. After their initial concerns for my health, their immediate response was “what do you need”. And the first message from Naomi after we’d spoken was, “Don’t worry, we’ve got everybody covered.” And do you know what? They absolutely did. My team were amazing. They stepped up; worked out what needed to be done; spoke to people they needed to; and just hooked in and took care of everything. And they even continued to check in with Jason, my husband, to see how he was coping. With everything that was going on for me in the hospital, I’m so grateful not to have had the worry about my business.
My clients are good humans before anything else and they care
I was initially a little worried about telling clients that I was in hospital. By this point I wasn’t doing any of the day-to-day work for our clients, and my team takes care of all bank reconciliations, supplier payments, payroll processing, etc. So nobody was going to have any delays with payments because I didn’t do them anyway. But I was still worried that they might be concerned that if I’m not there, the ship may run aground. But this definitely was not the case! All of the clients who were informed I was in hospital were concerned only for my health and recovery. They were already working closely with my team so knew there would be no disruption there. So again, another thing I didn’t need to worry about, and it was really nice to receive multiple messages, flowers and care packages throughout my recovery.
Taking time out is important
My husband had a heart attack at 35 when my youngest was just a couple of months old. Again, a one-off freak occurrence due to a blood clot from a broken arm. So we learned a long time ago the important of not taking life for granted and our parenting philosophy is all about creating memories. Over the years some bad habits start to creep in, but overall I’ve been okay at creating a good work life balance. I remember one time being torn between a work deadline and going to a Mothers Day morning tea at kindy. Of course kindy was the winner, and the feelings of pure joy by both me and my little one are still a strong memory over 10 years later. Although COVID messed up our camping schedule a bit, we’re avid campers and try to get away for a road trip once a year, and a number of 3-day weekends through the year. Taking time out of your business to recharge is so important. And if you are too stressed to even contemplate that, then you need to more than ever! Some simple things you can do include turning off the alarm and having a sleep in, putting your phone to do-not-disturb after 5pm, doing exercise every day, eating well, stopping for a lunch break, go for a walk around the block to clear your head, have a deep conversation with your teenager – it’s okay that they’re talking about gaming and it seems like a foreign language to you, they’re just happy you’re engaging with them!
Read more: What a heart attack at 35 taught me about work life balance
Stress is a silent killer
My heart attack wasn’t caused by the usual risk factors of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, genetics, etc. It was caused by extreme stress. The “old Sarah” was an over thinker and a complete stress head – about everything! My mind never stopped going over and over things that really, don’t matter! I remember vividly at that time that I was a lot more on edge than normal. I knew what my triggers were, but I just couldn’t seem to get it under control. The “new Sarah” does not stress. And it’s not even that I choose not to; it’s that I just don’t have that same level of anxiety and over thinking about everything. It’s very odd that the “switch” now seems to be off. But it’s awesome! Now don’t get me wrong, I still experience what I consider to be challenges or obstacles. But that’s all they are – challenges or obstacles that have a solution. Finding a solution means I don’t need to focus on the challenge. Because seriously – stress can literally kill you and nothing you’re worrying about is worth dying over!
So how did a heart attack improve my business?
I guess it’s just given me a deeper understanding and more perspective on what’s important.
- I’ve released some control – well overdue anyway.
- I’ve put more trust in my team – who are amazing and do an excellent job.
- I don’t stress about things that don’t matter – hard to do, but important to figure out.
- I’ve prioritised my health – funny how a near death experience will do that.
- I only work with clients who value our services – these are the like minded humans who bring joy.
- I charge what we’re worth – when I value what we do, our clients do too.
- I have greater empathy – we’re all human and have stuff going on.
Final Thoughts
It’s tough being a parent, a business owner, an employer, a spouse, a friend … hell, it’s tough just deciding what to wear some days! But I can hand-on-my-heart say that you can and will get through the tough times when they come. So surround yourself with other amazing humans, be kind to yourself if things start to fall apart, and give yourself permission to ask for help. If you need to get some balance into your life, reach out to us.
