Okay, so I know giving up facebook isn't the biggest deal in the world. There's tons of people who never use it anyways so obviously it isn't the end of the world. But the purpose of the upcoming 40-day project is bigger than just not logging in to one website. The idea is to change my perspective, to devote time usually wasted on facebook to better things, and to avoid comparisons with others in favor of taking pride in myslef, my live, my accomplishments, without competing with others. Further, it's to shift my focus away from all the things that others have and I don't--spouses, children, houses, dogs, degrees, benefits packages, etc--and to look at and focus on all the awesome stuff I have in my life.
So one thing I want to do is spend more time reading, which means I may post about what I'm reading. Currently, that's stuff for my grad school classes. I'm taking a class on Milton, so I'm re-reading Paradise Lost and the Bible. I'm also taking a class on the beginnings of hermeneutics and the professionalizing of the study of literature (or something like that--it's sort of hard to explain), so I'll be reading a bunch of highly theoretical, scientific, and economic texts from the Englightenment era to the twentieth century. So readers, you have that to look forward to.
More than that, though, I hope to write about the great things in my life. Mostly, that's people, like my awesome boyfriend, my family, and some of my closest friends. Also, my cat, the financial stability afforded by my job, the other material stuff in my life that makes it more convenient and comfortable like my car and my computer, and the stuff all around me like the mountains or the parks I live near. Also, I want to post some links to cool stuff that's made a difference for me at some point, like this awesome video about just what I'm talking about here--learning to love yourself for who you are and not rely on others for your sense of self-worth.
Today, I want to talk about my job, for a practice post for when this actually begins on Wednesday. I complain about my job a lot, and it can definitely be pretty stressful. I mean, it's a comission-based pay structure, so that alone causes anxiety every week. But I'm so lucky to have it. As anyone from my generation can probably guess, I have buckets of student loans I have to pay back now that I'm not a student any more. So many people struggle with them. My parents took a long, long time to pay theirs off, and that was when college was cheap by comparison. There are a lot of jobs--including my future career, teaching--that would make paying these loans super difficult. But fortunately, I have a job that pays well, so I'm able to handle them. That is such a blessing. I really should count myself lucky, because I've lived paycheck-to-paycheck before, even while working 2 jobs, and I don't have to do that now, and that is such a relief I can't even say.
But besides the money thing, my job comes with a lot of added bonuses, too. I get to talk to people all day long. And despite the fact that the ones that usually stick out in my mind are the super-rude jagoffs that get their joy in life by trying to make other people miserable, the vast majority of people really do mean well. Some of them are downright interesting and cool and fun! What's better is that I have a better working knowledge of western Pennsylvania than I ever thought I would. I sell papers from Rochester to Connellsville to Gibsonia to Sewickley to Uniontown to Cannonsburg to Washington to Kittanning to McKeesport to Butler, etc, etc. Not only do I get to see some interesting places and increase my navigational skillz, but I also get to meet a wide, wide variety of different types of people. It really demonstrates how people can be way, way different, and yet basically the same, all at the same time. Plus, I get to set my own hours. If I wanna work six long days a week for a while and make a ton of money, I can do that. If I wanna just work three or four days, I can do that, too. Week or 2 off? I can do that. Leave at 2 to go get my car inspected? I can do that. I have a lot of freedoms right now that I won't have once I start into my career, and I'm trying my best to fully take advantage of them.
So, yes, if you ask me in a week how work's going, I'm probably going to groan and be super pissed off. Because I'm in that stretch of six-day weeks, and I set a really high goal for myself, and I still have to find a way to deal with my coworkers, which can sometimes be easy-peasy and other times extremely terrible. But I know, deep down, under all the stress and frustration, that I could do a lot worse for myself, and that all the work I do will pay off shortly, and that the job I have now has been a huge learning experience for me, too. So, yeah, it's definitely something to be thankful about.
Just needed to write this after having a basically good day so I could tap into my gratefulness on the matter. Tomorrow's jury duty, so I'll try and post then, too. Might need some emphasis on gratitude after spending the day in court... O.o
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