New Shift Adjustment Takes Some Time

As I mentioned in my last post I started a new full time work shift last week. Also wrote that I knew working those longer and different hours would take some adjustment. Little did I know that it would take almost a week.

For the first few days after I started the 3:30 to Midnight shift at my job I found myself sleeping about 2 hours later than I had been before. This is a no brainer since I am going to bed 2-3 hours later than I had been. What really surprised me was how tired I was even after I woke up. I had no energy at all. I was sleepy all day.

The other thing that bothered me was the limited amount of time I got to spend with my wife. If I woke up during the time she was getting ready for work we would have a few minutes to spend together and talk. During the day our only contact was over the phone. When I got home from work she was already in bed. This was very lonely for me at first. I had really gotten used to spending a lot more time with her over the past year.

Also, prior to going full time I had gotten myself into a habit of accomplishing a list of activities and chores before I went to work or when I got home. Remember I was getting home about 9PM when I worked during the week so I had some time to get some thing done before hitting the hay. I had grown to like the sense of accomplishment as I crossed items off my daily "to do" list with regularity. Going back to full time work on the middle shift changed that.

The overwhelming lethargy during the first few days at home kept me from getting anything done. When I got home from work around 12:30 or 1AM I only wanted to relax before going to bed. I ended each day with something I've come to despise; a feeling that I hadn't gotten anything done that day.

I decided to credit this lack of energy to the way my body and mind were going to react to the new shift. I had to give myself a little bit of time before my internal clock would make the adjustment. That change was also aided by the fact that this past weekend I had 2 days off in a row. I allowed myself to catch up on some sleep and basically took it easy the entire 2 days. I also reconnected with my wife one my life's greatest treasures.

The only things I did this weekend were: On Saturday I went to the church to gather some materials for the people who were going to teach Children's Church in March. On Sunday I went to the Sunday morning church service and went and had dinner with my family at my sister in laws house.

Now it's Wednesday and so far this week I've started to get back to my positive habits. I've washed some dishes and laundry, ran some errands here in my little town; paid some bills and up dated some of our financial records, and did some grocery shopping. Today on my day off I went to the church and recorded another of my Rewind programs from tape to CD . Nothing very spectacular but at least they were accomplishments.

I believe I'm well on my way to getting back it the habit of getting things done again. Of course the fact that I'm doing things now has to adjust to making sure that I'm doing the right things. Studying God's word; praying; writing and practicing my ventriloquism; exercising on a daily basis seem to be the most important things I need to start doing as my top priorities every day.

I know this has been a very self absorbed post with nothing but writing about me and things that are really no big deal to anyone but me. But hey its what's on my mind because it's been happening in my life.

I do want to mention that this past Monday was my nephew, Bobby's 17th birthday. I called him up and talked to him on his birthday but I really wish I could have been there to celebrate more. One of the things I miss the most about living away from my family in PA is not being able to be a part of my niece, nephew and great nieces & nephew's lives like I was with their parents. As I've told my best friend, Brent, on several occasions; I'm probably not a very good father but I've always been a great uncle.