Musings on my job

So, I'm in a job I hate. That's pretty much the best way to describe it.

Without going into too much detail, it's a very bad fit for my personality. I'm just not a consultant at heart, I'm learning. For what I do, I do not need to be on call 24 hours a day for a client to call about a report. What we do is not that critical to warrant the life-or-death attitude that many of my co-workers adopt. I don't need to be treated the way I am by clients and by my coworkers. I just don't need the high-stress atmosphere that surrounds the work done here. It’s physically not healthy for me.

And y'know, I like having a personal life. I don’t want to work 50 hrs a week (particularly when I’m only paid for 40). So many people in this company act like work is all there is to life. I like having hobbies and interests outside the office. I don't want to feel entirely one-dimensional. I’ve always liked feeling well-rounded, like I have multiple interests and using more than one part of my brain. I’ve always had that mindset – in school, I always had sports, and would work in language or history classes even though I was a science major. Keeps me happier that way. This job just demands so much and gives back so little, that I feel like other parts of me are atrophying while I’m here.

As I keep reminding myself, however, it has been a very good first 'real' job. Because it's a smaller office, I've had experience in several different types of projects (cross-training is always nice), I've been able to write proposals, do some marketing...in short, I've been able to get more experience that I would've been able to otherwise. That's all very useful in resume-building, and in helping me figure out what sort of job I want, what sort of work environment I need to thrive.

But just because it’s a good first job, doesn't mean that I want to stay here for the rest of my career…

So it works out very nicely that Zach and I will be moving end of Feb or early Mar when he gets his first permanent duty station!

The challenge now is how to make the last few months go quickly until the move. We’re trying to brainstorm ways to make the time pass (another co-worker has a lot of the same frustrations with the job, and will hopefully be moving too, at about the same time). The time left in December is going to go quickly, with the holidays and my wedding coming up soon. It’s the time in Jan and Feb that we’re trying to work out how to pass.

Right now, we’re making soundtrack CDs for our last few months (“The Final Countdown” figures prominently). And we’re destroying a business card for each day done here, watching the stack gradually diminish. We’re gonna figure out some other tricks and rewards to make those last few months go by less painfully. And honestly, just having this place to post and vent helps a lot, too.

Just gotta keep reminding myself, only a few months more!!