1/1/19

New Year, same me.

I don't know if I ever did New Years Resolutions.  I have set goals for myself in the past, but if I ever made any resolutions, I'm sure that I, like everyone else, ditched the idea when it got hard.

It's 2019 and while 2018 started out pretty good for me personally, the last half was a struggle financially.  I've been working at home since I got laid off almost 2 years ago and doing well for myself, all things considered, but the second half of the year I worked some side gigs.  Delivering for Amazon Flex and Doordash.

Both are decent side gigs, but Flex didn't offer me quite as much flexibility as I wanted.  I'm not going to get into it but lets just say that it wasn't something I LOVED to do.  Doordash I very much enjoy.  It's low stress and as long as you are willing to put in the time, you can do well with it.  I couldn't do that as my only job, because I'm an adult with adult sized expenses, but it is enough to make up for what was lacking.

I hate going into the new year focusing on money, but my financial health is the biggest issue in my life right now.  Hopefully soon I will be back to just working at home, and setting the side gigs aside or at least just to a few days a week to pay off some credit card debt.  Being out of the house is hard on the family who have come to love and rely on me being available all the time.  I am not sure how I feel about that, but it is what it is. 

So going into this new year, my focus is on finding a work life balance.  I understand that without the work, I won't be able to afford to do balance anything, so I know that one feeds the other.  I want to get back to spending time with my dog and my family.  Likely in THAT order, but Bella just wants so little from me in comparison and is almost always a joy- where the kids are at that age where most of the time when they approach me it's because they want something- usually food.   

I'd like to be able to meet with my friends for lunch again.  I'd like to be able to take Bella back to the dog park and give her time to play with other dogs.  I'd like to go back to relaxing at night, after making a meal I had the time to make. 

I'm going to work on a plan to capture this balance.  Which will include one day off every week, likely a Thursday.  I need to plan my days so that I have some time for household chores as well as maybe some time for me to unwind and engage in my hobbies.  I have picked my crochet hooks up again and I'd like to make time for that, even if it's just a little time each day, or every other day.  I also need to learn to maximize my work time.  Working early in the morning or later at night provides more uninterrupted time in which I can get the most done. 

Hopefully in a few days I will have something written down so I can use it as a guide.  I have worked almost non stop for the past 5 months, and while I don't regret doing what I had to do, I realize it's no way to live my life long-term.  Even if the amount of time I can carve out for social activities and hobbies is small, I think it will do me more good than harm.  Perhaps it will change my mood, and all that "sending positive stuff in the universe" is supposed to be good for me.  We'll see.

Happy New Year! 

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