I'm in my sixth week of this temp job, and last week was the first week where I began to feel like I was catching my breath, and finding a new normal.
I tend to forget that adaptation takes more time than I think it will.
This job starts earlier than anywhere I've ever worked. I need to be in the office at 7:30 am. That means I need to be at the bus stop at 6:30 am. And that means that my alarm clock goes off at 5:30 am.
That's right, this avowed night person has been starting every day at 5:30 am! That's a full two hours before the current sunrise, y'all.
It's pretty much horrible!
And it has definitely taken some adapting of schedules and rhythms.
You see, over the last year I've discovered that my much despised mornings are easier if I wake up with about an hour before I have to be out the door. It really only takes me maybe 15-20 minutes of that hour to get out of bed and out the door. The rest of it is spent waking VERY slowly. Checking a few emails, or reading a few blog posts. Anything that can be done from a prone, still curled up under the blankets, easing into the day kind of position.
Another newish rhythm has to do with sleep. On weeknights I try to carve out the last hour before my lights need to be out as a time to wind down. No television, no phone calls, no computer screens, or cell phone screens. Just me and some time to write, read, pray and think.
That rhythm has been challenging since, with the early mornings, I need to have my lights out by 10pm, 10:30 at the latest. That means I need to be done with emailing, blog reading, game playing, web surfing, and television watching by 9 pm. Do you know how hard this early to bed thing is for me??? Let me just tell you - going to bed that early is almost worse than getting up so early!
Add in full days in an emotionally draining office environment, the need to juggle a family, church and social life, and the ongoing process of exploring my one word for the year, "heal", and it's been quite the struggle to adapt.
I feel like I'm starting to catch a second wind, finally, six weeks in. Like I've made some strides in figuring out what does and what doesn't work. Like I'm adapting to this crazy new schedule of sleeping and waking (or at least hating it a little bit less as I recognize that discipline in this area is paying dividends in physical and emotional health - and by extension my mental and spiritual stability).
It's a good thing, and a hard one all at once, these new rhythms. Nothing I would have expected or chosen, but an encouragement to find footing even in this newest of spaces and challenges. And that, my friends, is something I'm grateful for.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Wednesday, October 05, 2011
Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 50
Today's Daily 5:
- A Tim Horton's with almost no line, thus the pleasure of a breakfast sandwich
- oversleeping my alarm, but still waking up in time to make it out the door to catch my bus
- post it notes (have I mentioned that I have a thing for stationary supplies?)
- getting out of the office mid-afternoon to run a work errand
- dark chocolate with raspberry - a gift brought back from a recent trip my brother and his girlfriend made to Las Vegas
Whimsical Wednesday, October 5, 2011
It's the usual eclectic collection on Whimsical Wednesday again this week. As always, I'd love to hear which is your favorite image, or if you'd leave me a comment with a link to an image that has inspired you this week.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Daily 5 - Year 3, Day 49
Today's Daily 5:
- Skinny jeans, ballet flats, and my favorite white blouse
- food I really enjoyed for lunch
- the feeling of a hot shower after a really long (I worked a bit of overtime) day at work
- finding boots that should serve me well for the winter
- collapsing into bed at the end of an exhausting day
Switching Things Up
I'm changing things up in this space again.
For the last several months on Tuesdays and Thursdays this space has either hosted "You Ask, I Answer" or "If..." At the moment, I'm out of "You Ask, I Answer" questions, and honestly, I'm bored with the "If..." questions. I loved the "If..." book for conversation, but found many of the questions too inflexible or too personal to answer in this space. I wasn't having any fun answering them, so I'm shelving the series for the moment.
In the meantime, I've missed writing about whatever I feel like in this space, instead of maintaining regular series. So, for the next while, starting on Thursday, you can expect me to talk about whatever I feel like talking about on every day except Wednesday. On Wednesdays you can still look for Whimsical Wednesday, because I'm still loving that!
Yay for new things! Can't wait to see what we end up talking about in this space!
For the last several months on Tuesdays and Thursdays this space has either hosted "You Ask, I Answer" or "If..." At the moment, I'm out of "You Ask, I Answer" questions, and honestly, I'm bored with the "If..." questions. I loved the "If..." book for conversation, but found many of the questions too inflexible or too personal to answer in this space. I wasn't having any fun answering them, so I'm shelving the series for the moment.
In the meantime, I've missed writing about whatever I feel like in this space, instead of maintaining regular series. So, for the next while, starting on Thursday, you can expect me to talk about whatever I feel like talking about on every day except Wednesday. On Wednesdays you can still look for Whimsical Wednesday, because I'm still loving that!
Yay for new things! Can't wait to see what we end up talking about in this space!
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