Working Through the Workout

There are days when I am very envious of my friends with 9-5 jobs. This week has been three of those days in a row.

I really like my job - love my boss and my team...but I have this problem. For most of my career, I have worked for small companies. I have learned that working for a small company means my #1 most important task is "all other duties as assigned." My official title is "Director of Operations: Baltimore Office." My primary job is to make sure the call center, which I launched a year ago, is running smoothly, 18 hours a day. My "office" hours are "supposed" to start at 10...but the call center doesn't close until 4am...so I rarely actually get "off."

I've worked everywhere. Doctor's offices. My brother's wedding. My best friend's wedding. Bed. Hospitals. Parking lot at church (would have been in church - but I leave my phone in the car). During my kids' assorted sporting events. During movies...my favorites shows...school functions. You get the idea. I am hard pressed to remember a workout that wasn't interrupted by work.

Sometimes it is just a text message here or there - sometimes it is a phone call. Sometimes, I actually need to leave the gym because the fixes aren't going to be quick ones. There is no one else who does exactly what I do - which means I'm "on call" for all but 6 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There are days when I don't know how to maintain a balance between my job, my family and myself. I took this job in November 2013 on a part-time basis. It was a major adjustment for me. I had worked from home for years and it was strange being in an office again. It caused a shift in the delicate balance of our household. Once I started to get the hang of it, my youngest child started school and I was suddenly working full time. I felt pressure. Pressure to be in the office. Pressure to be on call. Pressure to be carpool mom. Pressure everywhere! As the PIC can tell you - this turned me into a raging beast. I was legitimately miserable.

Finally, the PIC sat me down and gave me the hard truth. I wasn't fun to be around anymore. Not for him, not for the kids...I just wasn't pleasant. I had to regroup - for everyone's sake. I had to regroup, refocus and reevaluate where I was headed. It didn't take me long to realize what I had to do - I had to make ME and MY FITNESS a priority. I will rearrange my work schedule to take my children to their doctor appointments, cheer practice, hockey practice, dance class...I'll make sure that they get fed. Why do I not do the same thing for myself?

I had the realization that by letting my health and fitness fall to the wayside, I am setting a craptastic example for my children. Not only am I way more grumpy when I don't have my stress relief - I want them to grow up in a world where fitness is a given...not something they need to "work on," like me.

So - I decided that my last cohesive thought of the day should be about tomorrow's workout. Every night, I need to plan the when and what of my work out for the next day. I make sure that I am planing a 2 hour workout in between conference calls and kids activities and carpool pick ups. If that means that I have to work until midnight to make sure my work gets done...well, I would be working until midnight anyway!

Since decided to make my fitness journey a priority, I find myself much happier. I yell less. I smile more. Shitty days sometimes result in a second workout. (Like tonight). Those second workouts change my mood for the better pretty much every time. Yes - both of today's workouts were interrupted by SEVERAL work related text messages and phone calls. Yes, I had to hop off of the treadmill to take a call from the rep who needed help with a customer. But at the end of the day - I got it all in. I'm a full time Mom, a full time Director of Ops...but I am also a full time Kris...and that has to be a priority before I can be good at anything else.