1. Not having a house to take care of leads to less stress. We were high on the relief of selling our city house and I thought that relief would carry us farther. It lasted less than a week, adjusting to reality of the challenges of the hotel. But over all, that relief has been profound after having 2 houses to take care of for 4 years.
2. I need much less stuff than I thought I needed to make me happy. I have about 2 feet of hanging clothes this whole time and 2 jackets. About 6 pair of shoes. 1 pot, 1 pan. Full size fridge. This has worked fine, esp for mostly summer weather.
3. Less space means less choices, forcing me to be creative about privacy and relaxation. I have been exercising most of my life, lately, it truly is an escape for me. From the tiny room. When I need a break from my spouse, I either go somewhere alone and exercise or grocery shop. Spend time with friends and family more. I have even become very adaptive, in that I put headphones in and listen to an audio book or relaxation music with my eye pillow blocking out light. I turn away from said spouse if I am in a huff. This helps me too when it is noisy and I have trouble getting back to sleep in the middle of the night.
4. Less space is easier to keep clean and frees me up to do other things. No further explaining needed here!
5. It takes me at least 3 months to adjust to my surroundings. Now that many of the things that were driving me nuts before, I am getting used to. However, new pet peeves abound. Still cannot wait to get out of here. But, I am proud of my ability to adapt.
6. I have more confidence in my ability to deal with an environment I do not like. I have joked that if DH and I can get through this, we can get through anything. I really was joking. However, the adjustment to retirement - at least the big immediate leap, seems like a dream now. We will obviously have much adjusting to do, long term. But, we are going to be elated for a couple of months, I think!
7. I have less affection for fellow man and simultaneously look forward to having more solitude. This is huge. I have never really been introverted, but I am now!
8. I have gratitude for the comfort of my retirement home. I loved our RH the minute we walked in. Now, it will seem like pure heaven. I will do a post soon about the things I will never miss about the extended stay! Haha.
9. I am forced to plan more and be more creative for meals. I do not need nearly so much groceries or kitchen equipment. I took a bunch of photos. I will have to organize and post these! When faced with the prospect of 4 small cabinets above and 2 large ones below, along with the task of carrying all the bags from car to elevator - while using a card key for 2 doors...you buy way less!
10. It is easier to get ready since I have much less clothes, shoes and jewelry. I have been mostly just taking home dirty clothes to wash and not bringing much back. It will not be to difficult to fit what is left in my much smaller closet in retirement home. But, I still have too much and not enough order there. So, this has been helpful. I will truly only keep what is comfortable and functional and makes me feel good about wearing it. I also plan to shift to mindset that everything I have is every day wear (except for some dressy stuff for special occasions, weddings, funerals, church - if I need to work, etc). I will never truly be a capsule wardrobe kind of gal - but I have REALLY cut down. That is a work in progress. The biggest change of all - I don't care about clothes shopping at all. I will have to watch my online shopping. Welcome to the 21st Century, huh? Don't a lot of us!
2 more nights. Have a great hump day!
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challenge. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Monday, April 16, 2018
Now or Never
http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?m=1
When I posted the title, I had the Elvis song playing in my head. Ear worm.
I used to have a really busy job in the insurance industry. In college, I majored in business. It was the 80's and I was under the influence of such movies as Working Girl (Melanie Griffith), The Secret of My Success (Michael J. Fox) and Trading Places (Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy). I considered a job in a lab (biomedical engineering - I loved chemistry but hated math) and something more artistic (decorating - too impractical). My parent's felt I needed something more concrete since I was the first person in the family to go to college and they persuaded me to at least take typing and computers, so business made sense. I figured I would probably end up as a secretary, but secretly longed to go to law school.
I finished with a BS in marketing. I got a job in sales and hated it. I had worked retail through college and like it mostly, but hated the hours and the flakiness of the employees. Plus it did not pay well and you were on your feet all day. But I liked helping the customers and displaying/showing the merchandise. I consider fashion merchandising and advertising, but figured I would have to move far away and I missed my mom and sister too much in college.
I applied for a job I found in the paper that was a good salary, but was not sales. I got it. Be careful for what you wish for. I should clarify and say I did not get the actual job, but a slightly different version of what I applied for. The other applicant that my hiring manager liked had a wife and kid. My manager told me this, something you could never say today. So, he hired the other guy and told me that he really wished he could hire us both. I figured he was just saying that to be polite. Well, about 2 - 4 weeks later I heard from him again. Would I want to take the job that was just a step below and possibly work into the same position down the road? Sure! It was $23,500 a year and full benefits. I actually would have medical insurance, vacation days and a 401(k). Whooooopiiieeee.
This job was challenging but entertaining. Everyday was something new and different. We were quickly given very thorough training and authority. We learned a lot. I excelled. It was unique enough, I got to use my left brain creative side. But very time intensive and I worked long hours. For many years. I moved around, different states. Got moved up and promoted, learned to specialize. I liked the nature of my job overall, but 2 things remained challenging...time management and politics.
