It's 3am on January 5th, 2018 and I'm thinking about years past. One of my goals for the year was to write more, whether aimlessly or with direction. This area has been sorely lacking in my life and I want that to stop. I haven't done near as much as I did when I was in high school and I had a full load of classes then. My life has ceased to be exciting or adventurous, but I'm okay with that.
I have been thinking about how far I've come from 2014. I have become more of an adult and I've gone through a lot of life lessons. So, so many hard life lessons. This post is mostly about where I worked in the last few years and what it has taught me.
One question I always seem to get is, "Why do you work third shift?" Well, I'll answer that for you after I write a very detailed, long, backstory, so fasten your seat belts. Three years ago I moved out of my parents house and decided I wanted to live on my own and have a job that paid more than I was receiving at the time. I was advised not to do it, but I did anyway.
Cue first eye roll. I moved to a town 25 miles away and worked at 2 restaurants and my aunt's flower shop one day a week, which worked out well for a while. . . .minus the busyness and the rude customers. Then I was getting cut early, my paychecks were getting smaller, and my spending was getting larger. So I pursued another restaurant job.
Cue second eye roll. I then quit the first two jobs to pursue the 3rd restaurant and a local coffee shop job.
Cue third eye roll. I know, this is getting a little eye-rollish. My behavior was less than stellar back then. What was I thinking? SERIOUSLY. I didn't have consistent "dough" coming in, as promised. I was working double shifts, getting cut early from shifts, and dealing with crappy, demanding, rude customers all day long. Unfortunately, I was let go from those two jobs within a week of each other. "
Great", I thought. "
Now I have NO money." So I put in applications at departments stores. I heard from one and about a week later, I was hired. But the only thing was, it was third shift. Not something I'd ever worked before. I was no stranger to middle of the night writing or watching TV or reading books, so I figured this would be all right. So, now I will get to answering the burning question, "Why do you work third shift?"
I work third shift because I was tired of working several day jobs that were getting me nowhere. The jobs required me to walk, talk, and stand for 8 hours saying hi to people. It may not seem like it, but I was getting burned out by it. I am an introvert so I gain energy by being alone, not around groups of people. I was surrounded by people all day long and I was exhausted. So when I was given the opportunity to work thirds, I thought I'd give it a shot. A year and a half and three locations later, I'm still working there. I don't work around people at all, I'm usually by myself. And while the loneliness can get to me in the middle of the night, I wouldn't trade my job for anything else right now. I feel as sane as I've ever been in my life. Never have I questioned why I was doing this. I know why I did thirds: so I would be around less people, have more time to think to myself and still be able to work without as many interruptions. It does require me to sleep during the day and miss out on some opportunities and family time, but my sanity is at normal levels.
My first life lesson: If you like your job, don't quit it to do something that you're not sure you can truly handle. Serving at a restaurant, for example. I tried it twice and got fired twice. Not my cup of tea and I'll never try it again. Not worth it. I commend the people who CAN do it, though. Seriously, hats off to you.
My second life lesson: If a family member is willing to give you a job, don't put them on the back burner. Family is ALWAYS in your corner. Other people are not, usually. Although working for family is not something I really like doing, I'm forever thankful that I was given several opportunities to work for them. It taught me things.
My third life lesson: Keeping a job for a long period of time will show other employers that you are reliable, stable, and able to hold down a job. I don't plan to be with this company FOREVER, but it's where I'll stay until I get a better sense of what I want to do with my life. If all I can do is work at this job for the rest of my life, then I'm fine with that. There's no use in quitting and searching for something. Contentment is something I'm working on this year, so I want to be content with where I am in every part of my life.
Thank you for reading this incredibly long story! I plan to do more posts about life lessons because they are SO important. I have learned so much since I went flying off the deep end. I'm in the shallow end and just floating, not so much drowning. I thank God for that every single day.
