giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Apr 19, 2017 14:04:22 GMT -5
giramomma - because she's one of the busiest people on here You rang? It's a combination of lots of things. I'm wired to be ultra-responsible. Being a rule-follower sucks big time, sometimes. Sometimes, it comes in handy. I'm also wired where I tend to better with lots of structure in my life. Jobs provide structure. When I retire, I'm going to have to put myself on a schedule...or nothing will get done. I also operate better when I'm under the gun in terms of deadlines and what not. I've always been like this since like junior high. Say I have three tasks to do, if I know I only have 2 hours to get them done..I get them done in 2 hours. If have 2 days to get them done..well, I'll take the whole two days. I have 5 mouths to feed, shelter, and clothe. My kids are getting very expensive now. Gone are the days of going to a Mattel Store during a warehouse sale and picking up three birthday gifts for $25-30 and wearing exclusively hand me downs/second hand clothes. In three years, I'm going to have a teen driver. I cannot handle financial stress. My husband slipping and not telling me. I can still go to bed at night and sleep as I normally do. Dealing with my FOO stuff. I can still sleep. Watching our savings go down 40%. I'm up at night, and I literally cannot sleep. Our house is going to need quite a bit of updating. We need to do one large (ie 6-10K project) every other year now, to get it ready to go on the market, eventually, if need be. In opposite years, we'll be needing to do smaller projects. That's going to take money. Going back to school, now, is no longer a "well, we'll see." It's fuck yes, I'm going back, even if I'm not accepted at the school I applied to, I need to find a place where I can get in. I need to keep myself/my career moving forward, especially now. My kids like me involved. If they didn't like me in their school, I wouldn't do it. Particularly for DS, it's really how he feels loved. I'm always surprised when i talk to him, that he would prefer to do something the hard way if it means doing it with DH or myself over doing it the easy way by himself. My kids also make be a better person, whether or not I like it. I wouldn't be attempting to do the C25K right now or I wouldn't volunteer in the community if it weren't for the kids. Getting up is also a good excuse to get some breathing room from the peanut. I love her. But, I need to not have her touch me for some portion of the day. I'm unwilling to give up my music completely. I mean, I just won't. So, that's part of it, too. I also don't define myself by any one particular role I may have. My definition of myself comes from whether or not I think I'm a good person. I think it's easier to work jobs you don't like or deal with adversity when you don't define yourself exclusively by these things.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Apr 19, 2017 14:07:20 GMT -5
but are those your first thoughts as you start the day? Do you wake up thinking about how you like to eat or have health insurance? If I have to drop the kids off, getting them to school on time..is the first task at hand. Then, I knit on my commute to campus. It's about 8ish minutes. But enough to get me centered. If I didn't have kids, or if the peanut would stop waking up within 3 minutes of me getting out of bed, I'd go back to waking up an hour before the kids, showering, having a cup of hot coffee and doing activities that center myself.
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spartyparty
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Post by spartyparty on Apr 19, 2017 14:08:18 GMT -5
What drives you to get out of bed every morning to a job you may not like or school/courses that are difficult? Nature's call, then hope of seeing yoga pants, then 5 o'clock freedom!
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Apr 19, 2017 14:10:58 GMT -5
There was a time when the nemesis made work so horrible I kept chocolate bars in my desk and wasn't allowed coffee at home. So I woke up and started working towards coffee and chocolate for when I'd get to work. But the day was downhill after that! you are another pretty busy one - mostly by choice. What keeps you going? Not a good day to ask! Just got another bitch slap from fate! Feeling pretty salty, . More outside-my-control delays on my degree. My last chance of finishing in 2017 sailed away as I ran up the gang plank waving and yelling... But overall, I don't think I know. I just keep going. Not even sure it's a good thing at this point, but I'm not a crack whore. So, there's that.
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Apr 19, 2017 14:12:32 GMT -5
What drives you to get out of bed every morning to a job you may not like or school/courses that are difficult? Nature's call, then hope of seeing yoga pants, then 5 o'clock freedom! such simple desires....
