I've Lost My Focus
The past few weeks have been particularly rough on me. After finishing my Chemotherapy treatments last year for Breast Cancer, I was slowly starting to dig out of the hole that all my treatments had put me in.
At the start of 2018, I was finally starting to feel "normal", after 4-5 months of focusing on undoing all the damage that Chemotherapy, Radiation, and surgeries had done to my body.
Just when I thought I was done with all my treatments, my Oncologist "highly" recommended that I take a recently FDA approved targeted chemotherapy for an entire year. This medication was called Nerlynx, and it targeted the HER2+ aspect of my cancer, to decrease the likelihood of recurrence.
I was on the medication for just under two months, and a handful of little pills each day has undone everything I worked so hard for. At only 38 years old, I am dealing with joint swelling, pain, and stiffness on a daily basis. Something I never had prior to that "evil" little pill coming into my life.
My oncologist is not concerned, because joint pain and swelling is a common side effect of the Aromasin I am on, but I'm not 100% sure that is the cause, since I was on that medication prior to the Nerlynx, and I had no issues. I am working with my Natruopath to finally get to the bottom of this. To determine if it is the start of Rumathoid Arthritis, or something else.
Needless to say, all of these issues have been taking a toll on me, both physically and mentally. I haven't been sleeping well, my energy levels are in the tank, and I am only able to get a limited amount of stuff done each day before my body says "enough".
To make matters worse, in the past few days, I have started to second guess myself. I was charged for my Shopify store, which is hit or miss when it comes to sales, as I haven't been focusing on it much. I made the decision to cut ties with Shopify, and started the process of transitioning it to a WooCommerce store.
Then I have started to second guess my path for my current website. I had started building out my domain around my cancer struggles and supplements I have been using to heal. But after seeing fellow WA members posting about sites using their own name, I started to wonder if I should be building this all out on jenniferbedell.com, instead of using the lifeinthemind domain. And if I did make the switch, then what would I use my original domain for.
I have started to feel like I am being pulled towards multiple projects at once, so I keep telling myself that I need to focus on one thing at a time, but choosing the one thing to focus on is hard, as each one has a specific money making aspect attached to it.
With time, I know that things will get better again, but I don't know how long that is going to take. I hate feeling like I do. It's a feeling that is very hard to explain, unless you have gone through it yourself. When your brain just doesn't want to function properly, and all you would rather do is just hide, but the drive within you won't let you do that. Last thing I want is to do nothing at all, and lose all this time.
I just keep hoping that the light bulb will go on, and I will finally have that "eureka" moment. Right now, I think I need to focus first on my wooCommerce store, and hope that a change of scenery will help me decide where my focus should be with regard to my personal site.
Recent Comments
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I am really inspired with your consistency. You're a great role model for other people who may be going through it but no
Positivity about going forward.
I really admire your future endeavors.
Your healing and recovering is going very well.
Blessings to your on going success!
Louisa B
You are a brave courageous cancer survivor. Why not have a
Second opinion for that pill that you are taking now? Maybe 2 brains are better than one. Will be praying for you.
For your websites, sorry can't comment on that. Just a newbie here with not much experience. Lastly, don't feel guilty if you feel sluggish or tired easily. Listen to your body and rest if you
Need to. Your health is your top priority. God bless, Marita
Thanks for the reply! I'm only on one pill right now. I got rid of the Nerlynx, which was the one that was causing me serious issues, but at the same time, I'm not sure if that medication had done damage. I'm estimating it's going to be at least another 4-5 months of healing before I can get back to where I was. I hope.
Resting is always hard for me, I'm relatively stubborn, and sometimes sitting still makes me go stir crazy. But I'll get there, somehow.
Ey there Jennifer, my heart goes out to ya'. We just got done with our radiation treatments and my sweetheart is all healed up from all the burning. We're headin' out of town for two weeks so she and I can get back in the water and spank some trout. No one catches trout like my survivor sweetheart and I can't wait to just hide behind a tree and watch her light them trout up!
I'm not familiar with Nerlynx. But I do know that she's on another pill for 10 years and it's got a few side effects to it. I'm just thankful to have my bud by my side every day and every night.
The WA of yesteryear would never have divided your thought process and suggested purchasing your (name) dot com after you had started a niche or boot camp site.
Nowadays it seems as if WA is full of those shiny objects that it once abhorred.
That being said, lifeinthemind looks pretty sweet... but if it's not doin well in terms of ROI, then now is the time to pursue your jenniferbedell.com. But I would draw the line there and hammer it until you succeed. I'd probably park lifeinthemind in the garage and shut the garage door so it's not constantly getting my attention and focus off your new task at hand.
