Balance

I just started a part-time weekend job, since I was feeling the crunch of not saving much this year. It's really pithy money, but makes me feel good to have an extra $50 every couple weeks to stash away. And the discount doesn't hurt, either.

I worked two days this weekend, and I don't remember loving retail this much! When I was at Penney's in high school, it was torture -- probably because I was overworked. But this job at Eddie Bauer is great. It feels so relaxing, and relatively carefree, and no ones lives or futures hang in the balance of my every decision. (Not that I dislike my other job where that IS the case, but the break is nice.)

I was feeling a little melancholy post-wedding, because all of my time which had been sucked into wedding planning was free and I didn't know what to do with it. This job is part of the solution; so was joining the gym, and deciding to do some work on my thesis to get it published in a journal. I think that staying busy is the key for me. I do better at getting things done when I have more to manage. In college, I was never so productive with getting my work done as when I spent 20 hours a week marching with the back and had to work around that.

I think that's an important thing to know about yourself, the right balance to staying sane. I get tempted to "take it easy" sometimes (and that's important!), but I really am happiest when I have a lot to do.