Transit Inn: Of late

I did not have the most accomplished weekend, but it was a very decent one nevertheless, and I feel rested and ready for a new week of battles. Some of my friends have asked me how I have been doing in my current job. I tell them I am doing well: I am not unhappy in my current position, neither am I exhibiting much angst as before. I wonder if one can be truly happy in one's profession, for in any type of work there is bound to be both good and bad, both things that you enjoy and do not enjoy doing. Ideally, the enjoyable bits should greatly outweigh the dislikable parts.

Ironically, of late I have been just as busy, if not busier, at work. I am often wearied out during the week as I leave home when it's barely bright and return only when its deep into the night almost daily. Tired I may be, but I am not frustrated or upset to any degree that leaves me emotionally drained. This is a critical difference from what I was going through previously. In fact, I have started to enjoy what I am doing over the past two weeks. There is still a lot of annoying work that inevitably comes along with dealing with clients and managing multiple deadlines and requests. Yet there is also a sense of excitement in figuring out and managing tactical aspects of the work I am dealing with, while smart-talking colleagues and new learning areas have helped to keep my days interesting and fruitful.

Perhaps much has to do with the environment and nature of my work, which differs greatly from my previous job. Instead of writing endless minutes and polishing one draft after another, I now look at figures and try to decipher their meaning so as to tweak them further to achieve some magical results. I find that I actually don't abhor the idea of being a geek and quite like being one in fact. Working with a small team and having limited resources, I no longer have to contend with a stratified machinery; neither do I have to expand emotional energy to grapple with people issues and a thousand peripheral matters. Even more important, I realise, is that I have more weekends to myself than before. This has given me time to recuperate between one battle-weary week and the next, thereby helping to restore some degree of balance in a life that will never cease working. I can charge ahead and work my ass off during the week, but it is important that I have time to do other things in life, time which I can only afford during the weekend.

Happily, I am starting to find myself living healthier weekends these days. That has also made me greedy and hungry for even more weekend time even as I try to have a productive weekend every week. For there is just so much that I want to do over Saturday and Sunday. It sounds like I have a lot to do, but the ingredients for a happy weekend for me are pretty simple: time for sleeping, time for coffee and food, time for exercise, and time for reading. I went for a jog on Saturday evening and felt so good after that, having tried, unsuccessfully, to catch up with a much older man whom I swear was running at a IPPT 2.4km Platinum pace (aka above Gold Standard pace!). Then on Sunday. I wanted to cycle and run and swim all at the same time, but needless to say I couldn't do it even if I were a triathlete. I swam in the end and made up my mind that I would not linger longer than the time needed to complete my laps, just so I can scoot off for a cuppa after that (it was already late evening then). I managed to do both, and you know how setting goals for yourself and achieving them gives a great deal of satisfaction.

So now I am ready to plunge back into the depths of the work and I think I can handle all the crises that will be surfacing during the week. Just leave my weekend untouched and I will work hard over the next 5 days. Promise.

I hope you enjoy your work and weekends too. Gambate!