Life, Work & Wonder

Tag: working

  • My Love Of Mondays

    For much of my life, I’ve felt genuine relief on Mondays.

    When I was a kid, weekends could be exhausting. Mom and dad were tireless do-it-yourselfers and socializers, and weekends often meant going store to store to store (before Home Depot was a thing) and then night time was often going to their friends’ house for dinner. So Mondays — ESPECIALLY during the summer — I just felt the strongest sense of relief.

    Then at some point I became a parent, and weekends meant play dates, or birthday parties, or various school or kid functions. It was a privilege to spend weekends this way, but also so very demanding in a variety of ways.  So when Monday came I just felt the strongest sense of relief to drop the kids off at school then to just focus on work.

    In recent years, weekends haven’t meant insane schedules so Mondays are less meaningful. Except this past weekend we were so busy (with mostly fun things) going from event to event to event, and today it just felt so wonderful to wake up knowing that it was Monday, the chaos of the weekend is over, and I can start rolling up my sleeves and focus on work while taking a break here and there.

    So (perhaps?) much of the working world dread Mondays. But for me, for much of my life, the irony of Mondays is that yes they mean school or work but in a strange way they also mean freedom. The escape of chaos and back-to-back events and to just focus on the job at hand. Which now that I think about it is why I’ve always strived for careers that provide some level of autonomy, and why I detest workplaces that over schedule internal status meetings. I guess ultimately I just crave some control of my calendar during the weekdays in general and Monday in particular as a mental break of sorts

    So here are to jobs that provide us with some level of autonomy and control. And to weekends. But also to Mondays, when maybe just maybe we regain some control of our lives after hectic weekends.

    Note: Filed happily away in the First World Problems file. How blessed I am to have first world problems like over-scheduled weekends.

  • Life Is Growth Of The Sole (AKA Yesterday’s Perfect Shoes Are Not Today’s Perfect Shoes)

    Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

    In 1997 I found the perfect pair of shoes.

    They were in the window of a small shoe boutique, and for me they were perfect at the time: not too expensive, very comfortable, very fashion forward, and could work with slacks or jeans. I purchased the shoes and wore them nearly every day for two years. I got lots of compliments on them and I loved them.

    In 2003 I found a different pair of shoes that I loved. They were Kenneth Coles and pretty tame in comparison to the shoes I wore in the 1990s. But at the time I was working in Corporate America, in a job that required many hours and my wearing slacks and a dress shirt during those hours, walking many many miles through airports and business centers while working those hours, and my Kenneth Coles were so comfortable they were almost like tennis shoes in a time before people wore tennis shoes with suits. Plus these shoes were easy to polish while watching TV on a Sunday, and had thick soles that made me appear on the north side of six feet (before I lost an inch or two to back issues 🙂 ), and I just loved those shoes so much.

    Today the shoes I love are my tennis shoes. I have a pair of bright Keehus that I loved, and a pair of Chlae Bradley high tops that I also love. Just like my beloved shoes from 1997, I wear them with jeans and I wear them with suits and they are very very comfortable to walk in. And since I have a pair of cloth overshoes I wear in the house, I rarely have to take them off during the day even though our house is a shoeless house (be gone, sidewalk germs!).

    Anyway, for me a good life is a life with personal growth. One where we are continuously evolving, learning, adapting, trying to get better (kinder and wiser). Normally, I strive for growth in the soul. But in this case, it’s growth of the sole 🙂

    I love shoes. I love comfortable shoes, I love fun shoes, I love adaptable shoes, and I love stylish shoes. I’m grateful for the fun (and affordable) shoes I’ve owned over the years.