We were given much training and pep talks in time management. No preparation at all for politics. Haha. I really had no help at all in either area. My father was a blue collar worker who essentially worked for his friend and my mom was a bank teller who hated management.
One of the things we were taught by Big Insurance was, only touch something once. We had daily "diaries" of stuff to do on each "file" assigned to us. Often the job was so overwhelming with "fires" that come up from tasks being forced up on us from new "files" or people calling and yelling at us that we would just move the diary ahead a few days, or a week. This did not help in the long run, these tasks were still waiting for us, along with new "fires". So, we were taught to 1) do what you could to move the file forward any time you looked at it, 2) diary ahead realistically and 3) each piece of mail you got - put it where it needed to go when you first touched it. Don't just stick it in a pile. Summarize the mail in the computer database and file it with the appropriate hard file.
This has served me well in life. I hate junk mail, I hate all mail, really. Paper or electronic. I do what I can to minimize it. I elect to get electronic billing on all accounts and zero junk email (I opt out of all and create spam for all the offenders who ignore) and when I open paper mail I deal with it right then...a) keep and file or b) shred and throw away. I hope to add more efficiencies in my life like this (systems) upon retirement, so that I won't become bogged down with the slack routine and have loose ends. I don't deal well with loose ends. I would almost rather do something wrong than do nothing! Ha. Anyway, this has been your lesson in 90's Big Insurance rah rah boom bah pep talk about how to cram more into your day. Not really, this is a way I can do my chores and have more fun.
Have a great Monday!
When I posted the title, I had the Elvis song playing in my head. Ear worm.
I used to have a really busy job in the insurance industry. In college, I majored in business. It was the 80's and I was under the influence of such movies as Working Girl (Melanie Griffith), The Secret of My Success (Michael J. Fox) and Trading Places (Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy). I considered a job in a lab (biomedical engineering - I loved chemistry but hated math) and something more artistic (decorating - too impractical). My parent's felt I needed something more concrete since I was the first person in the family to go to college and they persuaded me to at least take typing and computers, so business made sense. I figured I would probably end up as a secretary, but secretly longed to go to law school.
I finished with a BS in marketing. I got a job in sales and hated it. I had worked retail through college and like it mostly, but hated the hours and the flakiness of the employees. Plus it did not pay well and you were on your feet all day. But I liked helping the customers and displaying/showing the merchandise. I consider fashion merchandising and advertising, but figured I would have to move far away and I missed my mom and sister too much in college.
I applied for a job I found in the paper that was a good salary, but was not sales. I got it. Be careful for what you wish for. I should clarify and say I did not get the actual job, but a slightly different version of what I applied for. The other applicant that my hiring manager liked had a wife and kid. My manager told me this, something you could never say today. So, he hired the other guy and told me that he really wished he could hire us both. I figured he was just saying that to be polite. Well, about 2 - 4 weeks later I heard from him again. Would I want to take the job that was just a step below and possibly work into the same position down the road? Sure! It was $23,500 a year and full benefits. I actually would have medical insurance, vacation days and a 401(k). Whooooopiiieeee.
This job was challenging but entertaining. Everyday was something new and different. We were quickly given very thorough training and authority. We learned a lot. I excelled. It was unique enough, I got to use my left brain creative side. But very time intensive and I worked long hours. For many years. I moved around, different states. Got moved up and promoted, learned to specialize. I liked the nature of my job overall, but 2 things remained challenging...time management and politics.
We were given much training and pep talks in time management. No preparation at all for politics. Haha. I really had no help at all in either area. My father was a blue collar worker who essentially worked for his friend and my mom was a bank teller who hated management.
One of the things we were taught by Big Insurance was, only touch something once. We had daily "diaries" of stuff to do on each "file" assigned to us. Often the job was so overwhelming with "fires" that come up from tasks being forced up on us from new "files" or people calling and yelling at us that we would just move the diary ahead a few days, or a week. This did not help in the long run, these tasks were still waiting for us, along with new "fires". So, we were taught to 1) do what you could to move the file forward any time you looked at it, 2) diary ahead realistically and 3) each piece of mail you got - put it where it needed to go when you first touched it. Don't just stick it in a pile. Summarize the mail in the computer database and file it with the appropriate hard file.
This has served me well in life. I hate junk mail, I hate all mail, really. Paper or electronic. I do what I can to minimize it. I elect to get electronic billing on all accounts and zero junk email (I opt out of all and create spam for all the offenders who ignore) and when I open paper mail I deal with it right then...a) keep and file or b) shred and throw away. I hope to add more efficiencies in my life like this (systems) upon retirement, so that I won't become bogged down with the slack routine and have loose ends. I don't deal well with loose ends. I would almost rather do something wrong than do nothing! Ha. Anyway, this has been your lesson in 90's Big Insurance rah rah boom bah pep talk about how to cram more into your day. Not really, this is a way I can do my chores and have more fun.
Have a great Monday!
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