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Apr 19, 2017 14:14:23 GMT -5
you are another pretty busy one - mostly by choice. What keeps you going? Not a good day to ask! Just got another bitch slap from fate! Feeling pretty salty, . More outside-my-control delays on my degree. My last chance of finishing in 2017 sailed away as I ran up the gang plank waving and yelling... But overall, I don't think I know. I just keep going. Not even sure it's a good thing at this point, but I'm not a crack whore. So, there's that. you and giramomma are my "doing lots of stuff" heroes. Don't rush yourself - you'll get it done. Because you just will.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Apr 19, 2017 14:15:44 GMT -5
Mostly I like my job so I don't have much of a problem getting in to work. But on those few days that I can't get motivated it's the spectre of the ubiquitous baglady. While I do have enough money to retire, I don't have enough "enough" to feel truly secure...
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MJ2.0
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Post by MJ2.0 on Apr 19, 2017 14:15:47 GMT -5
but are those your first thoughts as you start the day? Do you wake up thinking about how you like to eat or have health insurance? If I have to drop the kids off, getting them to school on time..is the first task at hand. Then, I knit on my commute to campus. It's about 8ish minutes. But enough to get me centered. If I didn't have kids, or if the peanut would stop waking up within 3 minutes of me getting out of bed, I'd go back to waking up an hour before the kids, showering, having a cup of hot coffee and doing activities that center myself. I definitely need more outlets for stress relief/"flow" that don't involve food or screens.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Apr 19, 2017 14:21:56 GMT -5
If I have to drop the kids off, getting them to school on time..is the first task at hand. Then, I knit on my commute to campus. It's about 8ish minutes. But enough to get me centered. If I didn't have kids, or if the peanut would stop waking up within 3 minutes of me getting out of bed, I'd go back to waking up an hour before the kids, showering, having a cup of hot coffee and doing activities that center myself. I definitely need more outlets for stress relief/"flow" that don't involve food or screens. Do you keep a gratitude journal? There's a book that I really like www.amazon.com/dp/B001D08CQU/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1Do you trust yourself enough to believe that you are making the right decisions?
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Anne_in_VA
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Post by Anne_in_VA on Apr 19, 2017 15:16:10 GMT -5
Working for that last bit of retirement funds keeps me going. That and that I really like my job and the people I work with.
A few few days ago DH told me he thought I was retiring in a couple of months. Nooo... I'm not retiring for at least a couple of years more. I don't want to retire yet since he still works and will for at least ten years.
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shanendoah
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Post by shanendoah on Apr 19, 2017 16:01:01 GMT -5
MJ2.0 - I think there's a good chance that you are suffering from stress/anxiety/depression right now, and certainly one of the natural coping mechanisms we have is to curl up in bed and hide away. When I was dealing with depression due to not working for 9 months, I got myself in the habit of taking the dogs to the dog park every morning. Seriously, it was the only reason I got out of bed/put on a bra most days. My default coping mechanism is to put one foot in front of the other and just keep moving. But truthfully, it only works for so long.
I am going to share with you one of the best pieces of advice I have gotten regarding dealing with stress/anxiety/depression - let yourself have a breakdown.
I am a control freak. At the start of my situation, I was telling people that I assumed I would have a breakdown when it was all over. One of the therapists I talked to told me not to wait that long. Actually, what she told me was that there was no way in hell I'd make it that long, so instead of trying to power through, I should allow myself to have a breakdown. I should, in fact, schedule myself to have a breakdown. Because otherwise, I was going to have one whether I wanted to or not, and it would likely come at a time/place I didn't want it to (like work). This has worked amazingly well for me. I've gotten fairly good at recognizing when things are getting overwhelming, and I look at my evening or weekend, and I tell my support system - I'm having a breakdown that day. That means I get to cry, and yell, be sad, scared, angry, whatever I need to feel, however long I need to feel it. And honestly, without letting myself have those breaks, I probably would have reached a much worse breaking point by now.
You have been stressed and frustrated for a while now. Pick a night when you don't have DS, and let yourself just feel everything. Let yourself be mad at the world, at your ex. Let yourself be frustrated with DS. Bitch about the bad job market. Be scared that you aren't certain where you're going in life. Whatever you need to feel - give yourself a night where you get to feel it all.
It won't make any of the feelings go away, but it will release the pressure, and make it easier to get back to doing what you know you need to do. At least for me, getting up the morning after a breakdown is a whole lot easier than getting up the morning before one.
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Apr 19, 2017 16:05:27 GMT -5
What are evenings and weekends?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2017 16:16:43 GMT -5
but are those your first thoughts as you start the day? Do you wake up thinking about how you like to eat or have health insurance? More or less. I know this is what pays the bills, and the bills have to be paid. I never forget that. I think of it as soldiering on. We have to work to eat. Sure, some people milk the system and don't, but they don't really have a lifestyle that I could do. And I'm not even affluent. So it is "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go." I like what I do, but if I won the lottery, I wouldn't be doing it day after tomorrow.
