After being sick all last week, I targeted Monday (today) as the start of my new non-working schedule. I would attempt to follow the schedule I had put together last week and see if it worked. Well, I did great right up to about 10AM. I sort of made a priority call based on my immediate needs rather than continuing with the ideal “sustaining” schedule I had made. I’m not quite in sustaining mode yet – there are many things I need to do short term that won’t be on the long-term schedule – so I think a great deal of flexibility will be needed for maybe a month. I may also have to adjust my schedule a few times; once I know what really works.
So far what works: Morning Devotionals, reading emails, getting caught up with the world… which has been my routine at work for many, many years. Those things are already established. I then proceeded to “learn something” and exercise. I might need to put exercising earlier or I won’t do it, and perhaps I should move “learn something” to later in the day. Neither item seemed ‘comfortable’ where they were. Truthfully, once I get done with the emails & devotional, I should tear into my most brain-intensive activities of the day because I know I will begin to fade right around 2 PM.
I had scheduled “learn a foreign language” after exercise, but this morning we were out of milk so I started one of my medium-term goals of finding out which food-staples were cheapest where. I shopped at Nob Hill today and gathered “food data” which I then put in a spreadsheet. When I returned, rather than “write something,” I did the very necessary task of moving all my email subscriptions to one of my personal accounts. So many of the services I use send things to my former work email.
I then began canceling services that I won’t need or can’t afford now that, as of today, I am not receiving an income. After I type this, I’ll attempt to bundle all my AT&T services and save money that way. I can hardly wait for PG&E to install their “two-way” meter so I can turn on my shiny, new solar panels (which should save me over a thousand dollars a year!).
I’ve already had a couple of friends attempt to get me into other jobs quickly using the friend network. And while I do appreciate it greatly, I’m in no rush to get back into the corporate life right now, and I’m fairly convinced that I don’t want to return to semiconductors. I want to spend some time trying new things to see where God might want me. At this point in my life, I’m looking for happiness rather than wealth, and low-stress for my health.
Day 8 mood: Focused… on the immediate.