I Need Structure

I've been working full time since I was 20 years old. I worked full time while I finished my BA at UMass/Amherst. I worked full time while I commuted to Boston for my MS in Library Science.

I've almost always had a place where I had to show up at a certain time and stay till a certain time. Or something similar. For 5 years I was a traveling sales representative for the College Division of a major publishing company, so I had to arrive on campus early enough and stay late enough to get a certain amount of work accomplished.

All of the other things I wanted to do had to be fit in before work, after work, or on weekends, so I was pretty tightly scheduled.

Now that I'm not working full time (or any time) and I can set my own schedule, I'm having some trouble doing that. There are very few places I "have" to be at a particular time.

I know that I work better (i.e. am more productive) with a schedule and I'm trying to figure out what works best for me. I know that I prefer to exercise first thing in the morning, so I've been practicing with my Yoga tapes when I first get up. Trouble is, I don't have to be up by any particular time and that kind of throws me off.

For a change, I sometimes walk in the morning, but right now there are too many bugs buzzing around my head to make walking pleasant (although buzzing bugs is certainly motivation to walk fast). When I worked at CMRLS, I walked at lunch time. I mapped out a one-mile route which I walked as fast as I could. The CMRLS location was not very conducive to walking (industrial section of Rte. 20; no sidewalks unless I crossed a busy street). I thought it was ironic that shortly before CMRLS closed, the town began a major street project using federal stimulus money and laid out beautiful sidewalks which were not quite finished by June 30. I would have loved to try them out.

I need to set up my home office. I sorted out the files I want for teaching cataloging workshops. A few days ago I bought some racks for hanging folders to put in the drawers. Now I need to label the hanging folders and put them on the racks. That is on my "to do" list.

Today I received material from the Division of Unemployment Assistance (DUA). My job for the rest of the day is to read through the material to make sure I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do. I don't want to put my payments in jeopardy - but I do want them deposited directly into my checking account.

I also have some other job-search reading material which I want to read and blog about.

The truth is, I've never had much free time and I'm loving just being able to plop myself on the sofa, look at the verdant view through the sliding glass doors, and read mystery after mystery. Considering the heat and humidity there's not much motivation for doing anything else, though I did buy some colorful annual flowers to enhance the view.