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973beachbum
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Post by 973beachbum on Apr 19, 2017 17:09:24 GMT -5
I go though moods where I hate one job but like the other and they I reverse. I do actually wake up some mornings and talk to myself out loud. It is mostly a list of the things I want/need to pay for. My "real" job I am basically as far as I can go. There is no place to move up to and no more hours to work. Short of moving or commuting a pretty far distance this is it. It is tedious and boring but not horribly paid and extremely flexible as jobs go. My second job was literally supposed to be a summer thing to help me save an extra $3-6K for my DD's college. Somehow that summer has lasted three years. I'm lucky I didn't start drinking some days at that job! I do like the money and my main motivation is my kids. I will do everything in my power to get them as good a start in life as I possibly can. I will say though that the main thing that gets me to work, mostly on time, isn't that. I just don't call out basically ever. Maybe it is something I was taught or genetic but I would have to be almost dying to call out and not go to work as scheduled.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2017 18:18:55 GMT -5
For years, it was a "do what you gotta do" mentality, fueled by 2 little people that were depending on me. I also use to feel strongly about not letting my bosses down by leaving them short staffed if I could help it, but Ive had a few bosses that kind of stomped that loyalty out of me years ago.
Anyway, my little people grew up and I found that my main reason to keep on trucking didn't work so well anymore. I think I've been having some sort of mid life crisis or identity crisis or something since then. Basically, I go to work now because I want to eat. I play a lot of mind games with myself to talk myself into going in. The bottom line is always money and what I can do with it. And sometimes I do a lot of cussing as I drag out of bed.
I've been thinking a lot lately (again) that I really need to find something else to do. I don't like the kind of work I do, it's boring and it's really wearing on me physically, and a "good" day at work is a day that nobody gets on my freaking nerves with stupid stuff. I was thinking on my way home from work today that it's ridiculous to spend so much of my day every day, so much of my life, miserable. Until and unless I figure something else out, I remind myself that the money isn't bad, and if I don't work, eventually I won't eat.
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mamasita99
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Post by mamasita99 on Apr 19, 2017 19:02:09 GMT -5
I try really hard not to think in the morning! Because when I do my mind starts to think things, like how tired I am, how good my bed feels, how much BS may be waiting for me at work... Like many others here, I do better with a structured routine and go on Robot Mode.
Once I get going (especially if Robot Mode is fully running and I get my early morning workout done), I usually just want to keep going and knock the day out. I want to keep going because I know that I feel better when I get to work on time, meet challenges head on, tend to kid and house needs in a timely manner, etc. Doing what I'm supposed to do feels good, in the long run. If I stay home and hide it feels bad (well, good at first, but then bad).
Sometimes, though, it's my coffee addiction that gets me out of bed in the morning. And then I stumble along from there.
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tallguy
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Post by tallguy on Apr 19, 2017 20:42:39 GMT -5
I never needed motivation. I had discipline instead. The thing that got me to work every day was that the idea of NOT going to work was never allowed to take hold. It was rarely even allowed to come up. In over thirty years of working I have called in that morning maybe twice. And maybe twice more that I told them when I left for the day, "I'm probably not going to be in tomorrow." Several conversations with my boss over the years about people being out that day, again. "Damn, when is it going to be MY turn to miss a day? I NEVER get a turn!"
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dee27
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Post by dee27 on Apr 19, 2017 20:59:57 GMT -5
I was raised to do what was necessary to take care of my family, so I was very motivated to live up to the challenge especially when I was a single mom with kids. I do better with structure and that kept me going until life became easier. For me adequate sleep, eating a balanced diet, and exercise helped me remain sane. Also, I did have a small support system to help out when life threw me a curve ball. I kept a weekly journal to air my moments of frustration and my moments of joy. What works for any of us is very individualized. Believe me, every parent I know has an occasional meltdown.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2017 22:22:12 GMT -5
This is one of the best threads I've ever read on this board because it's a tossed salad of gut-level honesty and valuable coping strategies.
