Gratituesday

I am thankful today for work. You see, I spent some time recently (from July-August) only working one part time job (and I don't have any kids). Let me back up though to better explain why I'm thankful for work.

In high school and college, I was on a warpath...to get things done. I filled every hour of every day with lots of activities, classes, organizational meetings, friend time, etc. I was busy. I thought I was doing something right by filling up every hour of the day. But as a senior in college, when I met my now husband, he had a calmer schedule. He didn't think it was a good idea to fill every hour of the day. Of course, I thought he was just under-achieving. But in fact he taught me a few things. One, it's just fine to get 8 hours of sleep. It's even healthy. Two, it's fine to enjoy a meal...you don't have to rush through the necessary items of the day so you can fit in even more "activities". Three, you don't have to fill your day in order to be successful in life. See, he had a much more balanced approach to his day, week, and life. I slowly started to allow myself to balance my activities more. This didn't happen in a few months. This happened over a few years (ok...maybe 4 years).

In December of last year I finished my thesis for graduate school. What a weight off my back that was. But that's another story for another post. Anyhow, in January this year we started a small business (in relationship matchmaking) that didn't make it. We spent from January to the end of June figuring out that we could not find insurance for a small matchmaking company. Then, with the close of the business, in July I found myself with only 20 hours a week of planned work at my part-time job as a crisis counselor. I realized I did not have a full day of work planned for me as in the past.

And what's worse, I did not feel like I was contributing to our household. Sure, I did some extra cleaning and cooking, but with just the two of us around there is only so much work to be done. I also struggled to make myself do any one thing. I struggled in ways I never thought I would. I wanted to contribute to paying off our debt (especially debt from my student loans), but I could not find a full time job or even a second part-time job. I got down on myself for racking up such major debts as graduate school loans and then not even being able to contribute in what I felt was a "worthwhile" way. For two months my emotions went from "why is this house not sparkling clean when I only work part time" to "I'm worthless for not contributing to our income". It was a slippery slope. I didn't allow myself to feel very good about our clean house since I thought that I should be making a lot of money with my graduate degree instead.

Having so much time on my hands wasn't all bad. There were good days and perks. I was able to work out on a regular basis and I felt great about my body. Which generally led to my husband and I being more intimate. We ate pretty healthy because I was able to prepare and cook healthy meals. I also had time to help babysit my cousins (a 9 and 7 year old and also triplets that are 2) and plan a 50th wedding anniversary for my grandparents.

But, back to why I am thankful for work. At the end of August a former co-worker called me and offered me a job. The job was supervising parental visits for parents that were in jeopardy of loosing their children. I have been working at the job for almost 1 month now. I enjoy being around the kids and I enjoy sharing parenting tips with struggling parents. I enjoy being with others in their moments of difficulty. I am now contributing to our fiances. The income from my second job goes 100% to extra debt payments. So today, on this fine Tuesday, I'm thankful to God for my second job (one that I didn't even have to apply for).