Thanks 3 - Work

I've been sick the past couple days, so I've had a little bit of spare time for reflection. I sometimes feel like it's a pain to have to get up early to go to work and go to sleep early so I can wake up the next morning. After about four months of this "employment" thing, I'm still trying to adjust to the system. I have a much greater awareness of time, and how little of it that I have, but I'm still working on how to manage it. Despite having an 8-6 schedule everyday, it feels like life is more open-ended than ever before. In school, things were very tightly scheduled and I always knew what needed to be done and when. Work has definite goals in place as well, but the difference is that in school my life basically revolved around these deadlines. Studying, homework, and projects filled the copious amounts of free time in between classes, meals, and sleep. While I have much less free time with the job, the free time I do get is generally mine to use as a I please. And I'm still trying to figure out how best to productively use that time and do what I want to get done.

It may not be readily obvious why I am giving thanks to this. Well, first, the job has given me an entirely new perspective on just about everything. Whereas before I had my experiences with family, friends, and school to color my views, I now have a fourth vantage point from which to look at life. I think there's a greater sense of freedom, but also a greater sense of responsibility. Do you get this sense too? Am I just late to the party?

The other reason I'm grateful is that I have a job at all, especially with the mass layoffs going on everywhere. I don't want to jinx anything, but having a steady stream of income not from my parents is great to have as I explore this new episode in my life. And I'm not even a big spender.