Blind Spots

Earthen brown feathers

Span the wings of the falcon

Soaring down below.

 Tuesday, January 11, 2022

 There is an old expression that goes, “For every dark cloud there’s a silver lining”. I’m a believer in opposites, with the opposite of that expression being, “For every ray of sunshine there’s a going to be a blind spot.” This is a blind spot story.

 Like many of you, I’ve struggled with resource allocation trying to balance work with leisure. Leisure for me being predominantly running, cycling and hiking.

 For most of my life, and like many of my generation, that meant working a 9-5. Well, close enough in my case, as an elementary school teacher I did have 3 months off per year, but the job wasn’t exactly punch the clock on your way out and your done either. But my hours were also a little slanted being more like 6-3 which allowed me enough decent light in the afternoons to get outside and get a decent work out in.

 Although I was doing reasonably well at my chosen sports, it wasn’t easy, and I always dreamed that someday I would be in a situation that would allow me both the time and income to focus on my athletic goals.

 In the past few months, I finally have been working the work schedule I thought would allow me that opportunity.

 How did this come about?

 After retiring from teaching 5 years short of a full pension I needed another source of income. During the past four years I have been working full-time at a prestigious wellness center. My schedule originally had me working four days per week. An improvement over teaching, but still not ideal. But a few months ago, an opportunity arose that would allow me to work a straight 54-hour shift. I persistently began to persuade my supervisor of the benefits of this schedule and to my delight she agreed. My new schedule now has me working a straight 54-hour shift from Saturday morning until Monday afternoon. With the bonus that my supervisor is willing to allow me the occasional Saturday morning off to compete.

 At the time I thought I finally had the ideal work shift as it would provide me the income to indulge in travel, the equipment I prefer, and the time off I need to train and recover.

 This, as it seems with all of life, has only turned out to be partially true as those rays of sunshine have produced a few blind spots.

 I expected it to be strange to be away from home all weekend, but Kimme does work with me on Sunday morning. But here’s the blind spot… I really miss our dog, Luna, a lot.

 Another blind spot relating to doing two overnights in a row is that when I had only one overnight shift, I never slept well. But I thought with back-to-back overnights, at least during the second night I’d get a decent night’s sleep. That hasn’t happened, so now I’m not sleeping two nights in a row which, to my surprise, has not seemed to affect my work performance to date. But I’m not keen on playing the Russian roulette sleep routine much longer as my job, on Monday morning, after two nights of very little sleep, requires that I transport a large group of guests down Yerba Buena, a very windy road to get us to our destination.

 On the bright side, the shift in hours has been a boon to my athletic ambitions. Though still not ideal, on my four and a half days off I do now have a schedule that provides me with the time to work out pretty strenuously while still having plenty of time to put me feet up rest and relax.

 Though even with that there have been a few blind spots to contend with. One is that I that I thought I would be able to do strength work twice a week, once Monday afternoon when I get home from work and again on Wednesday. So far that hasn’t happened as I’ve just haven’t been able to force myself to workout on Mondays after my long shift.

 Secondly, I thought working the long weekend would improve my diet. Given that I work at a wellness center that is known for its very delicious, nutritious, and low-calorie cuisine, I figured sticking to that diet would keep me on the right path to maintaining my ideal weight. But, just like most offices, there is a decent amount of junk food always being brought in and to date I have not had the discipline to refrain from indulging. And now that my hours are all strung together, I find that I’m grazing on that junk a lot more than I use to. So again, there’s another blind spot to deal with.

 However, as it’s still pretty early on into what I consider the best work shift I could ask for outside of being independently wealthy, I still have hope I’ll end up sleeping and eating better and I’m also resolved to getting my workout schedule fixed.