Lots of my recent posts have been negative. Today’s will be different. Let’s explore some things that have given me renewed hope as of late.
After years of financial struggle, I’m now making good money regularly again thanks to my new job. If things go well here, I’ll soon be in a much better financial position than I was when I left the regular working world in late 2021. Beyond that, by this time next year, I’ll be in a better financial position than I’ve ever been before. That has given me so much relief and is helping me get back to a solid financial place.
In addition to some great money, however, this job has also brought a number of difficulties. The biggest have been huge changes in my sleeping schedule and the morning and nighttime routines I stuck to for almost three years. It’s been hard to adjust the time I spend by my dog Sawyer’s grave every morning and night. The job has also taken away a lot of my free time during most weekdays, which has forced me to get more creative about going through my hobbies, self-care, and other activities before bedtime. Even though I can do it, I’d rather not have to do so, which is always a difficult place to be.
Back to the positives. The increased physical activity from my job has made it much easier for me to fall asleep and stay asleep for most of the night. That and sticking with my new bedtime routine has resulted in me feeling more refreshed after waking up on most days. In fact, I’m probably getting more sleep now than I was before I started this job. To my delight, it took less than a week for me to adjust to both waking up and going to bed many hours earlier than usual, and it’s quite easy at this point for me to fall asleep at my new bedtime. I’m so glad it’s been a much faster, easier adjustment than I thought it would be.
Additionally, I’m only working with a small handful of guys at my job. We all work well together and like each other, and they’ve done a great job welcoming me in and showing me the ropes. While there’s still plenty for me to learn, I’ve already learned quite a bit in the short amount of time I’ve been there. My guess is that I’ll pass the initial trial period with flying colors and be with this company for many more years.
Since I’m still figuring out how to handle my days outside of work (both on workdays and my days off), I’ve withdrawn from most of the socializing I did for years. Although I still go to some events on the weekends and plan to continue hosting my usual juggling meetings, I don’t go out nearly as much as I once did. There are many people whom I used to see at least a few times a month but haven’t seen at the time of this writing since late February. While I do miss some of them, I’m glad to be away from so much loudness, nonstop talking, interrupting, judgment, and other stuff I hate. It’s so nice to have much more peace, quiet, and serenity in my regular life.
It’s wonderful to have all these positive things going after so many years of struggle. When it comes to getting my life together again, I now no longer fear that I’m going to lose before I even start playing. That huge stress reduction has made it much easier to handle my remaining emotional pain, which means that this job is helping me with two of my three goals for this year. I look forward to seeing how the rest of 2025 plays out as I continue to improve at my job, rebuild my finances, and release old pain.