Startup Health Hazards
WP Stagecoach should have launched by now. I should have released beta in February, and the initial public version a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, doing a startup has taken a toll on my health. Many long hours of coding have led to a pinched nerve in my neck, and my left arm has been numb or tingling a lot of the time, and I’ve been in a lot of pain. Some days, I’m in enough pain that after just a few hours of work, my brain shuts down and I can’t get any more useful work done.
I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating this is for me!
I have the beta version of Stagecoach pretty much written in my head: I know what I need to do to finish it, but I haven’t had the physical or mental stamina to sit in front of a computer and get it done.
What makes this extra frustrating is that I’m pretty good about sitting properly in an ergonomic chair, stopping for regular stretch breaks, and (thanks to my active and ever-enthusiastic dog) getting lots of exercise. Despite all of those things, being the main developer for WP Stagecoach means I have been spending very long hours sitting in front of my computer – long, exciting, productive, enthusiastic hours, and I wish I could spend more, but my body apparently doesn’t want me to do that.
One advantage to this is that several extremely helpful alpha testers have found more bugs for me to squash, so ultimately the beta release will be more robust because of this delay.
Ultimately, this is just one of the hazards of doing a startup: startuppers often risk their financial and physical health to make their dreams come true. WP Stagecoach is still a very viable dream, and I still have every intention of continuing to make it come true, it just might take longer than I originally planned. I am slowly getting better – I have been to several specialists, and have been working hard to get better, but it just takes time.
I hope you all understand, and hope that I can get the beta version launched some time this Spring!
