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Putting the Pieces Together

Prior to the start of my new job, I had a somewhat regular daily routine established. Mornings I’d wake up and after getting groomed and dressed, check email/facebook and then sit down with my bible to go over my morning devotional. Then breakfast, downstairs at the table. Work would follow punctuated with errands and projects. Afternoons meant lunch in front of the tv watching Law and Order reruns and then cleaning occasionally. After that I’d exercise, shower and start dinner. Sometimes I’d remember to do evening devotionals, sometimes not. Every 2 weeks I’d borrow a work afternoon to do finances and carve out time to grocery shop.

So I started working for CSC and all hell broke loose with my new schedule. The first week just the stress of getting up at O’dark o’clock (4:30AM!) was enough to exhaust me. Add in new trainings on the job, new people to meet, new tasks to do/learn and the general anxiety of wanting to make an excellent first impression and GAH. In the mornings I was to tired to open my bible, check email or even eat breakfast. I drove half asleep to the VRE station and slept on the train. This meant I was starting to feel hungry and awake just as we would pull into Union Station so I’d go out for breakfast every morning. Of course after work I was very tired and had no energy to clean, exercise or even make dinner. And forget about replying to emails or facebook posts. So now dinner was either out, leftovers from the freezer or something like pasta with jarred sauce (I hang my head in shame! shame!). Gone were the gourmet meals that led Jon to exclaim how proud he was to be married to me and to enjoy cooked meals at home when so many cheat and go out to eat all the time. And of course no energy to pack a lunch so I was wasting money on going out to lunch each day also.  In summary all I did that first week was work, sleep and eat at restaurants.

Week 2 of my commute (week before last) I worked back in facebook and email and stopped feeling like a zombie all day. Last week I worked back in cooking dinner most nights, breakfast, and a few nights of exercise. I went grocery shopping for the first time since starting the new job. This week I worked back in morning devotionals and packing a lunch to take to work. I have yet to push back in cleaning. The house is a disaster! My weekends have been no respite from the busy schedule as I’ve had activities scheduled every weekend of the month. First weekend: baking day/party at my house. Second weekend: mile run to SEA. Last weekend: Mile run to Orlando. Next weekend: Christmas. I haven’t had to work this hard in years. It’s kinda nice on one level to  feel a sense of purpose and pride in my work again. But  man it’s a bitch to adjust to a new busy schedule.

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