I haven't really gotten into much detail of how things have been for me over the last 18 months. Most of my weight gain occured in the earlier months during this time. I really think the fact that I was pretty much heading in to post menopause by mid last year is what really has caused much of my sadness, depression and emotional eating. But I also had a lot going on and being in the emotional state I was due to menopause, that did not help. First, my daughter graduated high school in June of 2024. Don't get me wrong, I was so very proud and excited for her. But at the same time, I knew in just a few months she would be going away to college. So I found my self very emotional for a good month thinking about it. By time she went to college I was feeling better. But it was still hard watching my first born leave the nest. On top of that, my employee's husband and our handy man & friend was diagnosed with cancer in December of 2023. He was doing better but in August 2024 his cancer came back and the prognosis was not good. It was stressful for everyone at the business watching my employee and her husband go through everything they did and covering when she needed to be out.
I had been thinking of some ideas on how to eventually stop doing the motel in a few years and creating a different business at our location down the road. While visiting a friend of mine in South Carolina in September 2024, she gave me the idea to consider looking into escape room. In October my husband, son and I went to Lanscaster, PA for my birthday to get new bows and go to this awesome Archery Shop in Lancaster. It was a great trip, but while there we did an escape room. Well, I thought it was great! My husband and son loved it, too! So when I got home I began the planning. For 3 months straight I worked 15 hour days researching, planning and developing my business. Mind you, I have a bit of an obsessive personality. So when I get my mind set on something, sometimes it's hard for me to focus on much else. I think doing this was also a good distraction from my daughter being away from home. I opened my first escape room in mid December which was a temporary holiday themed escape room called The Great Christmas Candy Caper. By February I had my first long term room done, and by April I had all 3 of our permanet rooms up and running. Although the first 3 months were my longest days of working, at the end of December my employees husband passed away. She struggled so much and still does with his passing. So she missed a lot of work in the beginning of the year which meant it took awhile for me to get her trained on escape rooms and I was the only one running rooms for awhile. I understood what she was going through was extremely difficult, but I was getting pretty burnt out.
The fall and winter was very stressful and I was extremely busy. Because I was working so much I did not eat the greatest at all! I also was stress eating! I continued to have to work a lot as I had to be around to help run escape rooms to ensure we were getting the income when we could. But things finally started to calm down by September of this year. Don't get me wrong, it has been worth it. I got a lot done in a short period of time and I do believe I am building something great and am determined to make it a success. My employee is finally at a place where she can cope better and really enjoys being a game master and wants to see the business succeed, too! We had a really good talk at the end of summer and things have been better ever since.
I have tried getting back on track with my eating off and on for the last year. There has just been so much going on. I have had some physical issues that have made things hard over the last 18 months as well. I started having issues with a lot more joint paint as of last fall. I had bursitis in my knee in September 2024. My joint pain got worse then my hips really started bothering me this year. I just recently found out I have bursitis in both my hips. Most likely arthritis as well. My hips have been bothering me for months now. In July I ended up with a severe case of vertigo. The vertigo lasted for 3 days and I had awful vomitting the first day. I didn't fully recover for about a week. My heart PVC's have returned earlier this year due to stress. And I had a period after 14 months and had to have a couple of tests to make sure it was nothing serious. Cancer was a small possability and luckily I found out recently that it was not cancer and nothing serious. It has just been a lot over the last 18 months and I am hopeful things are finally calming down so I can move forward and try to finally get back on track and lose the 40 pounds I gained over my lowest weight!
