I’ve just finished my first week at a new job. I like the job, but it’s the first time in several years that I’ve had relatively standard 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as my schedule. The last time I did was in 2019 or so, and then I went and got back into graduate school for the interim.
Now that I’m back to standard hours, the commitment of time and energy seems to be quite a lot, more than I remember from prior ft experience(It could well be that this job is actually mentally demanding, whereas my prior full-time job was pretty brainless) and I’m not sure how I will make room in my life for anything else.
I like the job I’m doing, and I don’t feel as if I’m being unreasonably pressured at work (Boss even said to go out of our way not to work overtime, and it’s a salaried position so I know they’re not trying to skimp on hourly pay), so I guess I’m mainly wanting to ask how the rest of you full-timers do it.
And does it get easier to manage as you start to get used to it and make a routine?
Maybe it feels like quite a basic or rudimentary to ask… But these are things I’ve forgotten in the interim since last working 40-hour weeks.
There’s culture shock and then hopefully you settle into the idea that this is your life now.
I should mellow this a bit.
Right now you’re experiencing some degree of culture shock so that’s going to take ~6 months before that is fully settled. “This is weird.” “Yes, that’s something people experience in a variety of contexts”.
But outside of that in the long run you really have to think about what’s important to you and carve out time for that or you will be lonely and miserable. Something with regularity. I play board games with friends once a week. Sometimes I can’t make it and they do it without me. But there’s still way too much of my time that ends up being me staring at Lemmy or the TV, thinking that I really should <some chore>. And you can end up like that whether you are single or in a relationship. School was simpler.
School wasn’t simpler. It rewarded you for efficiency and intelligence by returning time back to you for completing the work quickly and correctly.
There is no reward in the corporate world. You slave away endlessly and the reward is you either get to slave away more or sit there for your 40 hours + commute.
This is how it worked for me. Followed by just fucking get up. Tired? Slept like shit? Don’t want to go? Just fucking get up and go, I don’t want to be late or lose my job, I’ll be homeless. I don’t recommend this attitude as you’ll burn yourself out but it’s how I get up.
My problem is everything else. Where do you find time to tidy the house, clean, do laundry, shower, brush your teeth, now the lawn, etc, etc and then have energy for hobbies?
This is the part I can’t wrap my head around. I’ve been a productive member of thr workforce for over 20 years but the idea that this is what the rest of my life consists of horrifies me.
Building a routine, and sticking with it helps a lot, as well as eating clean and exercising (which I need to get back into, lol). When you can nail a morning routine and carry that momentum through work, you’ll be tired, but should have time to decompress after work every day and still get most of your chores done.
now imagine having a girlfriend / boyfriends plus 3 little ones?
Luckily i dont yet that going on but i feel your pain sometimes. I tend to go to bed around 11pm and get up at 5am. Naturally without any alarms. So i have 2 hours in the morning, i tend to do smaller home duties and then after work, study for 1 hour (no more no less), eat and then chill on the couch. On the weekend, get all of your cleaning, errands do as soon as possible which will allow the rest of the day to hang out with friends, or whatever
My biggest advice that I wish more people would is to go to bed on Friday / Saturday / Sunday at the same time you would throughout the week. Dont extend your waking hours and be sluggish come Monday.
Also enjoy your life. It goes quick
40 hours is pretty long TBF! I’d probably just zone out for the last hour of each day.
That’s the neat part, you don’t.
So okay here is what you do.
You get up, go to work, spend all day there, go home, stay awake too long, sleep too little, do it 5 days then try to catch up on lost sleep in the weekend.
This way you will get as little out of all your free time as possible, and eventually get depressed and/or have a mental break.
Good luck!
Have you considered embracing homelessness? I wish i wasnt being serious but it is an option that if planned for instead of being forced into, is somewhat freeing. The van dweller community is growing extremely fast right now.
I’m curious how that works for health insurance and saving for retirement. Presumably van dwelling requires some amount of working to fund food, gas, and repairs. So I’m guessing Obamacare or maybe Medicaid for health insurance if your income is low enough. But how does planning for the future work?
I can’t speak for everyone, because I fundamentally believe that the increases in productivity due to technology should have been applied to flexibility for the working public instead of pure profit for the capitalist owning class. But for me, sometimes I can’t stand another MOMENT of my work shift, and other times I find myself lost in the work for 14 hours before I even realize it. It’s purely a function of what you’re working on and what it means to you. Or doesn’t mean to you.
hated that work culture so i left as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
went to teach ESL. half the hours for better pay
I’m not sure how I will make room in my life for anything else.
That’s the neat part - you don’t!
Once you fall into a routine it will get easier.
First week is tough because you’re learning the job, plus learning the best ways to travel, where to buy stuff, etc.
Some of us never get used it it, because there’s nothing normal about it.
It does get easier as you adjust. I went from Uni Art classes, to full time Industry trade job at 55 hours a week. It feels like you have no time for you. You adjust to the me time being late evening or weekends only. A 4 day (40h) work week is a better life balance. A company I worked for out here started that after COVID
Nah, I’m done with 5 day work weeks. I get 3 days off and 4 days to work, that’s perfect to me. When I had only two days off, I felt two days wasn’t nearly enough. Now with three days off, I can take the third day to sleep it all away if I want and then I’ll have two whole days to do with as I want.
