Welcome to the Working World

Sunday night, my AOL away message read simply, “Tomorrow is the beginning of the end for me. I begin my career, forever embarking upon a path that will take me farther and farther from the carefree, whimsical days of youth where laughing and dancing and drinking were the most important priorities, forever to be a slave to the 9-5 work day.” As I went to bed that night laughing at my flair for the dramatic, I had no idea how right I was.

Of course, I’ll be lucky if my days are ever just 9 to 5.

Now four days later, I’m experiencing my first few minutes to myself that I’ve had all week. Unfortunately, I have to experience them while stuffing my face with a sandwich in my cubicle. (Lunch time.) Regardless, each second of my day is consumed by work. I suddenly live and breathe career – a drastic change from all the nothingness I began exactly two months prior to my start date here.

This week, my first week of work, I’m drowning in adjusting to this lifestyle. Not to mention I’m physically exhausted from so little sleep, depressed I don’t get to do anything fun (I have three Netflix movies at home I don’t think I’ll ever get to watch!) and fighting off an ear/sinus infection with self-prescribed & nearly expired antibiotics.

Each day, my alarm sounds at 5:30 to get me out of the house within an hour. When the train doesn’t break down, I get to work a little past 8. When it does (as with today and yesterday), I’m stuck on it until 9:30 or 10. Then I work my ass off non-stop all day long until I can peel myself away from my glorified cubicle (which I’m quite fond of), usually in time to catch the 6:15 hour-long train home. If I miss that one, I don’t walk through my front door until after 9:00pm.

But aside from the shock of working, I LOVE it. The firm I’m at is amazing. The clients are fascinating, the people I work with are both talented and young, the work is constant and interesting. They have such high expectations for me – which unfortunately has put me under overwhelming pressure this first week of adjustments! I’m excited; they plan to nurture me into an exceptional PR professional. There’s just always that inner fear that I cannot meet their dreams. But we’ll see. Work’s supposed to be tough; you learn best by overcoming challenges. I’m happy here. And I think once I figure out the phones and get used to my daily duties, I’m really going to thrive.

Meanwhile, we took an hour last night (I left work early, catching the 5:40 home) to decorate our cute little Christmas tree as a family. The high has been freezing; snow's falling often and rapidly transforming into slippery ice or disgusting brown slush. I had a brief conversation with my best friend who’s moving away for months and who I might not even be able to see before she leaves in two weeks. Christmas presents to give and receive arrive in the mail, waiting to be wrapped or torn apart. I have email after email I’ve been dying to respond to, and no time. Is this really what the rest of my life is going to be like?

Ok, lunch break’s over… wish me luck!