During my decades of working a pay job, I was motivated by fear - stark terror based on personal knowledge of a life without income. Add serious self-image issues to that stew and you have motivational forces I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Now I'm working in a volunteer position that actually demands far more of me in every possible way than a pay job ever did. During the paycheck days, I was a flunky tasked only with compliance and competence in some corporate paradigm. For the last three years in my volunteer capacity I've been challenged to lead, a completely foreign concept for me and one that involves complex equations of listening, prioritizing, mediating. It's scary as hell to have peeps looking at you for solutions and realize every word you speak or write has significant implications for a community of 25,000 souls. Sleep does not come easily or last long.
But I digress. As others have said, I am hard-wired for structure and measurable metrics of success or failure. "Retirement" has been an immense struggle for me. I'm still rising each day to throw myself against life's challenges, to prove I have a right to exist. Yet, at this point, I am also counting down the days until I can again retire from the 24/7/365 responsibilities of my current world while recognizing that world feeds my addiction to relevance and meaning.
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teen persuasion
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Post by teen persuasion on Apr 19, 2017 23:17:12 GMT -5
It's been a long time since I faced difficult courses and/or work I didn't really like. I'm really lucky that I like where I am right now - work and life - and I try not to take it for granted.
When college courses were crazy challenging, I refused to give up - I WAS going to make that program compile and run, by sheer will if necessary! In retrospect, I should have learned to network and crowd source problems, rather than trying to do it all myself. The point was to learn, and I we all would have learned more thru collaboration.
With work, guilt is a major motivator to get me in when I don't want to go. Right now we are short staffed, and I'm the only one with over 1 year of experience, so I'd feel really bad cutting out and playing hooky. A few weeks back, one coworker had the stomach flu that's been going around, so I was covering her shifts. Before she got back, I came down with it too. I still feel bad for throwing our brand new boss to the wolves to fend for herself at the last minute. It's got to be the first time I've called in, ever. But generally work is fun for me - some new challenge every day, lots of interaction, books, movies, kids, I get to play with the website and the computers in general all day - what's not to like?
But honestly, what gets me out of bed every morning is food - I'm starving when i wake up, and I want to eat, NOW!
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Apr 19, 2017 23:45:26 GMT -5
I think I get out of bed and go to work every day out of sheer habit and routine.
If I won the lottery and didn't have to work any more, I would have a really hard time re-defining myself. I suspect that transition would be tough for me. I would probably need counseling. I feel so weird. Maybe it would be rough on a lot of people - as having a purpose is important - but they just don't think that it would be a bad thing to suddenly have to never work again to have a life of luxury.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Apr 20, 2017 6:07:09 GMT -5
I never needed motivation. I had discipline instead. The thing that got me to work every day was that the idea of NOT going to work was never allowed to take hold. It was rarely even allowed to come up. In over thirty years of working I have called in that morning maybe twice. And maybe twice more that I told them when I left for the day, "I'm probably not going to be in tomorrow." Several conversations with my boss over the years about people being out that day, again. "Damn, when is it going to be MY turn to miss a day? I NEVER get a turn!" See, I think this is interesting. I don't value butt in seat time. Neither have my bosses. Their motto is work smarter, not harder. Of course, I'm fortunate that my job requires my computer, internet, and my brain. So as long as I have all three, I'm good. I'm happier than a clam working at home while Netflix is going. All my work is project-based. I'm out quite a bit for work. For two years, I was DS's den leader. I left the office at 1:30 twice a month. For a while, when my older kids were younger, I was at the school once a week volunteering. Then there's ortho appointments (Our ortho only does 15 minute adjustments before/after school. DS is getting his braces off...all the appointments for that are longer than 15 minutes, and he's getting missing a fair amount of school for it), parent teacher conferences, school plays, performances, and even mother's day tea, religious rites (First reconciliation, for example, is always done during the school day. Parents are expected to attend). I used to be able to attend some stitching groups during the day..so I'd take off half days once a month for that. I need to leave my job, at some point. I love the flexibility, which is why I stay. I actually don't like the relationship I have with some of my co-workers, and the relationships they have with each other. And I'm pretty underpaid..but the flexibility more than makes up for the pay.
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Apr 20, 2017 8:07:00 GMT -5
I think it's tough for most people to get moving day in and day out. I get going so I won't be stuck at home bored out of my mind. Work gives me something to do. I have many hobbies, but I think about work while doing them, transitioning into retirement will be tough.
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whoisjohngalt
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Post by whoisjohngalt on Apr 20, 2017 8:13:23 GMT -5
First things first - mornings are the hardest time of the day for me bc I like to sleep in and even when I wake up, I can spend an hour just lingering in bed, reading, etc
But what motivates me are two things - pleasure and money.
