Welcome to Small Steps to Health where we do not take orders from a cookie!
“Good fortune is not cause by chance, but by change.” — that saying from my fortune cookie two weeks ago sealed my fate at my current position. Looks like I am the politic pawn that got transferred to another position so that my department could show on paper that they are cutting expenses. If you are a new reader, you would not have known that I just got transferred in my current position last summer.
I wish I have known about this decision before I brought my house because the daily 1.5 hour commute of this new position vs the current 20 minutes commute is a colossal change to my life. I really like my house and the neighborhood, but not enough to spend all that time sitting in traffic.
My last post on how my desk job is akin to sleeping while awake is a prime example of how our modern living environment is hazardous to our health. Baring exposure to carcinogenic substances, it is the modern daily activities such as commuting, TV watching, or internet browsing that is going to kill us in the long run. And when you throw in the time crunch all of us feel, we have people relying on convenient and fast food that have gigantic amounts of sodium, high fructose corn syrup, and white flour. This is a recipe for a health care disaster waiting to happen.
The only fix is a conscious effort to live healthy. And this includes eating healthy and exercising the majority of the time. But living healthy requires time to prepare home cook meals and exercising, which gets chipped away with commuting and shuttling the kids to their various activities. Truthfully, if ever given the chance, I would like to only work 6 hours a day. Based upon my observation of the workplace environment, even the most productive member is only working 6 hours on an 8 hour workday.
I have no idea when the drive to excel in my chosen career became dim in comparison to having more free time away from the office. Maybe is the fact that I am thinking about starting a family. That is why we use the term, “mommy track,” when we describe women working part-time with young children.
Or maybe it is the realization that a promotion, though means more pay, also comes with much more responsibilities. There is a reason why I have been sitting at the assistant engineer level with an engineering license for almost a year now without any appearance of seeking a promotion.
Whereas, my male colleagues cannot wait to pass the state engineering exam and are actively probing for vacant associate engineer positions within the agency. It is ironic to me that management are dangling that promotion possibility carrot in front of me for this new position they want me to fill. Sometimes that is just how the cookie crumbles.
Until next time and thanks for stopping by Small Steps to Health.
Commuting photo by: Peter Kaminski.
Fortune cookie photo by: Robert Couse-Baker.
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You have a wonderful attitude. That’s really rough to get moved around so much.
@Sagan – The only thing I can control is my reaction to the world around me. Since I cannot control events such as the rain or this job transfer, I would still have to go whether I am cheerful or unhappy. Might as well leave with a little bit of dignity. After weeping a little bit to my husband about being voted off the island, I can only return to work and put up a good front. Besides, what might seem like the end of the world might only be the beginning. It is nice to live long enough to understand that disappointment is normal, but it is not going to last forever.
Thanks for the comment Sagan.
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