Post-Traditional Employment: Day One
Yes, today is Tuesday*, but yesterday was a federal holiday, so it doesn’t count.
Here’s what I did on my first day of not having a traditional job: I went right back to the place I was previously employed.
Also yes, I know that saying I’m “quitting” my life is kind of hyperbolic, but it’s shorter than “How to Stop Doing What You’ve Spent The Last Nine Years Of Your Life Doing And Thought You Were Going To Make A Life-Long Career Of And Still Get By”.
I’m all about wordy headlines, but it wouldn’t really fit in the graphic.
So anyway, commence the self-reflection.
The thing about having your last day of work fall the penultimate day of the year is that most of the people you need to sign your exit paperwork are on vacation for the holidays. That, or they’re both out and don’t want to sign your paperwork because they don’t want you to leave—but thanks for signing it anyway E😉
So that took me a little while, it was hilarious to see all the people I used to work with and have a bunch of them ask me ‘wait, didn’t you leave?’.
Also, it was good to get out of the house for the first time while wearing non-workout clothes since my last actual day of work.
I am pretty much a hermit, but I’m really going to try not to be, since I’ve got a long way to go before I can be a famous writer and hermit like Harper Lee or Emily Dickinson.
And getting dressed every day is actually really helpful for one’s productivity.
Obviously, not having a traditional job means not having a traditional source of income, and it’s pretty terrifying to be in that position when I want to do things like get my novel published (#WhoIsTalyaNightingale?) and also make rent and buy food and pay bills and pay for my four-legged roomie’s super expensive trips to the vet (this is what you get for having a cat who’s probably fourteen years old).
I know it’s going to be fine, I know I’m going to make it work, but I also can’t help but feel like I’m behind on things since, in the interest of full disclosure, I decided to make this massive life change in October. 89 days ago, to be specific.
I wanted to have a little bit more of a presence on Fiverr and Upwork, have some other freelance editing irons in the fire but, well, life happened.
November happened.
A November where I suffered my first and hopefully only concussion, went on the marathon road trip to Pullman and Seattle, hosted six volleyball matches in four weeks after hosting only four in THREE months, wrapped up volleyball season, transitioned my gymnastics and beach volleyball duties, Thanksgiving, and then I spent the following four weeks recovering from all of that and the rest of the events of the fall and, well, life.
I don’t regret any of it, but I should have figured I was going to be busier than I anticipated. It’s not like I’d never done a November in college athletics before.
So I’m going to give myself the rest of this short week to both work and freak out about what I’m doing with my life, and then I’m going to stop freaking out about what I’m doing with my life, tear into my manuscript for the fifth and hopefully final time, work through my You Will Find Your Way writer’s block, get back into my yoga and workout routines, and get my ass in gear.
As my friends on #Team14 would say, it’s gonna be fine.
-Kathryn, the Fake Redhead
*at least, that’s what the calendar says, I really don’t know days of the week without its help
