Tag Archives: work

The search begins…

17 Jan

I finally found out about the job at the church last week… they hired someone else. At first, they had planned on hiring 2 people but now they’re not sure they can afford 2 people. The pastor has asked if I would be interested in continuing to work there for the next couple of weeks while the new guy gets his feet under him (which I am going to do), but he can’t promise me that they would need me beyond that. And if they did, it would almost for sure just be a part-time gig.

While I’m slightly disappointed because I did enjoy working there, I am happy that the church found someone who fits their needs in the office and that God has revealed His will. I felt very indifferent about the job at the church – I did enjoy working there but I didn’t feel like “This is the job for me.” So I’m thankful that God’s will is clear.

So begins the search for a new job. I did apply for unemployment last Friday and I’ll be working part-time at the church for next couple of weeks, so we’ll have some money coming in while I look. I’m not entirely sure what kind of job I want yet. Here are my categories:

“Jobs I would love but am not qualified for”:

Book editor (actually, editor of any sort)

Desktop publisher

Writer

Nutritionist

Librarian

Tutor

 

“Jobs I am qualified for but am not sure I want”:

Administrative Assistant / Secretary

Retail

Marketing / Communications Coordinator

 

“Jobs that would be sweet but I’m not sure even exist”:

Professional Organizer

 

I still have some thinking and research to do, as you can see. I was going to go to the library today to look at books about job-seeking but then realized that because it’s a government holiday, it is closed today. Poop. I guess I’ll be doing more research online today.

Every time I’ve been looking for jobs in my lifetime, there’s this little voice that creeps into my head and says, “You’ll never get the job you want. It’s just not in the cards.” I know that voice is from Satan – he is trying to rob me of the joy of resting in God, trusting that He is able and willing to provide a job that is well-suited for my talents and interests. Moreover, God will accomplish His purpose for me. I don’t know what my purpose is but He does. And I can rest in that while looking for a new job.

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The big picture

31 Dec

Since it’s New Year’s Eve, I figured I might as well do the quintessential blog post: reminiscing about 2010 and looking forward to 2011.

2010 was a hard year for me but because of that, it was also life-changing. From March until last week, I had a job that constantly pushed me beyond my comfort zone, challenged me in ways I have never before been challenged, and forced me to run to God every day to maintain my sanity and character. I can look back on this past year and see God’s faithfulness and steadfast love everywhere.

I learned that I rely on my own ability to get things done instead of trusting in God and His timing and plan. I found that I often “feel responsible” for things and that prevents me from letting God be responsible. God showed me that my claiming responsibility is what stresses me out. I need to be faithful in what I can control but the overarching theme and thought of my life needs to be trust in God for all of the mundane, practical details, as well as the big picture items.

Work-wise, I learned that I do not do well working from home. I like an office. I like interaction with people. I like unexpected interruptions (self, remember this when they happen!). I also learned that I like change but only in the context of routine. I am much more happier doing tedious administrative tasks than I am managing big picture things. I am a details person. The job I am doing in the church office right now is exactly what I enjoy doing. (As such, I am really hoping that they hire me full-time! But more on that another time.)

Through numerous coffee dates with my good friend Cathy, I have also learned a lot about what it means to be victorious in Christ. I have made huge progress in my long struggle with loathing myself and constantly seeing sin. Through talking with Cathy, reading books, and insight from the Holy Spirit, I have seen that resting in the cross doesn’t mean I ignore my sin – it means the cross is bigger than my sin. Enjoying who God has made me to be doesn’t mean I enjoy the sins I commit – it means that I am able to trust God to conform me to Christ and unveil to me and others who I really am.

In short, as I look back on 2010, I praise God for His work in my life. I struggled, I failed, I didn’t believe, I didn’t trust, I handled situations poorly. But God brought me through it all. I honestly can say that I wouldn’t have made it without Him. The thing I love the most about going through struggles like this is very simple: when I have a good day, when I feel joyful and peaceful, I know that is from God. He is the source of that feeling. And I feel so immensely blessed by Him. I wouldn’t feel that way had I not gone through a very rough year of a lot of bad days.

