New Job, Getting Back into Routine

Last week was incredibly stressful.  I had my last 3 days at the law firm, and my first 2 days at the new company.  And along the way I had 3 nights of working until 4 am, 1.30 am, and 10 pm to wrap up the old job, just in case there was a remote chance that I would have the tiniest bit of energy to start my new job. 

And yes, I was the last person out of the office Wednesday night, as usual.  I had previously made arrangements to hide my laptop with the tech team and left my calling card and security pass under the door of my associate manager so there was nothing left in my office.  Nothing, that is, other than a dotted outline on my desk where my candy machine used to be.  The candy machine may be mourned more than me at the end of the day - I hear that people have been "crabbypants" since I left, and I suspect it's a result of chocolate withdrawal.

The transition was literally hellish and after pushing to complete as much as I did before I left I am completely ready to leave that place and never look back.  Every time I think about the work I was doing I thank god that I am gone.  Perhaps I was just burned out, which is not surprising, all things considered.

The new job is good, so far.  It is of course incredibly stressful to start in a new place where I don't know any of the people or processes or traditions or unwritten rules, and no one knows me or what I can do.  In some ways that's good - no baggage.  But in other ways it's not good, because I have no goodwill on which I can trade.

There is also the issue of not having any of my old tools or routines - - I don't know how to access servers, my iPad is not hooked up to the system, I don't have a way to remotely access my email, my laptop internet connection is hinky from home, and I have no connection to printers yet.  All of these are just fussy system things that will get resolved over the next week or so, but for now, these are irritations that make it harder for me to do my job.

  

This week I need to try and learn as much as I can in the next 2 days before my predecessor leaves for Atlanta again, and I need to try and integrate myself into the department and the system.  And most importantly, as Col. Hadfield notes in his book An Astronaut's Life, I need to try and be a zero in the immediate short term - - not try to make my mark too soon, and try not to screw anything up.  Just float in the middle there with my eyes and ears open until I can get my bearings.  

The people at the new place are very nice, and everyone is working in the same direction, which is a pleasant change.  The offices (shown in the photos) are pretty new and clean and uniform, which means that a lot of my tchotchkes and photos and diplomas from the old office are not going into my new office - - I can't have anything on the walls other than 1 piece of approved corporate art.  My office carpet is another casualty to the new design esthetic, and it will need to stay at home for the foreseeable future.  Thankfully, the candy machine is more than welcome in the new office.

The new company really values wellness and health and has lockers and showers in the office for people who want to bike to work - - fantastic.  There is a super duper pop machine that dispenses water, ice, and juices for free.  It is great, and it has really bumped up my water consumption during the day.  And let's not forget bathroom breaks as a result - - another source of steps during the day, because the washroom is at the other end of the floor.  As a final innovation, my office has a standing desk, so I can work standing up and reduce some of the sitting I do in a day.  There's even a cushy rubber floor pad to help reduce leg fatigue.  The rubber mat is great, but I have picked up a couple of pairs of comfortable loafers to replace my stylish but painful heels just in case.

This past week has been a virtual dead loss from a workout routine point of view.  Between the mother of all colds and 3 ridiculously late nights at the old firm and 2 welcome lunches at the new firm, I have been eating out far more than usual and exercising less than usual.  I was still able to lose a pound and a half, though, which gives me hope for this week. 

Today was a holiday so the Nerd and I were able to sleep in slightly while still doing full workouts.  I am still fighting the lingering effects of this damn cold so it was not easy to do my weights today (I feel weak as a kitten), but I was really glad to get back to a solid 90+ minute workout like I used to do.  Tomorrow will be all-elliptical, all the time, so I need to brace myself for a nice long cardio session.  I should be even better tomorrow, though, so it should not be too difficult.  I am starting to feel better (ever so slowly), and last night was the first truly good night's sleep I have had in almost a week - - I needed that!

The Nerd and I also took a little walk to the new office today to bring more binders into my office.  It's a nice 12-15 minute walk each way, and when we went there it was nice and sunny.  I wanted my office to be as ready as possible so that I could hit the ground running tomorrow when the fun and games really begin.

The balance of today will be homework - a packaging opinion as well as basic research into advertising and packaging law as a refresher.  No time like the present to try and make it easier to get up to speed.  

