jobs

Day 125: Sunday Scaries

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

I know I’ve been going on and on about my new job, but it’s a big life change. I’m happy I got the title and salary bump, but it’s definitely been an adjustment. And still is! It’s been a lot of work and I’m genuinely wondering how long I can do this for. Hopefully it’ll get better, but if it doesn’t, I know want a life outside of work and time to work on my own projects. After all I’m putting in 50 to 60 hours a week, which I enjoy for the most part, but it’s ultimately not what I want to do and it’s a lot of time.

For the moment, when Sunday rolls around I just don’t really want to go to work. I don’t dread going and I don’t mind being there when I’m working, but I just don’t want to go. This is normal. Work is work.

My first job out of college was terrible. I don’t know if the job was actually terrible (although people often left) or if I was just adjusting to life after college. Probably a bit of both, although they did have some weird policies. Whether or not the job was terrible, it made me feel terrible.  Every Sunday before work I would just lay in bed for hours with a crushing feeling in my chest. I would walk to work and imagine getting hit by a bus. (Definitely not healthy.) I would cry in the bathroom at work and made elaborate lists counting down the hours, and the minutes for each workday. This is not normal.

Eventually, I chose a day I was going to quit (and made a list counting down the days). I booked an airplane ticket for a few days after my planned exit date, so I couldn’t back out. And then I quit. And I felt fantastic – a weight lifted off my chest which had been crushing me for the past year. (I also played, “One Day More” from Les Miserables on repeat the day before my last day. It was great.) It was a terrible job and sometimes I wondered if I should have stayed, since the following few years weren’t a walk in the park, but in the end I think it was a good decision and I don’t regret it. I’m even thankful it was so terrible, because it brought me to my current place in life and now I know if I ever have those feelings again to get out. It was a good learning experience.

I didn’t know the term Sunday Scaries until I moved to LA. I like it though. It gives a cutesy name to something terrible. Hopefully I don’t have it with this job, but if I do, I already know what it feels like and I know I have the choice and the power to make it go away.

Until tomorrow.

240 days to go.

 

 

Day 123: Monthly Check in Pt. 4

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Time for my fourth monthly check-in. Everything sort of fell by the wayside since I got my promotion. Not only did I start a new job and have to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing, but several people were out of the office for various reasons and it was A LOT of extra work. My schedule has just been work, sleep, eat, repeat. It’s terrible.

  1. Work on my Novel – Like I said, everything fell to the wayside so I haven’t worked on my book at all. But I have several days over the Thanksgiving holiday to work on it and get back on track.
  2. Ballet – I went a few times at the beginning of the month, but then fell off since I was working a lot of overtime. Classes are cancelled for the weekend, but I’m aiming to be back on track next week. Hopefully….
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – This is actually going pretty well! With my promotion, I have a higher salary, but I’ve also been working a ton of overtime so I have more money than anticipated. Good for the holidays too. 🙂
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. Since I started working more, it’s been harder to date. It didn’t really pan out earlier, but I know I have to keep trying. I often wonder if I’ll ever meet someone, but that’s another thought for another day.

So there’s my fourth monthly check-in. I feel a little discouraged since I feel like I haven’t done much since last month. I have to remember things take time and I can’t get everything done all at once. It’s only been four months and I’ve already accomplished a few things. I have eight more months to get everything done.  Plus, as they say, you have to plant the seeds for the trees to grow in the future.

Until tomorrow.

 

Day 91: Monthly Check in 3

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Time for my third monthly check-in! It’s been three months since I started this self-improvement plan (project?) and I think I’ve done relatively well so far! The holiday season is quickly approaching so it’s best that I come up with a few ways to stick to my goals (next post!)

  1. Work on my Novel – I finished my novel (again!) after cutting out the whole middle section. Now it’s just time to edit again (and again and again and again. Will the editing never stop?) I do think I’ve learned a lot in this process and hopefully my next book will not require so much cutting and rewriting and editing (but it probably will.) I’m hoping by the end of the year I can have a solid book and begin sending query letters to agents.
  2. Ballet – The cycle for the beginning of class started again, so hopefully it’ll stick this time! It’s definitely been a struggle (clearly), but I’m always hoping to do better.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Blargh. Still working on this and I will be for quite some time. Hopefully with my promotion I can start paying it off more aggressively (plus that bonus and tax return next year will hopefully help!)
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. I’m not sure if anything is going to work out. Usually I get irritated with people by the third or fourth week and I can feel it happening again. There’s just an expectation with online dating that everyone wants to either just hook up or jump directly into a relationship. And I don’t want either of those things so I feel people are often disappointed.  And I’m resistant to both so we get nowhere in the end.

So there’s my third monthly check-in. Ninety one days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. Perhaps November will be Ballet month, just like October was meant to be Ballet month.  Eventually I will figure out a way for it to stick!

Until tomorrow.

274 days to go. It’s a lot of time and it’s no time at all, right?

Day 85: New Job!

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

I started my new job yesterday! Still at the same company, but in a different position due to my promotion (whoo!). To be honest, there were a few people who applied for the position who have seniority over me and I thought they would get it. I knew I had the most experience, but my company is very hierarchical and I didn’t necessarily think that I would get it, but I did!

