Becoming a YouTuber?!

Chapter 6: Slowing down

                 

Waking up in an unfamiliar bed is the worst thing ever. You feel disoriented when you first open your eyes and subsequently try to piece together how you got there. I can now say from experience, that waking up in a hospital bed is even worse.

I jolted awake and freaked out when I realised. The first thing that hit me was that smell. Too clean, too sterile. My head was pounding and my mouth felt dry.

At first, I thought I was having a nightmare but then I remembered. I had fainted in Nate's arms. What time was it even? It was light outside the window, so it must be the next day.

I looked around for a call-for-assistance button and hesitantly pushed it. I was on a ward with a couple of other patients, who were all asleep. I could see a jacket that looked exactly like one Nate owned flung over the chair besides my bed. He must be here somewhere.

"Oh good, you're awake," said a nurse, who walked through the door. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty," I said, though I'm sure that was not what she meant. My throat felt like sandpaper.

"Of course," she said and disappeared momentarily to return with a paper cup of water shortly after.

I gobbled it down hungrily.

"Where is Nate?" I asked and looked to the discarded jacket.

"Your boyfriend? He's down at the canteen getting a coffee. He should be back any minute. He's been very worried about you and has refused to leave your side."

That sounded like Nate. I wondered what I had made him miss of important deadlines and meetings.

"What's wrong with me?"

"I'll call for your doctor to explain the details but you collapsed due to exhaustion and lack of food and water if I recall correctly."

The way she spoke to me made me feel small and uncomfortable. My stomach twisted because she looked at me like I was a child incapable of even feeding myself at an age of 21 years old. To be fair, maybe I hadn't. I mean who forgets to eat because they are busy?

"Abbs," Nate said surprised when he walked in the door. His eyes lit up with happiness and he swiftly stashed his coffee on the table and ran to me to envelop me in a hug. My whole body felt sore and tired but I hugged him back as tight as I could.

"I'll give you two a minute. The doctor will be by when he has the time," the nurse said and excused herself. Nate held onto me like he was worried that I would slip through his fingers.

"It was just a bit of exhaustion," I said, trying to downplay what had happened. For his sake and mine.

I gave him a once over and if I wasn't mistaken, he was wearing the same outfit that he had come home in yesterday and his eyes looked so bloodshot. He almost looked worse than I felt.

Nate shook his head, having none of it. "No, that was serious. Your body told you to stop in the only way it knew how; to shut you down. You've been working way too much."

I shook my head, still a bit in denial. "You have a more busy schedule than me."

"I know but I also have been doing this for a while. You just jumped in, trying to be a full time blogger, photographer, YouTuber, manager and student at the same time. It's insane. And I know how to turn it off. I leave my work out of my mind when I'm not doing it and remember to wind down, you carry yours with you all the time."

His sincerity made me realise he was right. I liked to think of myself as a capable young woman but maybe I had bit off more than I could chew. But I loved every single thing I did at the moment. I was having such fun with it, though it was a lot of work too. I didn't want to give up any of it.