As I look forward to 2011, I have to admit that I hope it is easier than 2010 was. But I also hope that God does just as much work in my life. So I will, with His help, joyfully accept whatever means God employs to bring about that sanctification.

I am hoping to find a job (whether at the church or elsewhere) that fits me well. After having a job that I pretty much hated in every aspect, I no longer underestimate what a job can do to your entire well-being. Right now, though, I am very content with working part-time at the church. I got a lot of things crossed off my To-Do List this week!

I am also hoping to write a lot. Being a writer is my dream. I just read in John Eldredge’s book Walking With God, “More often that not this awakening of desire is an invitation from God to seek what we’ve given up as lost, an invitation to try again.” So I’m going to respond to God’s invitation and try again.

Spiritually, I want to pursue an even deeper, more intimate relationship with Christ, as described in Eldredge’s book that I just read. I want to be so close to Christ that I can hear him speak to me. That I seek His opinion on every decision, that I walk with Him all day, every day. It’s a lofty goal. But a very rewarding one. And even a little progress is better than none! I also want to be more intentional about reading – I have averaged about 15 books a year for the past 3 years. I want to increase that to 25 or so. But I also don’t want to burn through books so fast that I don’t remember anything. Kind of defeats the point of reading. So 25 is a loose goal.

Emotionally, I want to be more open and vulnerable in my marriage. I just recently realized that a lot my spiritual battles this year I fought alone. I didn’t let Travis know that I was struggling so much. And when I think about why, I see pride everywhere. With God, I can admit that I’m weak and pathetic. With Travis, I can’t. I think this emotional withholding from Travis has bigger implications and effects than I can even recognize right now. So I want to grow in being vulnerable and humble with Travis.

And finally, blog-wise, I think I am going to change my blog title again. When I changed it from Learning and Loving It to Joy in Being Broken, I was in the midst of my struggle with hating myself because I was so focused on my sins and failures. I thought that God was teaching me to find joy in Him even despite hating myself. As I’ve grown and understood more truth this year, I believe that we don’t find joy in being broken – we find joy in God healing us. We are broken as sinners – we are healed as God’s beloved children. We find joy as we see the cross conquer our sinful natures, as we find freedom from the things that bind us, as we anticipate heaven and perfection.

I haven’t yet decided what my new blog title will be. I’ve thought about something like “More Than Ordinary” to reflect my desire to live a life that rises above the status quo to glorify God. I’ve also thought about something incorporating the idea of being healed through the cross or discovering truth. I’m totally open to suggestions!

All that to say, I’m excited for a new year! Happy New Year to all of you!

reminiscing

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Last Day!

23 Dec

Today is my last day at Your Cause Sports. While I am really looking forward to being done with this trying season of life (hopefully God doesn’t have another one immediately in store!), I am not as excited about leaving as I would have been a month ago.

Don’t get me wrong – I still whole-heartedly believe that this job is wrong for me in every way. This isn’t just me being a big baby; the nature of the job is counter to my personality and manner of working. So I am very grateful that God has closed the door, signaling me to move on. But I’m not as frustrated and angry as I had been. There’s less of a “Haha, I’m leaving. Take that!” attitude and more of a “I’m still ready to move on but I really hope things work out next year with YCS.” attitude.

I am glad that God led Travis and I to make the decision for me to be done today – I just found out from the church on Tuesday that they still haven’t made a decision about the position but they have hired me as contract labor to get the timely stuff done in the office before Sunday, January 2nd. If I were still working for YCS next week, I wouldn’t be able to work part-time in the church office so I can see God’s amazing coordination of all these working parts. I’m still not sure what things will look like after I get back from Mexico but I’m willing to play that by ear.