It’s only been a few days, but it feels like it’s been much longer! I knew what the job entailed, but it’s all new projects and new people and new processes. I’ve been really tired the past few days because I’ve been on alert to make sure I absorb all the new information coming my way! It’s exciting, but also really tiring.

I did not exercise today since I have a trip coming up and have a few last minute things to take care of. I also immediately regretted that I didn’t go, so there’s that. Hopefully I’ll be better next week. Fingers crossed!

Until Tomorrow.

279 days to go.

Day 69: Happy October!

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Eek! It seems like I was just doing one of these at the beginning of September. It positively flew by and now we’re here – October 1.

I know we just had a monthly check-in, but there is an update!

  1. Become a Novelist
  2. Ballet
  3. Promotion
  4. Credit Card debt
  5. In a relationship

That’s right! There was a job open and I was waffling about applying for awhile, but I did and I got it. It’s a bit too soon to celebrate since we’re still discussing salary, but I think it’s just they’ll give me what I ask for or they’ll keep it the same. There’s not a danger that I would turn down the job or that they’ll un-offer the job to me. 🙂

Hooray! What good news for the start of the month. Of all the goals I’m slacking on the most I think Ballet is the one I’m having the hardest time with, so I want to make October my ballet month. I’ll do my very best to get back on track this month and I’ve made a few adjustments to my schedule, so it should be easier (ahem…should be…but we’ll see how that goes.

Perhaps in a few months I’ll be able to cross off one more of these. Nothing happening yet! Just wishful, positive thinking.

Until tomorrow.

Day 44: Side Hustle

~ joypetite ~ Leave a comment

Side Hustle! Everyone should have one in this day and age. Maybe it’s my millennial mind speaking, but I feel like jobs can be touch and go nowadays. It’s nice to have some extra income, but it’s also nice to have an extra stream of income if your job is made unexpectedly obsolete. Or if you decide your boss is terrible or your coworkers are terrible or if your commute is terrible and you just can’t stand them anymore.

I am currently working on two side hustles: this blog and my book. While it’s my dream to be a writer without another job to support myself, I’m a realist and I won’t let myself believe it until I’m well past the mark of success. In the meantime, having a hobby I enjoy is nice and some extra cash wouldn’t hurt too.

Perhaps it’s too transparent to say I want to monetize this blog someday, but it’s true. Even if it’s only a little extra, at the moment I enjoy it and every bit helps. (Doesn’t everyone hope to monetize their blog someday?!?! Perhaps not?)

And of course writing. It’s a lot of work and it may take years for something to come of it. (Or never…) But I think that’s usually the case with a side hustle unless you already have a set of skills which you can apply as a second job (piano teacher, graphic designer etc.) It’s definitely a risk that all my hard work and time will amount to nothing, but that shouldn’t stop me. And if I earn some extra $ on the side to help me pay off my debt and work towards my other financial goals, that works too.

I also have a farfetched plan to make candles, but that’s another story for another day. 🙂

Until tomorrow.

Day One

~ joypetite ~ 1 Comment

07/23/2018

I was driving to work this week and for some reason it dawned upon me that I don’t particularly like my life. Sure, it’s fine, but there’s very few things I do on a day to day basis that I enjoy. Reading, watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, writing in my journal. Those are all fun (solitary) things, which enjoy, but the life I currently lead is vastly different from the life I have in my head. (Maybe not vastly, but some hyperbole is allowed.)

So I’ve decided to change my life. Today is (music swells) the first day of the rest of my life. And a Sunday to boot, so how fortuitous – unless you think the week starts on on Monday.

But, back to changing my life. This day next year, I want my life to be closer to what I want. Closer to who I want to be. So here’s what I want.

  1. Novelist – I’ve been working on a novel for the better part of the past year. It’s a children’s book which I find amusing, but I’m not sure if anyone else will. So this time next year I want agents to have been queried, publishers to reject me and hopefully one who’s accepted me. Maybe I’ll have a pile of rejection letters, but at least it’s out there in the world.
  2. Ballet! I wrote a few posts about ballet and have not really done much. Work and life gets in the way, as it does to all things. This time next year I want to have moved up to the next level at my studio.
  3. I want a promotion. This is a bit tricky because someone has to leave for a position to even be open unless they add more teams and jobs. But too often I get in my own way and curtail my ambitions, so if I position comes open, I’m going to apply.
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Ugh this is the worst. I racked up a bunch when I was unemployed and I’ve been paying it off pretty aggressively, but I think by this time next year I should be out of it or almost out.
  5. In a relationship – This would be nice, but would be like a bonus to my life (the frosting on the cake, as it were) rather than something I really truly want to aim for.

So there we have it. The things I really want out of the next year. Of course, there’s tons of other things I want to do as well: learn French, how to fly a plane, go on a trip, learn to play the piano. But those are other things for other days and other years and right now I’ll just focus on these. Maybe on July 23, 2018 I can put some of those on my list.

Until tomorrow.