The apostle Paul is huge on remaining singleminded throughout life. Personally, I like his way of thinkin'!
Best wishes partner, we'll be liftin' ya' up in prayer!
Randy
Thanks so much for the reply! Nerlynx was a HER2 targeted chemotherapy pill, I was supposed to be on it for an entire year. But the side effects were not worth the minimal 2-3% decrease in recurrence over a 2 year period.
It sounds like your other half is on a medication like I am. I'm on Aromasin, it's an estrogen blocker, and I'm supposed to be on that for about 10 years unless I elect to have other surgeries. She may be on that one, or Tamoxifen is the other commonly prescribed one.
So happy to hear she's finished radiation like a trooper. It's been a year for me since I finished that step in the process, and I still have the "tan" lines to show for it.
I haven't been putting a lot of focus on my lifeinthemind page, mostly because I don't think I had a defined focus for it. I was using my personal cancer struggles as well as health/wellness tips to heal from and live with this disease. I am a rep for Isagenix, and I am trying to incorporate that into my site, and that's where I think the problems appeared. Trying to blend the two together.
So far, taking a step back from it appears to have helped. I think I have come up with a new name and tagline for the site, and my brain is still working on coming up with a focus for the content.
Would love to see some photos of her catch, and so happy to hear she's doing well. Proof there really is life after cancer.
Eya Jennifer, my sweetheart is on Arimidex and doing well now. Matter of fact I'm taking her on a little fishing trip here shortly. She loves stream trout fishing so now that life is pretty much back to normal after a pretty tough year, we're getting outta town and back to our regular lifestyle. I'll see if I can catch some shots of her reelin' a few in. I do need to throw some new videos up on my site anyway so hopefully I'll have some new vids on YT and the site in the next three to four weeks.
Anyway, back to your situation. Please let me know which site you start putting the majority of your efforts into. I'd love to watch your progress!!!
Best wishes partner,
Randy
Thanks! I'm still torn between the two right now, but will try and remember to post when I finally get that "eureka" moment of which one to focus on.
First off, don't be afraid to cut yourself a lot of slack. You are doing amazingly well given all the medication and side effects you are going throgh. Don't ever forget that.
Lots of people question domain names all the time. You can go either way - the biggest thing will be how you build it out. You can teach Google what your site is about based on your content.
Deal with the priority you are feeling right now. WooCommerce is a fine place to start, but if that changes, that's okay too. Be very nice to yourself now. You've got plenty of time to get this done.
Thanks! My problem has always been that I go stir crazy when I am not working on something, even if I know I need to do nothing and rest. I appreciate everyone's comments as they have helped my mind to start looking at my site a different way, and I have come up with some fresh ideas for it.
There will be a name change, and I am trying to figure out the finer points of the tagline for my site. Does it need to contain keywords or not, because what I have right now doesn't have one. I think I need to let it sit and fester for a little longer, and eventually, everything will fall into place.
Yeah, I went stir crazy too. Find a silly game to play on your phone - something to keep your brain occupied but doesn't make you crazy. You don't need the stress. Then when it's time, you can work on some stuff. and yes I agree, it will all fall into place.
I will admit, I did pick up a new hobby. There is this new craft called Paint with Diamonds. It's like a cross between cross stitch and paint by number. Highly addictive. You can check them out at Paintwithdiamonds.com.
The hard part is not to buy up all the images I like. I've already got at least a half dozen sitting on my table. And so many more I want to buy.
One at a time, my dear, one at a time. You have boundless enthusiasm and always want to fully commit to everything. Do the ones you have now, and then you can buy more later when these are done. By then you'll be even better at doing them!
Yep! You're so right! That has always been my problem. It's what I called "shiny object syndrome". My focus gets split into so many different directions, that I have never been able to focus on just one thing. 2018 is the first year I am trying to focus on just one site at a time. Some days are easier than others.
I don't think the name of your domain is a make it or break it deal in regards to a successful site. You can keep your domain name as is and still leave your name as the top header like you have it. Your traffic and your audience is going to be coming from your keywords or long tail keywords, not domain name searches... Right? It's more about your articles (posts) than your title (domain).
I think the own-name domain names work well when you are in the money making niche so your audience can believe in you, your honest, true self, but that is not absolute, either. (think of Nathienel's one cup of coffee site). Although I did change my domain from Ask Mama Anything to Love Darla to use my name and be more transparent than hiding behind a pseudonym.
Good Luck & Best Wishes Jennifer!
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HI Jennifer, I am catching up on a lot of emails. I hope you are doing better and that you are now able to refocus your attention back on your site.
Wayne