Oh how I’ve missed you, sweet blog.
It’s been almost 4 full months since my last post. Wow. But since it was about me being so busy, I figured people would understand. I calculated those hours and made that graph in September, which is when I was only mildly busy. Things really picked up around the end of October, and they stayed up (aka busy) until about mid-December. I calculated the hours I was working, and I averaged about 75+ hours per week for the month of November. Per WEEK!
Oh and that’s just regular work (recap: full time job, part time job, part time volunteering for Startup Canada and any freelance work on the side… which was 2-3 clients then). That didn’t include anything like housework or “life” work like having to buy groceries, eat, shower… those types of things. Around the end of October is also when I decided that I would give my notice at my part time job, and my last day was in the second week of December. It’s not like I didn’t want to work there… I loved it! It’s just that I was becoming overwhelmed with all the things I had to do, and that was one job that wasn’t really getting me anywhere “career” wise.
So I decided to take a step back and re-focus. And coincidently, it was also only a few weeks to the new year. Gearing up to the holiday season, a lot of my freelance work was starting to slow down and I was able to catch up on housework, cleanliness and gift purchasing. I wanted to start 2014 on the right foot, by having all my ducks in a row and going big or going home. (Ok, that last part doesn’t make sense, but I wanted to see how many clichés/sayings I could fit in to one sentence).
I wanted to be more selfish. Do things for me because I actually wanted to do them, and not because I was stuck in a position that I didn’t feel like I could say no to (did I mention that this was the first job I had ever quit “just because”… which is horrible for my stats!). As mentioned in a Week Revisited, I wanted to increase “me” time, which includes blogging more, working out, reading, etc. Basically I wanted to just be able to get the time to decide what I want to do – whether it be lazing around the house all day, or buckling down and getting some freelance work done. Before, I had to always be productive because I didn’t have time not to be. My weeknights were filled with work after work, all because I most likely had to go into my part time job for double shifts on the weekends. Now I work on the weeknights, not because I have to, but because I want to not do anything on Friday nights, or Sunday mornings… I want the options to decide when I am productive or not!
So exactly two weeks into the new year, and I’ll be completely honest – I’ve been kind of slow picking up the pace. I guess I’ve always been an “all or nothing” kind of person, go big or go home (hey it fits here!). I have to be either 100% or 0% productive; and it’s been hard for me to find that middle ground. I have gotten a membership at the local gym (and no… I am not one of those “New Year’s Resolution” gym members… I got my membership late December, haha!), I try and go at least 4 times a week (and I’ve stuck to it… but we’ll see how that is in another month). I still haven’t gone to the Library to take some books out, but that will be part of my “me” stops soon enough.
What I have been able to do is focus more on freelance work, cooking, hanging out with friends, and more selfishly, work on planning for my upcoming June wedding. I can only try, try again to keep blogging regularly, and one of these days I will get it right! But for the next while, most of my posts will probably revolve around wedding planning and related activities… so stay tuned!
Is “being selfish” really a resolution? Hmm… probably not… but hey I can be assured that I will always be following it, since it basically only involves me doing what I want! Take that healthy eating and other random resolutions! I’m off to the gym, not because I need to be, or have to be, but because I want to be… yippee!