I praise the Lord that He is allowing me to see His grace through these situations. A month ago, if I had planned on taking next week off to “get stuff done” and then was asked to work part-time, I would have taken the job but been frustrated because my plans had been thwarted. But all I really want to happen next week is that I get some time to relax and recharge. This year has been nutso and while I feel mostly recovered, I haven’t had much downtime. So I’m really looking forward to that – and trusting God that even if that doesn’t happen how I imagine it, His grace will be sufficient.

While there are a lot of other things on my to-do list that I would like to get done, I won’t be upset if they don’t happen. Most, if not all, of them are projects that I can do on a weekend and since I won’t be traveling every weekend this spring/summer/fall, I’ll actually have that luxury!

I also see God’s grace in my patience/trust about the unknown job situation. I can honestly say that I’m not fretting, anxious, worried, impatient, scared, etc. about not knowing what will happen. In fact, I am kind of excited. I think that God has something great in store for me. And starting a new stage of life is always new (by definition) and exciting. What I’m really looking forward to is the possibility of having some time to write.

Well, I better get off to my last day of work! Woohoo!

 

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Unfettered Joy

21 Dec

I just took my dog Katy for a walk and as I felt the sun on my face and the cool breeze on my face, I also felt something I haven’t felt in a quite a while: unfettered joy.

As I walked along the familiar streets, watching Katy’s ears cutely bounce up and down as they do, I had complete joy. As I type these words, I still have complete joy. It’s amazing!

And I know it’s from God. I’ve been reading Walking With God by John Eldredge and it has really changed the way I think about my relationship with God. There are a lot of things I could mention but I’ll just focus on one: spending time listening to God in my quiet times. When I first became a Christian, I soaked up everything I could about the Bible. I spent hours reading and studying it. I prayed little. Over the past year, I have started praying a lot more. I pray out loud most of the time – a lot of times, I do it in the car instead of listening to the radio. I still do both of those but now I’m learning to listen. To not just tell God my side of the story but to hear Him speak directly to me. (If you want to know more, read the book.)

But this morning, as I was writing about the things the book had brought to my attention about myself, I felt myself getting anxious about spending so much time with God because I had planned on starting work at 8:00 and it was now past that time. One of the thoughts Eldredge writes in his book is looking at the fruit of a thought or action in your life – you can determine where it came from (God or Satan) by looking at what the outcome is in your life. Well, the outcome of whatever I was worrying about was anxiety – definitely from Satan. So I asked God, “Why am I always anxious when I’m spending time with you in the morning?”

This what I discovered:

“Even though I have been praying more often and being mindful of God throughout the day, I have been asking God’s blessing and strength on all the things that I have undertaken. I view my life as my responsibility – I need to make it count. I view each day that way and am stressed out as a result. I need to trust God that He will get done in my life (and every day) what He wants to get done. He is the One sanctifying me. I just need to follow His lead, cooperate with what He is doing. I had made an agreement that God wouldn’t help me so I had to do it myself. I wanted so much to be holy but felt like I continued to fail, so instead of waiting on God to help me, I forged ahead and tried to make myself holy. But here’s the great part: It’s not up to me!”

This was the little dark cloud hanging over my head that wouldn’t let me have complete joy. I still thought everything was up to me. I felt responsible for everything in my life. For making it all work. For making it count. For becoming Christ-like. But now I see that I can relax and just follow Christ’s lead. He knows what I need, better than I do. He will guide me into the areas of my life that I need to work on. I just need to rest in His finished work and in His promise that He will sanctify me.

As I am experiencing this joy, I am very thankful – thankful that God has shown me He cares about my joy, cares about my understanding of what Jesus has done for me. In this process of sanctification, He isn’t helping me – I am helping Him. He is the One doing all the work – I’m just cooperating. God is awesome.

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Pursuing my dream.

1 Dec

I was talking with my good friend Cathy the other day about spiritual gifts and she asked me if I knew what mine was. I said that it might be writing, since I’ve had a passion for it since I was old enough to hold a pencil (correctly) and while I’m not the world’s greatest writer, God has given me some talent for it. Plus, I figure if God wants to use this passion/talent for the benefit of His church, who am I to tell Him not to? But He can’t use it if I don’t exercise it.

