Jul 17
Working and Plans
So, throughout the summer I am full-time between the Butterworth and Blodgett campuses. In approximately 5 weeks, that will drop back down to 0.5 FTE (aka 5 days per pay period). I am elated and anxious at the same time. The paychecks have been super nice that is for sure but I haven’t really gotten to all of the things I promised myself I would “when I graduated”.
Spectrum offers the opportunity to ask for more or less hours several times per year and that time is going to be coming up soon. A fellow co-worker is wanting to drop some of her hours and I have to decide if I want to ask for more. On one hand, it’s great to only fill in when I want and otherwise have a lot of time to myself, something I greatly missed during the hellacious last semester of school. On the other hand, the hours available for pick-up are not going to be as frequent so if for some reason I “need” to get extra hours (aka bigger pay check) I may not be able to. Thus is the dilemma…
I feel like a terrible slacker for not picking up everything I possibly can but I really would like to start volunteering my time elsewhere and to really get back into a working schedule with the boys. Especially once the new little guy comes in approximately one week. I just don’t know what to do. A big part of me thinks I’ll have the rest of my life to work, to enjoy what I can, when I can, while we can do it. The other part is guilty and says to work until I can’t and then have more time…
Advice/thoughts from those in the working world for longer than I have been? Or just in general?
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Hey dear,
sounds like quite the dilemma…I’ve been there believe me….
here’s my take on it.
You just graduated and like me, you put a LOT of time and effort into school, sacrificing most of your time and energy and putting the rest of your life on hold. In my experience this is necessary at some points in life but you cannot go on like that forever. Our minds/bodies/spirits need breaks where you’re not GO GO GO all the time.
After I graduated I was fortunate enough to find a great job right away. It was only four days a week though, for that first summer. The paychecks were s-l-i-m and I barely made ends meet. But it was really, really good for me because I needed the slowdown mentally, physically, and emotionally. It was so great to just finally spend some time just BEING instead of rushing to and fro and trying to get everything on my list accomplished (an impossible task). Oh yeah I definitely caught up on some sleep too!
My advice would be to talk it over with Eric and only take on as much as you can comfortably handle. Give yourself a break…make time to work with your boys and as you said, you have a new puppy on the way. You only have THIS chance to enjoy puppyness and to imprint on this puppy the behaviors you want it to have for its entire life. I think you really want to have the time to do it right and enjoy it.
So yeah, if I were you I’d lean towards slowing down a little for awhile. Take a break, reset, spend more time with your wonderful Man and your pups. Figure out where you want to go next. Just enjoy life for awhile. You’ve worked hard and you deserve it.
Best,
Brittany