You know what I love? Going to the doctor for, say… oh anything, and getting tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
What are your symptoms? Oh, you say you're tired? OK, Trampy McTramp, here's your bloodwork slip and try not to touch anything on the way out.
So a big life change that has just happened is… (drum roll)… I've left my job. I really liked the people I worked with and I hope to work with them again in the future. But the job was fairly demanding and I felt like I was being pulled in way too many directions and doing none of them well. The stress/time management issues were outweighing the moolah, especially considering after such a big chunk went to self-employment taxes.
Not only have I left my job but we made the decision that I would take some time off for a while, too. Time to concentrate on family and other things, writing being one of them.
This is kind of huge for me because I've never not worked. (Well, except for when I was pregnant and was so ill I actually had to quit a job that I had just gotten. That still bugs me.) I've worked part-time for the last few years, but even then it was always work part-time AND go to school, work at night AND raise a kid. Before I had Chance I was working start-up hours and at times, held two jobs.
I admit to floundering around a bit those first few days after the work stopped. Didn't know what to do with myself.
(And who am I kidding? I'll probably still end up taking side projects. Type A is an addiction.)
Anyway, I figured maybe I would start to feel a little less tired what with my new lifestyle of bon-bons and leisurely pursuits. Right? Nope, still totally tired. I had my visit with the rheumatologist this week, checking on arthritis and general decrepitude. There could be some type of arthritis starting, it could be fibromyalgia… oh, and it could also be hepa-fricking-titus b, you dirty little girl.
OK. Without revealing too many intimate details, my sex life has been WAY less interesting than warrants the number of STD tests I've been given.
Stubbed your toe? Let's give you a gonorrhea test. Sore throat. Let's HIV that sucker.
The only explanation I can think of is that elves must have tattooed "slutty" across my forehead as I slept.
And I know the doctors are trying to be nice but it doesn't make things any easier when they (always!) try to gently explain, "You know sometimes things happen with just that ONE night…"
Yeah, haven't had any one-nighters.
SHOCKER!
– the weird "no risk factors" girl
P.S. No offense to any Hep-B positive people out there. I know it's not always about sex or needles.
I get that. Every OB appt they’re trying to test me for another STD that I’ve never been tested for…because apparently everyone the world has had lots of sex. With lots of people.
And when I tell them that my husband is the only man I’ve slept with, they’re all like “well, uh, hmmm…we’ve never had that before”.
That’s hilarious! I had a similar experience in April, 2003. It was the only time in my life when I lost too much weight. I’m 6’3″, so I can carry alot. But in three years, I had gone from 339 to 178. My doctor was even more alarmed than I. He tested me for everything, including H.I.V., but nothing showed positive. Then I realized what had happened. I explained to him that in the last three years (which were the happiest of my life, a great spiritual awakening) I had been eating less and less at meals–so that now I was full after eating a slice of bread and a glass of milk. He told me to eat whatever I wanted, to get my weight back up. I wish to God I hadn’t have taken him so seriously–I began eating a half-gallon of ice cream a day! What’s worse–I had given away all my “fat clothes” during that spiritual awakening, and soon I needed them again. And I still need them!
The only time I’ve not had a job myself (second year of college), I ended up getting worse grades. All that time to study and yet, all that “free” time to go hang out in pubs and go to gigs.
This is why I’m afraid to be self-employed. Really.
But would love to have more free time for writing. Though knowing me, I’d squander it away. Sigh. I’ll never grow up.
I stopped working for the first time in my life 9 months ago and i will never forget those first weeks. For the first time in my life I was not stressed, not anticipating a deadline. I had time-off, but even then I would check my work email, anticipate what I will walk into on Monday….You probably will pick up a million side projects soon. I did at first, but I am a recovering Type A – learning to say no and really embrace staying at home with my child. Good luck and enjoy!