SiouzQ.
6-25-12, 7:07pm
Hi Folks,
It's been about three weeks already since I started at Wholefoods and I like it! It is very different from what I was doing, of course, but I am finally starting to get over the schedule change and switching from a sedentary, boring job with LOTS of downtime to a job where I am on on my feet and moving all the time. My working life is regulated by a time clock and I am held accountable for lots and lots of things, whereas before at my old job no one really took any responsibility or initiative for anything because to do so would cause the wrath of the elderly owner. I know how to use a meat slicer and can deli slice anything (including very thin proscuitto (sp?). And for an quiet introvert I am exceedingly friendly and chatty with customers. I have also been volunteering to do more prep work for the kitchen. I don't mind chopping up a large crate of brussell sprouts or peeling a giant bag of carrots. The steam and chaos of the kitchen is kind of fun, and I don't even mind the big clean up at the end of the shift. It feels good to be moving. When I get home at 10:45, I am so physically tired it is pretty easy to go to sleep once I wind down.
I don't need an alarm clock to get up in the morning. I have all morning and into the early part of the afternoon to do stuff ~ I take a walk, or play my guitar, work in my little garden, and work on some jewelry, all while I am fresh and rested. Then I go to work around 2 or 3 and work my a** off. The shifts go by so fast: I'm always surprised when I have to be reminded to go on break, or go to dinner.
It took awhile for my physical symptoms from the stress of this big change to settle down ~ I do believe I had an attack of IBS when I started this job out, and felt sick to my stomach the first week or so. I lost my appetite for awhile, probably from being around so much food all the time. My appetite is starting to come back some, but I have lost 9 lbs. since I started the job. I'm taking this opportunity to restructure yet again my eating habits, mainly eating smaller portions as a matter of course (which is something I needed to do anyway) and eating more fruits. This morning I weighed 151, which is almost how much I weighed when I had my daughter twenty years ago! I feel physically really good, and stronger, as I am using muscles I haven't used in a long time. And I am tan from being out in the sun in the mornings and am starting to look more wiry and muscular. All good stuff :)
One down note: my daughter has been in the hospital since Friday night with cellulitis in her left foot. It came on very suddenly; I had taken her out for an early birthday dinner last Friday with her two grandmas, and three hours later she called me from her AA meeting to say she was having a very bad pain in her leg and foot that was getting worse by the minute, and that she couldn't put any weight on her left leg. Her friend thought she was having a blood clot and told her to go to ER. I got her there at 10:30 pm and was there until 4am while they were trying to figure out what was going on. Later on she spiked a fever of 103 so they started her on IV antibiotics, which she is still on. Her foot is terribly swollen but the bright redness is fading, thank god. I am worried about her mental state, as she is getting more and more withdrawn the longer she is in the hospital. She doesn't want any of her AA friends to come and visit, doesn't want to call her sponsor, and is kind of pushing me away. Kudos to her, she has refused any sort of narcotic painkillers, but I am worried about her bi-polar and schizo-affective disorder issues. I have to remember she is twenty now, and I can't mother her (or rather, she won't let me) like I did during her horrible teen years when she was in and out of the hospital on a regular basis with her psychiatric and drug abuse issues. I have to give her her space and it's really hard.
But in the big picture, things are going really well right now and I hope the rest of the summer continues in this vein.
SzQ
It's been about three weeks already since I started at Wholefoods and I like it! It is very different from what I was doing, of course, but I am finally starting to get over the schedule change and switching from a sedentary, boring job with LOTS of downtime to a job where I am on on my feet and moving all the time. My working life is regulated by a time clock and I am held accountable for lots and lots of things, whereas before at my old job no one really took any responsibility or initiative for anything because to do so would cause the wrath of the elderly owner. I know how to use a meat slicer and can deli slice anything (including very thin proscuitto (sp?). And for an quiet introvert I am exceedingly friendly and chatty with customers. I have also been volunteering to do more prep work for the kitchen. I don't mind chopping up a large crate of brussell sprouts or peeling a giant bag of carrots. The steam and chaos of the kitchen is kind of fun, and I don't even mind the big clean up at the end of the shift. It feels good to be moving. When I get home at 10:45, I am so physically tired it is pretty easy to go to sleep once I wind down.
I don't need an alarm clock to get up in the morning. I have all morning and into the early part of the afternoon to do stuff ~ I take a walk, or play my guitar, work in my little garden, and work on some jewelry, all while I am fresh and rested. Then I go to work around 2 or 3 and work my a** off. The shifts go by so fast: I'm always surprised when I have to be reminded to go on break, or go to dinner.
It took awhile for my physical symptoms from the stress of this big change to settle down ~ I do believe I had an attack of IBS when I started this job out, and felt sick to my stomach the first week or so. I lost my appetite for awhile, probably from being around so much food all the time. My appetite is starting to come back some, but I have lost 9 lbs. since I started the job. I'm taking this opportunity to restructure yet again my eating habits, mainly eating smaller portions as a matter of course (which is something I needed to do anyway) and eating more fruits. This morning I weighed 151, which is almost how much I weighed when I had my daughter twenty years ago! I feel physically really good, and stronger, as I am using muscles I haven't used in a long time. And I am tan from being out in the sun in the mornings and am starting to look more wiry and muscular. All good stuff :)
One down note: my daughter has been in the hospital since Friday night with cellulitis in her left foot. It came on very suddenly; I had taken her out for an early birthday dinner last Friday with her two grandmas, and three hours later she called me from her AA meeting to say she was having a very bad pain in her leg and foot that was getting worse by the minute, and that she couldn't put any weight on her left leg. Her friend thought she was having a blood clot and told her to go to ER. I got her there at 10:30 pm and was there until 4am while they were trying to figure out what was going on. Later on she spiked a fever of 103 so they started her on IV antibiotics, which she is still on. Her foot is terribly swollen but the bright redness is fading, thank god. I am worried about her mental state, as she is getting more and more withdrawn the longer she is in the hospital. She doesn't want any of her AA friends to come and visit, doesn't want to call her sponsor, and is kind of pushing me away. Kudos to her, she has refused any sort of narcotic painkillers, but I am worried about her bi-polar and schizo-affective disorder issues. I have to remember she is twenty now, and I can't mother her (or rather, she won't let me) like I did during her horrible teen years when she was in and out of the hospital on a regular basis with her psychiatric and drug abuse issues. I have to give her her space and it's really hard.
But in the big picture, things are going really well right now and I hope the rest of the summer continues in this vein.
SzQ