I haven’t been exercising it in any form beyond this blog because of several reasons. I tell myself writing isn’t practical – it’s very difficult to make money doing it. I tell myself that I don’t have time to write – I’m busy working full-time to make the money writing doesn’t provide. I tell myself that my ambition is stupid or selfish – who am I to think that anyone would want to read what I have to say? Why would anyone want to read about my life lessons? Sometimes I think my blogged thoughts drift out into a corner of cyberspace, just to end up covered in cobwebs, unread and untouched.

But the biggest reason why I haven’t pursued writing is because I don’t believe God would do anything with it. To be honest, I’m afraid of dreaming big and falling flat on my face. I mean, I could spend the better part of a year working on a manuscript that no one else ever reads. This dream of mine to be a published author could turn out to be just that – a dream – but not God’s plan for my life.

Then I hear this little voice in my head say, So what? So what if that’s what happens? Shouldn’t I be faithful with the gift God has given me? Don’t I think that my ruminations on life could benefit another Christian walking through the same thing, similar to (but much less than) the same way I benefit from other Christian authors? Why should I take this gift and hide it under a rock?

I’ve come to think that the answer is… I shouldn’t. And the only reason why I have hidden this gift is because I’m too scared to use it. In my aim to be realistic and hold my dreams with open hands, I’ve dropped them completely. I’ve given in to cynicism. “God won’t do that for me. It’s just not His plan for me to be a writer.” Says who? Says me, with my limited perspective on my life? It hasn’t happened so far, so that means it never will? Does that mean if I don’t have kids now, I never will? Of course not. So why would that apply to being a writer?

I also dream about working in the book publishing industry. It’s probably not surprising that a person who likes to write also likes to read. If I could spend every day, all day reading, I would. There are so many books I want to read! I would love to be involved in creating them, editing them, designing them, promoting them. I, unfortunately, live in the wrong part of the country for that career (another one of my excuses for not pursuing that dream). Most of the jobs are in Chicago or New York. There are some jobs here in Denver but they are few and far between, and usually in the departments I have no experience with or desire for.

But I have to admit that they do exist and this past Monday, I saw an opening for a Book Content Editor at a company that publishes books and articles about crafts, with an emphasis on knitting. Now, I don’t know even the first thing about knitting (ok, well maybe I do know that you need a needle and yarn…but beyond that, I’m clueless) and having an extensive knowledge of knitting was a requirement in the job description. Even though I felt I was very well-suited based on the other requirements, the lack of that one requirement would have been enough for me to say “Well, I don’t have any knowledge of knitting so I’m not qualified. Delete.” But this time, I thought “I can totally do this job!” If I want to work in the publishing industry so badly, why not go for it? So I sent in my resume. And even if nothing comes of it, it’s the act of pursuing what I really want to do that is liberating. And not just the act of pursuing, but also the believing that God can make something of it. God is a God of possibility, of opportunity, of potential. And even if only nobody else ever reads my writing in the history of the world, at least I can say that I used it faithfully.

Now, if only I could find the time to write…

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Doing My To-Do List

22 Nov

After a summer of accomplishing pretty much nothing except working, sleeping, eating and running, I find that there are way too many things I’ve been putting off for way too long. So instead of letting them overwhelm me and keep me from sleeping at night, I have started one ginormous To-Do List. If I think of something that should be done, but can’t do it as I’m thinking about it, I write it down. My goal is to do 1 thing on my To-Do List every day until my To-Do List is gone. I am also trying to do things as I think about them, if it’s possible, instead of seeing something that needs to be done and making a mental note to do it later. I figure I can avoid a lot of unnecessary brain clutter this way.

This has several benefits. First, it gets these thoughts of things to do out of my head so that I can fill my brain with more important thoughts. I don’t have to constantly be remembering the things I wanted to do.

