On Going Back To Work And Appreciating Time

 Assuming all is in order (and as of this writing, I have no reason not to assume so) there is every chance that this coming Wednesday, I will start my new "main" job (to Eaton Rapids Joe's kind point earlier, I do have a second job, but right now that could not pay the bulk of the proverbial bills).

The whole thing strikes me as a bit odd.

Technically (if you are a calendar counter) it will have been 98 days between when I was officially notified that my job was disappearing and when I go into an office to start a new one.  And of that time, I think it would be fair to say that 60 days of it (the WARN act period) was not precisely a high amount of effort or activity - I did what I needed to do and no more and consumed 3 weeks of vacation in an eight week period.

Suffice it to say, I have not really been "working hard in my field of choice" for almost a quarter.

I do not have any concerns about getting back on the proverbial bike - yes, Medical Device is different from Biopharmaceutical in regulations a bit (for those of you that like inside baseball), but not too terribly so, and I have done this sort of work before for 7 years so really it will just be realigning my focus.  Also, remembering what "going to the office" is like.

The other thing this event has made me do is re-examine my goals and my scheduling.

Simply put, I am adding in approximately 40 minutes a day in commuting.  While in my life of work that is by far not the worst commute I have had, I have not had a commute in three years.  I will try to fill the time accordingly - about 20 minutes each way is the length of a single podcast from A History of Byzantium that I am listening to, so I can fill the time usefully (in all fairness, I struggle to listen to anything for more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time. For some reason, the medium does not work for me).  But that subtracts from the overall time I have.

Another factor is my second job, which at this point I fully intend to keep.  My boss has been kind in adapting my schedule to what my availability is and if the next two weeks is any indication, it looks like I will close two nights and work a full shift to close on Saturdays (around 18 hours or so).  This would allow my Iaijutsu attendance on the two weeknights and Saturday morning classes and give a full free day on Sunday (which, to be fair, has church and the rabbit shelter on it).

Bottom line: my evenings excluding Sunday will be filled with one thing or another and the evening closes will be me transporting directly from one job to the other.  Which means my major, reliable time for my goals and tasks is mornings until 0800.

If you have followed this blog for any period of time, you no doubt have already suspected I have all of this scheduled.  I do.  Fortunately for "I like linearity" me, the times all more or less line up so that I can keep the same rising and going to bed schedule every day.  

All of this means, oddly enough, that I have new appreciation of time.

Time was a thing I had wilds amount of in the last three months.  Now - almost all at once - time has become exceedingly precious.  

This was a development I had not anticipated.

This is certainly not a bad thing - no, I should have had always had an appreciation of time in this manner. It just becomes easy to ignore, especially when one gets caught up in the day to day tasks of living and a schedule which does not significantly modify itself periodically.

It has focused my mind wonderfully.  So in a meaningful way, Wednesday's start may really be a methodology to a sort of life examination rebirth and refocusing.  

Pretty heady stuff for a job change.