Into The Sunshine

It's a beautiful day, but I'm tired and my head feels groggy. I wanted to stay in bed, surrounded by my fluffy down comforter and pillows, but that's just because I have a million things to do today, and I don't want to face any of them. I have to write a brief, go to Home Depot, and maybe go to Storage. The errands could be fun, but having to write a brief while the whole world is enjoying the sunshine outside just sucks. All I want to do is have a picnic outside and read a book. Damn stupid weekend work. I hate living to work.

As an aside, I made some progress yesterday in my months long quest to change. I applied for a job. It's with a non-profit engaged in women's rights litigation. It might be pretty awesome, although you never know. I had been putting off applying to other places, in part because of all the moving and relationship chaos that had been absorbing for the last couple months, but also because I'm a little afraid that once I got into what was supposed to be my ideal job, maybe I wouldn't like it. That thought, or fear, has been holding me back from applying. I've found some jobs, but none of them seemed perfect, and I didn't want to risk that I would get the job, take the job, and then find out that I didn't like it. What about if I liked it less than my current horrendous position? That would be terrible, if another job made the one I have now look good, and made me wish I had just stuck it out a little longer.

But yesterday, I suddenly realized what I was doing to myself. It dawned on me that ANYTHING would be better than my current position. I wake up with a stomach ache almost every day that I have to go to work. Once Sunday comes, I start feeling ill because the weekend is gone and Monday is coming. No matter what job I do next, it will have to be better than this one. But the thing is, I don't just want a job that's a little better than the one I currently have. I want a great job. I want a job that will inspire, challenge, and fulfill me. One in which I can learn a great deal, contribute to social change, and feel proud of the contribution I am making each day.

In addition, a small part of my hesitancy is the money. I would be happy making very little money if I was doing something I trully loved. However, I would not be happy to have a left this job, and the pot of money attached to it, for a job in which I feel like I still am not doing what I love or what I am supposed to be doing. And it's hard to tell what the position will be like from the outside.

Despite all the over-thinking, yesterday something resolved itself inside of me, and I decided that I needed to start applying. If I stay in this inertia, worrying about what the future will be like, I'm going to wake up a few years from now and still be in this same firm, in this dissatisfied state. That's not how I want to live my life. It's too short for that. Plus, we have expert discovery coming up at the end of May in my big-case-that-will-never-ever-go-away. I view expert discovery the same way I view being drawn and quartered over a bed of flaming coals while your finger nails and toe nails are pulled off with pliers - a fate worse than death. And it's coming. I've been dodging and avoiding to the best of my ability, but my time is running out. Even as soon as next week, I might get yanked back into that world. I can feel the anxiety building in my chest just thinking about it.

But getting back to lazing around in bed. Lying in bed is an escapist tactic bound to fail, because ultimately, if I stay in bed the only thing I will accomplish is making myself feel worse about all the things I need to do and still haven't. Raj tried charmingly and admirably to explain this to me before he left to go for a run outside along the Hudson River. He's very impressive like that. He's disciplined, sticks to his work out schedule, does what he wants pretty much all the time, and almost never gets depressed, down, or overwhelmed. We are so different like that.

Although the day is gorgeous, I couldn't quite bring myself to go running outside. I love being outside, and I love the sunshine, but I'm not a fan of enjoying it through running. I prefer to get my runs completed on treadmills in concrete, manageable doses. On a treadmill you can push yourself and run as hard and for as long as you want and know that you will still end up in the exact same place you started. It's motivating because you only have something to gain by pushing yourself to go harder. Whereas, when you run outside, who knows what could happen? I could start running, get exhausted, have to stop, and then be miserable because I've ended up too far from home. The whole idea of that happening is discouraging and makes me tired just thinking about it.

So now, I have some choices. I could indulge in my desire to procrastinate and push off the world and stay here, have some breakfast and watch some mindless TV, I could go running at the gym and make mysel feel proud, stronger, and better, or I could go do yoga at noon, which would also make me feel like I had accomplished something good for my body and mind. Watching TV, or even reading a book, is probably not the best action. It would be disappointing, and not healthy, and I'm trying to be more healthy. To eat better and to start working out regularly. It's just so damn hard sometimes. Especially when you feel exhausted.

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Raj just came home. It seems I took up my gym time blogging. Oops. And now it's noon, and the sun is really shining, and now I definitely don't want to work (and I definitely don't want to go the gym - the day is wasting away!). At least not just yet. I'm thinking brunch, coffee, and laying out on a blanket down at Chelsea Piers with my book, "Knife of Dreams." I can spare a few hours for that, and I can go running tomorrow. Time to have a shower and wake up.