My Short & Sweet Why

From way back when we called it a “quarantine”

Quarantine Day 3(ish) – March 19, 2020

The kids are at the grandparent’s house so that I can work from home during the quarantine.  Grandpa comes over at 7 am to pick them up, and then I stop working at 2 or 3 pm to go bring them home.  

I don’t want to downplay this pandemic, but I do want to look for positivity in it.  And my takeaway for today is: THIS IS THE WORK SCHEDULE THAT I WANT.

600-630: check emails

630-730: play, get the kiddos ready

730-800: 3 mile run

800-900: telecon, plan the day

900-1100: work

1100-1130: lunch, write this

1130-300: work (w/telecon breaks to load laundry, take out trash, etc)

300 – pick up kiddos

So over the course of 9 hours, I will have worked about 7 hours.  But I also got in a workout, played with my kids, and got everything done around the house (so that I can actually play with my kids when they get home!).  Granted, I had worked extra hours this week so that I will be at 40 hours even with this shortened day.  And I will need to do some work over the weekend, so that I can work shortened hours during next week as well.  Not ideal, but we are adapting things to make it work with the new situation and still work full time. 

I would never say I’m passionate about my work. I don’t miss it when I’m on vacation or off for the weekends/evenings. But for the most part, I enjoy what I do!  I don’t hate my job.  The problem is that it doesn’t give me enough time to enjoy the other parts of my life.  Most days I’m just trying to keep my head above water; both at work and then as soon as I get home.  And with an 8 month old and a 2 year old, we don’t get much sleep; so that adds a whole other layer of stress.  And there’s so many things I want to do! But where is the time?

My why is TIME.

Saving my pennies, planning side hustles, being a landlord, pursuing a career I can do remotely at a larger salary, trying to learn as much as I can to maximize financial efficiency….

Why?  I’m not greedy for money.  I’m greedy for my TIME.