Second, it has helped me balance work with rest. I can be productive and still have some free time. I am a person who swings from one extreme to the next. I can spend one day lying on the couch and doing nothing but watch bad movies or re-run marathons and then spend the next doing chores and errands from dawn until dusk. (More than once, I’ve wondered if I might be slightly manic-depressive.) The usual result of that whirlwind is that I’m exhausted the next day and feel like I spent my whole previous day doing things I didn’t want to do but “had” to do.

This list has helped me balance my 2 extremes out. After work or church, I look at my To-Do List and find 1 thing that I can (and want) to do. Some of them are small things like organizing the shoes in the closet by our front door. Or writing a letter to our Compassion child. Or finishing the painting that has been sitting in our living room unfinished since last Thanksgiving. Some of them are big things like painting our bedroom. Or writing and mailing our Christmas cards. Or transferring my 401(k) funds to my Roth IRA (ugh).

After I finish the task, I go scratch it off my list. If I feel like doing something else on my list, great. But if not, I have accomplished my goal of doing 1 productive thing. And then I have the rest of the day to spend as I wish. I CAN have both work and rest in the same day!

This past weekend, I succeeded at this. On Friday night, I wrote a letter to our Compassion child. On Saturday, I finished the painting in our living room (only took me a whole year!). Yesterday, I sorted out the enormous stack of magazines I had collected, ripping out articles I wanted to keep and recycling the rest.

Third, this list has helped me get things done that I want to get done without having to really rack my brain to remember what they were. When I have some free time, I can use it effectively instead of walking from room to room trying to think of something to do or just wasting the time by watching TV. I have been convicted lately that watching an inordinate amount of TV like I had been doing is just a huge waste of life. I feel just as relaxed when I read a book but I feel way more productive and more educated from reading. So I’m trying to only watch TV with Travis or when there’s really something good on (like Thursday nights with Bones and The Office).

So what’s on the docket for today? Scheduling dentist appointments. (Boo.)

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Life lately

12 Nov

It’s been longer than I’d like since I posted last. I keep thinking of things that would be great to post about but this week has been so busy that I haven’t had the time.

But it’s been great! After my last post about discovering the lies I was believing, I got to have coffee with my good friend Cathy Kellerman. She has helped me immensely to see truth and understand how to hold on to hope instead of drown in my failures. That has been a huge blessing and enabled me to appreciate my job situation for right now.

Here’s what else I have been up to: Last Friday, our friends Amy and Michael Leon stayed with us as they were moving from Yellowstone to San Antonio, Texas, for their next seasonal position as a park ranger and wife.

On Saturday, D and I went up to Boulder to finally get massages (I also got a manicure) with our gift certificates from our bosses. It was a VERY nice spa and an excellent massage – very relaxing. Saturday night, we had some friends over for dinner and played Scrabble.

Sunday, we went to church and then to a chili cook-off. We made chili as a kind of after-though – I looked up a recipe for elk chili online on Saturday and made it Sunday morning – and we won by a landslide! I have to admit it was pretty darn good chili. Sometime this coming week I’ll post the recipe for all of you (and you don’t have to use elk to make it!) Then Sunday afternoon, I helped Travis rake our front yard (8 trash bags full of leaves and pine needles!), took Katy on a walk, made our hotel and car reservations for this weekend (more on that shortly), and read Jane Eyre – definitely a page-turner!

Though the weekend was full, it was very enjoyable. This week has been the same. Monday, I worked and then volunteered at the church. Tuesday, I worked, volunteered at the church and then had a women’s book study at our church. Wednesday, I worked, made more of the Elk Chili Sensation and went to care group. Yesterday, I had coffee with Cathy, worked, then we had some friends over for dinner and played Scrabble again (different friends but I won both times!). And then today, I ran 2 miles, packed, did the dishes, watered the plants and cleaned out the fridge, am currently in the process of buying some new running songs and putting them on my iPod (among them are Lady Gaga’s Deluxe Fame Album, as well as Sexy Bitch by David Guetta – don’t judge me; it’s a great song to run to!)

