Working Girl

So it's been a few weeks and I've been getting some requests for updates. I haven't done any new blogs since I've started working - not because I don't have the time - but because I've been trying to figure out what I think about it. It's been almost a month now back in the working world and I think it is only just starting to sink in that I have a job.

When I was not working, I would wake up every morning and have to remind myself of what was going on in my life: "Ok, today is a Tuesday I think, I have plans to go for a run with a friend" or "It's 10am, did I oversleep on anything? No, ok, I guess I should do some job hunting." or my favorite "Where am I? Oh yeah, in a hostel in Poland." Today I woke up exhausted and had a more familiar thought from my past, "I'm soo tired. Wait! It's Saturday, I don't have to do anything!" I am still reminding myself on a daily basis that I have a job now and need to get up to go to work. Luckily so far I like my job and it's not too hard to make myself go.

So, my goal now that I have a job is to keep doing interesting things so that I don't fall back into my lifestyle I had before becoming unemployed. I had gotten to the point where I would go to work, come home, watch tv and go to bed during the week. Sure, I would go out on weekends, but I became pretty boring during the week. My first attempt to keep life exciting - I signed up for some sailing lessons - future blogs to follow. Also I've been doing a lot of weekend travels to weddings (see picture of my sister's wedding and me dressed up in the mother-in-law's old vintage dress which I wore to the rehearsal dinner), I went to a cubs game yesterday, and I've still been making time to paint!

I think the biggest change in my mentality after being unemployed for almost 6 months is that I seem to think everything is temporary now - more so than I used to. I keep thinking that this job could end any day now and I'd have to figure out something else to do. I don't know how long I'll stay in Chicago bc several of my friends moved to other cities to accept new jobs. Even this week I got a request for an interview at another firm - when it rains, it pours. I found myself thinking, "Well, I did this job for a month, maybe I'll do this new job for awhile."

And even though I'm so much busier than I was a couple months ago, I keep wanting to fill my time with more and more things. I even contemplated finding a retail job for the weekends. I think my mind is going nuts and doesn't know how to handle all of this new excitement of being busy in life again! It will wear off shortly I am sure and I'll be wanting to find ways to take things out of my life so I can sit around and watch a little tv, but for now, I'm happy to be energized and excited about work! (Please, please, work drama stay out of my life as long as possible!)