Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Observations on My Third Day Back at Work

Monday was the most depressing day of the year.

I'm serious. It was actually declared the most depressing day of the year. Like by experts who study that stuff. Or possibly by marketers behind an elaborate ad campaign. Either way, who can argue with the fact that late January is pretty darn depressing?

So on Monday - the most depressing day of the year - I started back to work after a 12-week maternity leave. Yeah.

Now the number one question everyone asks me is how it feels to be back. And I don't know what to say. Some things about it feel great. Others, not so much. Here are my observations so far:
  • Wearing decent clothes and having styled hair and a made-up face feels nice.

  • Wrestling clothing on a baby, carrying around bucket seat and rushing around in a winter parka causes me to sweat in my decent clothes, makes my hair look frizzy and gives my make-up and unintended dewy look.

  • Sitting down with a cup of tea and time to focus on a complex project feels nice.

  • Working a 4-hour day filled with meetings, pumping, and a few other random tasks means that I'm on my way back out the door before I even know what happened.

  • Talking to other adults about things that matter to adults feels nice.

  • Missing out on all of the social aspects of work (lunches, breaks) makes work a whole lot less fun.

Based on these observations, I might (with my employer's blessing) consider altering my schedule. Currently, I work five half-days per week. Originally, I thought that this schedule would be good because it provides consistency and means relatively short daycare days for Miles. However, it also means that I basically have all of the hassles (commuting, drop-off, pumping, etc.) of a full-time job.

So I might (again with my employer's blessing), return to a three-day schedule. I would put Miles in daycare two days per week and then split an additional day with Kyle. (Rowan would continue to attend pre-k every day.) The revised schedule would mean that I would only have to pack Miles up and bring him to daycare two days per week. It also would mean that, when I am at work, I would have more time to focus on my projects. Think depth instead of breadth.

We'll see. I should at least give my current schedule a week, huh? ;)

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