Wow, I am exhausted just typing all of this. It feels like this is the busiest I’ve been in a long time but it’s with fun stuff! And it’s amazing how being joyful in the Lord can make all these things, even the cooking and cleaning, enjoyable and pleasant. So it’s been a great week overall.

I did find out last Saturday, however, that my job position with the race company is being eliminated at the end of December. I am not in the least disappointed – except perhaps by the fact that I am not being eliminated right away. 🙂 I see this news instead as God’s indication to me that I am indeed supposed to move on to a new season of life, which I will gladly do. I am meeting with the pastor at our church next week about working in the office as the administrator. So I’m still hoping and praying that I get that job. But if not, God still has a plan. It might just take a bit longer to discover. In the meantime, I’m still working at home with the race company, designing the shirts and medals and stuff for next year.

But I’m not thinking about that this weekend – I’m going to have fun and relax, enjoying being with my parents and hubby in Malibu, California! The marathon is this weekend – I was going to run the full but switched to the half after all the issue with my knee and IT band. Which is just as well because I really don’t think I would’ve had the time to train for the full anyway. Plus, this way I can still do stuff on Sunday after the race instead of needing to be wheeled around in a wheelchair!

What’s better is that I finally get some time off – I took today completely off and I’m taking Monday completely off. I’ll be working again on Tuesday, though not full-time. I added up all the hours I worked for the past 9 weeks and found that I averaged 44 hours a week. Since I am not going to be with this job at least by the beginning of January (if not sooner), I figure I can take that extra 36 hours I worked and spread it out over the next couple weeks, so I really only have to work about 25-30 hours every week. (This past week I only worked 22 though!) Oh well. I’ll buckle down if I find out I’m not getting the church job. Otherwise, I am really enjoying being able to have some free time again.

Life is good right now – thanks be to God!

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Home for the weekend

30 Oct

Enjoying time in the Word

I realized this morning, as I was enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the Bible, that I haven’t been home on a weekend in over 6 weeks. Holy cow! No wonder I’m exhausted.

While I wish Travis and I could just go do something fun, we’ve both been so busy lately that we have to use at least part of this weekend to catch up on housework, chores, and unfortunately, do some work.

I have had time, though, to figure out who and what I’m voting for (which was a long process, since I knew practically nothing about any candidates or amendments). Travis and I are also talking about checking out Costco (for fun and to see if we want to join) and going out for sushi.

Katy wanting attention... is she not SERIOUSLY the cutest dog EVER?

Tomorrow, we are finally resuming our Panera-before-church tradition. Travis and I had been doing that for 2-3 months but once I got this job, that was pretty much out the window. We’ve started reading Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller together but we’ve only actually discussed a chapter once because of our crazy schedules. SO needless to say, I am VERY ready for some routine! And who doesn’t love Panera? Mmmm…

I have to admit, though, that remembering how much I enjoy weekends – and how much I don’t have them anymore – just reinforces my feeling that I don’t want to do this job next year. In fact, there is a position opening up in the church office that I’m going to apply for. I’ve already told the current administrator that I’m interested and I’m going to bring my resume when I go to volunteer on Monday. I’m really trying to trust the Lord with the outcome and timing but I can’t help getting excited about the idea of a real office, a regular schedule and no more volunteer coordination or timing.

I’ll let you know how that goes. In the meantime, have a great, relaxing weekend!

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Still recovering.

27 Oct

Last week was quite possibly the longest week of my life. From Sunday to Sunday, I worked 115 hours. Isn’t that ridiculous? I did nothing except eat, sleep and work. And as my last blog post described, I was really looking forward to a break this week.

No such luck.

We are announcing our 2011 race calendar on November 1st and I am supposed to have all of the race logos designed and ready for posting by then – in addition to answering all of the post-race emails from athletes and vendors, creating the 2011 marketing strategy, designing all of the t-shirts and medals, and contracting new timing clients. And that’s just work. I was also greeted by a kitchen piled high with dishes, a laundry basket overflowing with 5 loads of laundry, an empty fridge and a dog needing a trip to the vet.

