The Older I Get

I remember being 21. I was fresh out of college and had the energy of a thousand people. I had a job that required me to be on-air at 6am and out covering meetings until 10pm, 6 days a week. You do the math -- 96 hour work weeks. I was fine with it. I loved it. I also loved Sunday. The one day where it wasn't required that I get up before dawn. I thought I loved Saturday since in theory I could stay up as late as I wanted but the reality was that I was so tired, I was normally asleep before 11pm.

After 5 years of being on-air at 6am, I left for the city lights of Washington DC. What I got was a revolving "southern swing" shift job. I worked either 6am-2pm, 2pm-10pm or 10pm-6am. Let me tell you, the overnight shifts were killers. I am sure I lost a couple years of sleep while I was in Washington DC.

I then got a job that didn't start until 8am but the commute took 90 minutes via metro. The next job started at 9am and now I was sleeping in until 7:30am....Ah the life.

The job was short-lived. Off to California.

California brought with it horrible commutes and to salvage what was left of my mind....I opted for driving to work at 5am in order to bypass the morning rush. It did nothing to help with the afternoon/evening rush but in my mind it was down to being only half of a problem and not getting hit both ways.

Its been 9 years since I lived and worked in the same county. I have always taken the better job instead of taking the easier path. Now, as I turn a corner and take a new job...one that doesn't start until 9am and one that is only a couple minutes from my house....I wonder. What do people do each morning with so much time?

My mom would tell you that she gets up, watches TV, has coffee and breakfast. Ah, that seems like a huge waste of time to me. I have spent my entire adult life getting up and running around for the sole purpose of going to work. How am I suppose to get up, kick back and have some coffee? I should be working!

Well I am thrilled to finally have a job so close. The distance of the commute was definitely not the reason for changing jobs....but it is an amazing fringe benefit. So is the reduction of miles on my car and not having to fill up my car with gasoline twice a week,

This morning, as I crawled out of bed at 8:30am, I realized that I no longer have the energy of that 21 year old I once was. I was invincible then. I rarely felt tired, and if I did, I hardly complained. Now, I spend more time thinking about how few hours of sleep I have left, that the rest I get seems negated by it all. I am always tired, grouchy, irritated and sleepy. If this is what a difference 13 years makes, I might as well get a job working from home by the time I am 45 because I am sure I will not have the energy to make the 10 minute commute to work by then.