"Getting rid of everything that doesn’t matter allows you to remember who you are. Simplicity doesn’t change who you are, it brings you back to who you are."

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Know Thyself...

Am I still here? 

Wow, what a week!  I feel like I've been flattened by that steamroller they call work.





Wham, Bam.  Thank You Ma'am!

It sure is cliche to say that sometimes it's just not worth taking vacation time if (when you get back to the grind), there's more work and more stress that it completely eliminates the point of getting away in the first place.

I am exhausted!

Way more tired than when I was working around the house last week. 

Today is the first time I've sat at the computer all week.   I haven't seen any of your posts, let alone considered posting myself.  I've seen SM only a handful of minutes this week.  In and Out!  There and Gone.  My muscles are screaming in protest.  What is it about the intensity of a 12 hour workday that kicks your ass more than hanging upside down pulling weeds busting your back?

I want to whine.  (Waaaa!)

But I'm still smart enough to do not THAT while I'm at work.  Be effective, be efficient...but never let on that you're tired, that you wish you could back off a bit.  Show that weakness and your employer might get the idea that someone younger could come along and satisfy your position.

I'm feeling my age after this work week.  I remember Susan (my older co-worker) making the decision when she was around 55 that her body just couldn't take the pace anymore.  She backed-off and took a part-time administrative position instead.  She's 65 now and only comes in once or twice a week. 

I never really thought much about having to make that decision for myself.  Mentally, I'm still in the game and physically I am too.  But then the protesting starts once I get home.  "Where's the Tylenol?" 

Thank God for the weekends.  I can snap back then.  Rejuvenate.

But the Government wants me to keep working till I'm 70?  Twenty more years?

Yeah right...Good luck with that!

5 comments:

  1. The government wants you to work until you're dead so you keep paying taxes. They just won't say it 'cause they are afraid for their re-election chances.

    I've been slacking since becoming a SAHM four years ago, and my body is protesting every bit of the way any time I get physical....and I'm not even 40! Time to get my butt in gear. But I do remember being more mentally exhausted when coming home from my "real" job....I think that is what's kicking your butt.

    Hope you can figure out what works best for your work situation....and keep that Tylenol handy. Or the shot of whiskey.

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  2. I feel your pain! I "retired" from full time when I was 42 and left the part time job at 46, not for physical reasons. The mental stress did me in. Working around the homestead helps me to relax but it sure can take a toll on the back and knees and shoulders... Feel better soon!

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  3. If you ask me (go ahead, ask me), the emotional/mental stress of whatever you're doing is the killer. Takes more out of you than if you were digging ditches all day. Literally. On the other hand, we did some heavy wood work yesterday and even though I would have thought I'd be in pretty good shape from all the gardening/outside work this summer, my legs felt like jello last night. So important that we find a way to keep exercising our bodies (each and every part!) so we all stay hale and hardy until 100. Or 102. Do I hear 110??

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  4. Mental work, as everyone has agreed is the drain we humans succumb to. On the other hand, physical work leaves one tired, sometimes exhausted, but at least there is something to show for the exhaustion which picks one up. Or so I find :)

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  5. I agree, it's the mental stress that wears one out. I doubled the size of my garden this year, and found twice the work wasn't that much harder on my 73 year old body. I do think, however, I'm looking forward to the end of the gardening season just a bit more than in past years.

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