Balancing Life

Tomorrow is a monumental day for me.  I am starting a new job.  I feel like that's a pretty big event in anyone's life.  New place.  New people.  New routines.  Wondering if my lunch box will be hip enough.  Trying to figure out what style of scrubs all the cool kids wear.  You know, it's important stuff.


But it's even bigger for me because it means that I will no longer be working mainly evenings, weekends, and holidays. I will actually be at work when the rest of my family is at work and school.  It's a good thing, yes, because I can be home when the rest of my family is home.  And I'll be working full-time.  None of this part-time stuff anymore.  (Sniff, sniff.)  Working full time "office" hours is something that I haven't done for a long time.  Not since I was in college.  (And trust me, that seems like a very, very long time ago.)

So not only will I have to figure out how to manage my way through a normal 9-5 day, I'll have to deal with daycare drop-offs, traffic, waking up earlier than I want to...  But I will also have to figure out how to get my daily exercise in.

And that, my friends, is one of my biggest dilemmas.

I am not a morning person.  I would stay up until after midnight every night if I could.  Gary gets so tired of saying, "We should really go to bed, Deby," that most nights he just gives up on me and either falls asleep on the couch or goes up to bed without me.  Going to bed before 10pm is... well, insane.  I lay in bed wishing that I was tired and could fall asleep, but I just can't.  So thinking about doing this one thing is difficult.  But, I think it might be my only option.

I'm going to have to wake up early and exercise before I go to work.

I don't know if I can do it.

I know other people do it.  In fact, I read a blog post just today about someone who is training for the olympic marathon trials.  She gets up at 4AM to run.  4AM!  Now that's commitment. (Not happening, EVER for me.)  So I guess I'll give it a try and see how it goes.  It's worth a shot, I guess.  I can wake up at 5:30am and exercise if she can get up at 4am and run 15 miles, right?  (Of course, she's so fast that she's back home before I've even rolled out of bed!)

Sheesh, I'm telling you.  This whole Monday-Friday, 9-5 stuff sure is sounding like it's not all it's cracked up to be.