Furlough Day

I like to put my furlough day right smack in the middle of the week.  Two days of work, off in the middle, then two days of work.  At first I wanted to work another job and make up the difference, but then I told myself when will you get another break?  I remember when I graduated from college and couldn't find a job in my field.  I only had an associate degree in Industrial Design, from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, so it wasn't a very useful degree.  I quickly realized that employers were looking for bachelor degrees and found I could finish in Fort Lauderdale, but I needed to work a full year just to save enough money to get there.  That year I was very hard on myself, I took every freelance job I could find, and when I wasn't working, I was despondent about being stuck in Pittsburgh.  I wish I would have used that time to enjoy all the art museums, spend time at the amazing Carnegie library, visit the beautiful parks, and enjoy time with friends.  Instead I remember being so impatient.  I couldn't wait to get a full time job in my field, and then once I did, work hours averaged 50-60 in the first few years!  It finally got down to a manageable 40-45 hours in recent years but it took quite a bit of discipline.  Now I'm paid for 28 hours, which I spread over 4 days.  I do look forward to getting my full hours back some day, but expect it to take a year.  During this time I want to challenge myself to enjoy the time off and not panic about making up the difference.

Today I did the following:

• Worked for one hour preparing consignments for an upcoming spring sale
• Paid bills
• Watered my plants
• Ordered a plant warmer and purple sweet potato slips
• Made cookies for Violette's class
• Took kids to school in the afternoon to spend time with their teachers
• Played Pokemon Go
• Came home, made a latte, did a few dishes, read a book for an hour
• Went to the library which just re-opened this week to check out more books, dad and the kids met me there on their way home from school and we enjoyed browsing together
• Wrote this blog post

In the first month I would have a huge amount of anxiety on every furlough day, but lately I've been feeling happier and more relaxed.  I thought I might spend more time working on the house, but I think what I need is a few more relaxation days like today.