ot madness...

Sitting my cubicle day in and day out…I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. Don’t get me wrong, there’s always a lot of stuff going on at work, but there’s always thoughts going through my head. One of my prime frustrations these days is the overtime. The sheer volume of OT is enough to make one shudder. When I tell people how much work I do, all they do is look at me like I’m lying. I’m not. The fact that the OT dominates most of whatever little free time I have, has quickly become the most apparent externality of work. It’s affected many avenues of my life, such as church and fellowship time, time with my family, bum time (time I spend bumming around), and errand time.

I can’t begin to express the frustration that has arisen from doing so much work. First of all, most of my friends label me as a workaholic, which I’m not. Workaholics like their job enough to want to be there constantly. It would take the Budweiser Clydesdales to drag me into work if I don’t have to be there. Secondly, those days when I have to work till 11pm and go home to sleep only to have to come back in at 7 the next morning can get aggravating. I don’t understand how it can be expected for any sane person to do that and not go nuts. I’d like to have to work/life balance where I can effectively get things done, but at the same time be able to go biking after work, or catch an episode of House, or be able to go to see a movie on a Tuesday. Luxuries like that are exceedingly rare these days. Lastly, I’d like to be able to meet up with people, whether it’s after work or during lunch. I’ve had to cancel on a few people during the week because I’m either stuck at work or can’t get out of a meeting. It’s been months since the last HH, months since the last Temple pumpkin muffin run, and at least a week since the last successful coffee email. The simple pleasures in life, that human interaction with friends, where I can meet with people and catch up, is slowly dying away. This isn’t what I expected, coming into the workplace.

In Acacia, when we did a series on time management, I felt especially self-conscious. How can I lead a bible study on good vs. bad time management when I can’t even get it together? God is good. He uses the defective, the weak, the poor, the meek, and the weak-willed for His glory. I am definitely not the poster-child for good/effective time management, but God can use anyone He chooses, no matter how flawed, to demonstrate His power, His presence, and His provisions. God is good, and I know that I’m in the situation I’m in right now, because that’s where He has placed me, for His greatest glory is my greatest good.