If I didn't like my jobs - I got different ones, the ones that I really liked and it was much easier getting up in the mornings.
When I was getting my Bachelor's - I liked very little of it - but I like money, so kept going so I can finish and make money
I am THAT simple. Pleasure and money.
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hoops902
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Post by hoops902 on Apr 20, 2017 8:29:32 GMT -5
but are those your first thoughts as you start the day? Do you wake up thinking about how you like to eat or have health insurance? I wake up thinking either "I'm hungry", "I have to pee", or "Why is the baby crying so damn early"...then once I'm up I figure I might as well go make some money. My job doesn't get me up out of bed, other things get me up out of bed, then I just figure I might as well spend my day getting paid.
School was a lot harder when I was taking a class where I already knew most of the information, or knew the test would be easy in terms of what the right answer was. If it was a hard class it was the fear of failing that got me out of bed.
School was also harder in that I had to get up and GO somewhere for class. If I'm having one of those days now where I just don't want to go into work, I just work from home (for me it's usually the 45 minute drive each way that I don't want to deal with rather than the job itself)
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muttleynfelix
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Post by muttleynfelix on Apr 20, 2017 8:31:10 GMT -5
So yesterday was an absolutely brutal day at work. My client said "I can't shame the design team enough for their poor job on this". The funny thing is there were 3 typos/things we should have caught. 3! Only 1 would have caused a problem at bidding. My motivation today to come in was to prove him wrong. To prove we do good work (in fact I caught something worse than anything he caught). Some days it works. That and I'm getting an omelet for breakfast.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Apr 20, 2017 9:46:16 GMT -5
Fear.
My cat will kick my ass if I don't feed her first thing in the morning!
On a more serious note, I'm like a lot of people here who like some structure in their lives as well as goals and a feeling of accomplishment.
One of the hardest transitions for me was when we made that relocation to AZ and I didn't need to work. I realize in hindsight that I should have worked harder on what that transition was going to look like for me. But I think I was so relieved to be out of a toxic work situation that I didn't think about what I would be working toward.
I eventually found a place between my volunteer work and the rentals but there's still that inner critical voice "but you could/should have done more".
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2017 10:04:06 GMT -5
I just realized I have had to get up and take care of horses every single morning for over 30 years with just a few breaks for vacations when someone else filled in. Once you get out of bed and are outside (especially when it's 20 below zero or storming like this morning), you're pretty much up.
The horses are on a pretty set schedule of between 6-8am for morning and 5-7pm for evening. Deviating from that much can cause problems. When I was younger and working a show barn I only had a 30 minute window for my start time. This was 7 days a week, so I was in a robotic routine. I'm a little OCD so not likely to deviate from my schedule too much.
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Miss Tequila
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Post by Miss Tequila on Apr 20, 2017 10:05:25 GMT -5
Fear of poverty keeps me going. While I was never homeless, I know what it is like to wake up in the dead of winter with no heat on in the house because your mom didnt' have money to buy oil that week. nothing like a freezing cold shower when your house is 50 degrees to motivate you to never be poor again. That kept me going when I was working 55-60 hours a week and carrying 15 credits in college. A fear of ever being poor again will forever motivate me in life. It has also fucked me up because in my head I'm still the poor girl trying to make something of herself...baggage never leaves you
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Rukh O'Rorke
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Post by Rukh O'Rorke on Apr 20, 2017 10:43:45 GMT -5
I think I get out of bed and go to work every day out of sheer habit and routine. If I won the lottery and didn't have to work any more, I would have a really hard time re-defining myself. I suspect that transition would be tough for me. I would probably need counseling. I feel so weird. Maybe it would be rough on a lot of people - as having a purpose is important - but they just don't think that it would be a bad thing to suddenly have to never work again to have a life of luxury. I've reached a career stage where even if I won 8 figures, I wouldn't quit working. It's a strange realization. I'm on the cusp of making contributions to my field, perhaps even on an international level. Given the nature of my field and the interaction between the academic and the application, I need to have a job in the field to continue to do this kind of work. While I am still striving for financial freedom, actual retirement is not something I'm really impatient for. Dictating the terms of my work engagement with more options certainly. I've also shifted my focus from organizational advancement to academic contributions. At least for a few years. I actually have a C.V. right now and I am more concerned with adding publications and presentations than job titles. So - I have a mountain of motivation that has nothing to do with money, and I can consider a lot more options when I choose to begin to wind down.
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