After getting a good 12 hours of sleep Sunday night, I got up on Monday at 9:30. I spent some time trying to pray but just found myself getting frustrated at the full day I had ahead, instead of the relaxing day I had hoped for. Then I worked for a bit, took Katy to the vet, worked a bit more, and volunteered at the church. Travis called me and said he was coming home from hunting a day early so we ate dinner together and watched a movie.

Tuesday, I jumped out of bed with the ambition to get the house in order. I can only take messiness for so long (and it’s not even really that long). So I gathered all of the laundry and started a load, put away all the other stuff from my suitcase, did the dishes, ate breakfast, cleaned up my office, and answered some emails. Around 12:00 noon, I called it quits and went on my first run in 2 1/2 weeks. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I can indeed still run 5 miles. I’m hoping I can run quite a bit more, considering the half marathon in Malibu is just 2 1/2 weeks away. After my run, I showered and went to the church to volunteer. When I got home, I had a phone date with my friend Brittany, then Travis made dinner, we watched a couple episodes of The Office, and he went to a hockey game while I talked to my mom on the phone. Finally, it was time for bed.

This morning, I spent some time in the Word and then edited the New Members class content I have been working on for the church. I answered some more emails (they just keep coming!), then went to my last physical therapy appointment. In the car on the way there, after feeling frazzled, rushed and stressed ever since getting home, I realized that I just needed a break. I just need to catch up on all the housework and take a breather. Then I can dive in tomorrow.

So I did. I took the afternoon off. After my appointment, I went grocery shopping, finished the laundry, and then read a magazine and watched some Desperate Housewives. I would be taking a nap right now except I am not really physically tired – just emotionally tired. And I wanted to read the blogs I follow, as well as post on mine. In 10 minutes, I’m going to go on a nice little 3-mile run, then shower and go to Care Group for dinner and discussion. I can’t say that I feel quite recharged yet – that will probably take a few weeks. But this afternoon definitely helped.

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Time for a break.

20 Oct

I am in serious need of a break. So far this week, I have worked over 45 hours – and it’s only Wednesday!

I knew that this week would be this way so at least I wasn’t surprised. I had planned that I would do nothing except work and sleep. No exercise. No reading. No fun. (Well, I at least had to squeeze in a blog post).

That’s the way my job is – race week is completely nuts. This one even more so, since I took Friday and Saturday off last weekend to go up to elk camp with Travis and his family, days I would normally be working in preparation for this week.

Instead of getting into how much these weeks make me question why I have the job I do, I’m going to talk about all the things I excited to do next week – when I have pretty much the whole week off.

First, I’m going to sleep in as long as I can, linger over the Word with a cup of coffee, read a book as long as it takes me to fall asleep into a nap, cuddle with Katy my dog, and watch movies.

Second, I’m going to get a massage, manicure, and pedicure to rescue my body, feet and hands from all of this crazy manual labor! I’m sure my back is just one big giant ball of tension. I know my right leg has been demanding I quit using it so much since the beginning of August (my IT band and hamstring are ridiculously tight).

Then, I’m going to update my resume, volunteer at the church, write and mail a letter to my Compassion child, roll over my 401(k), finish sewing a coat and swimsuit coverup (not making, just mending!), run at least 4 times (the half marathon is in less than a month!) including an 8-miler, and paint and decorate wooden letters for my office (haven’t decided what word they’ll spell yet). I’m sure there’s more – I’ve been making a list of all the things that pop into my head followed by, “I need to remember to do that.”

It’s amazing how busy I’ve been this summer. I don’t really realize it until I think about all the things I haven’t had time or energy to do. When I read about my friends’ weekend adventures online, I am reminded of how long it’s been since Travis and I just hung out for the heck of it. Heck, how long it’s been since Travis and I hung out period. And then I see the long list of things I need and want to do and I just know – it’s time for a break.

What I’m trying to figure out is how long of a break I need from this job. But that’s better left for another blog post.

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