I think I answered my own question on Facebook last week about writers and self-bribery. One of the reasons we need to offer ourselves little ongoing rewards is that we rarely get paychecks - just a few times a year. Yes I know, writing should be it's own grand reward, yuh-huh. But think about it. How often is it that people with "regular" jobs drag themselves out of bed in the morning, dreading the coming day, but they get through it because they know that at the end of the week, or two weeks in a lot of cases, that paycheck is coming. Numbers and decimal points can go a long way in making even unsavory tasks more palatable. So does knowing you'll be able to pay your bills. Am I wrong?   

Anyway, after nailing down that little kernal of wisdom, I pretty much disappeared from the web-o-sphere for the rest of the week. I was suffering from such eye strain that I not only had several days worth of headaches (real thumpers, too), but staring at the computer screen actually made me queasy.

Talk about bug eyed!

That's when you know beyond a doubt that it's time for a break. Got so bad that by Saturday I was reduced to no computer, no TV and - oh, worst of all - no reading. Yikes!!! What's left in life? Basically, nothing. I spent a lot of that day lying down in a darkened room with an ice bag over my eyes. Fun, huh?

Not particularly, but it worked and by yesterday I was beginning to feel like myself again. Maybe if I'd heeded my body's message sooner things wouldn't have gotten so bad, but I behaved in the grand tradition of modern, busy humans: If I ignore it, maybe it will go away.

Oh, why does that never work? Seems we always need that proverbial knock on the head.