Oh, how quickly routines become a scramble...!

Photo courtesy of J. Ludwick, licensed CC-BY-NC

It's days like this that really test my ability to follow a plan.

People who have been reading my blog might have noticed that I am something of a creature of habit (I am aware of the understatement in that sentence, thank you very much).  I get up between 5 am and 6 am and test my blood pressure and blood sugar, then I work out on the elliptical machine, weigh myself, and get ready for work.  I will eat breakfast either at home or at the office, but I will usually have fruit and yogurt, and then I will eat lunch and dinner at the office.   Lunch and dinner are usually comprised of delicious leftovers courtesy of the Nerd, who pre-packages individual meal sized servings of everything on the weekend, ready for the taking during the following week.  I will get home sometime between 9pm and midnight, and I will fall immediately in to bed, where I will read for a bit on my iPad.  If I am very lucky, I will not fall asleep whilst holding the iPad over my head, as that's a quick route to a shiner (don't ask me how I know this). 

I may be an unpredictable glamourpuss in my mind, but the reality is that I am actually pretty predictable.  And that predictability is comforting as I continue on this journey, because it means that I have a routine I can trust to keep me a) exercising 6x/week; b) eating 3 meals per day; and c) eating a manageable number of calories in the range of 1800-2000 per day. 

Predictability goes out the window when I pull an all-nighter.

Last night I was working on discovery answers and a licensing agreement until 2:30 am, and I didn't get into bed until 3 am.  When my alarm went off at 5:30 am I actually got up and tested my blood sugar, but I did not test my blood pressure, or weigh myself, or get on the elliptical - - I was too tired, and I needed to be in the office for 8:00 am for a practice group meeting this morning.  I made an executive decision to try and get at least 4 hours sleep, and left my house with 35 minutes to spare before the meeting.  I did not work out this morning, because working and getting 4 hours of sleep do not go together when you are recovering from an all-nighter.

Trying to squeeze in extra sleep meant that my morning routine was incredibly rushed and I had no time to waste.  When I am cutting things fine like that, I depend on the provisions set up for the routine, because - - trust me - - I don't have time to prepare from scratch.  It was a relatively quick and easy matter to get my yogurt and berries for breakfast (I ate them in the meeting, which was fine because it was a breakfast meeting).  But the only way I had anything close to a decent lunch and dinner is because the Nerd had prepacked so much stuff on Monday night.  If I did not have a fridge full of leftovers, already organized into perfect servings, I would not have had any time to prepare lunch and dinner, and my eating plan for the day would have been put into jeopardy. 

As it was I am a little low in calories and I am having to fill some of the gap with a skinny cow brand ice cream sandwich tonight.  (It's a tough life, I know...!)

I will need the calories when I get home because I still have to do my elliptical workout this evening (!).  I have not missed a workout in 15 weeks, and I will be damned if I am going to let one little all-nighter cause me to miss one now, no matter how tired I am.  Plus, if I skip today, I will just have to work out Saturday morning to make up the time, and I would prefer to sleep in on the weekend.  

So my schedule went from boring and predictable to wild and chaotic all in the space of one day, simply because of the all-nighter. 

If this had occurred three or four months ago, I would have simply skipped breakfast and ignored the food in my house because I would not have had time to prepare anything.  There certainly would not have been a fridge full of fruit and yogurt and vegetables and other healthy choices, let alone pre-packed meals.  I would have ordered some dinner to be delivered in the evening, but that would have likely put me well below 1200 calories for the day, and probably all the wrong kinds of calories, to boot.

It is easier to succeed once you get on a program of regular exercise and healthy eating.  Just having the good stuff in the house takes a lion's share of the problems out of the equation.  The routine gives structure and predictability, making it easier to plan and execute the plan.  On a day like today, when I had to make snap decisions about food and I had to reschedule exercise, it was my familiarity with the plan that made it possible.  I didn't have to spend 10 minutes staring into the abyss of the fridge, because I knew ahead of time what I was going to eat.

I am not good enough at this whole lifestyle thing, or disciplined enough (yet) to go free range and stop tracking my food.  But this minor all-nighter induced blip in the program has convinced me more than ever that I am on the right track.  If a little sleep deprived.