Friday, August 14, 2015

What's the Downside to Working Multiple Jobs?

EARLY MORNINGS / LATE NIGHTS. MINIMIZED VISIBILITY. LESS TIME FOR OTHERS. OTHERS' PERCEPTIONS. BURN OUT.

Working multiple jobs and being blessed enough to have more than one job is something that I don't take for granted. I've been lucky enough to find and keep 3 (good) paying jobs that continue to challenge me but still allow me to do things that I want (i.e work other jobs).

When I step back and think about it sometimes, I do realize that working more than one job is somewhat selfish. I'm taking a job away from someone who could possibly need it more than I, and I'm in one way or another hindering others who may need me to be more present at one job because I'm at another. Because I enjoy working my jobs and not disappointing coworkers / supervisors / etc. I try my hardest to make sure I meet or exceed my job expectations. This in return has some drawbacks:

  1. Early Mornings / Late Nights -  Working 40+ hrs / week means that many days start early. This isn't at all terrible to me though because 95% of the time, I'm a morning person. Waking up early (3 am - 5 am) and getting the day started makes me feel good, so it's not a hassle for me to do. What IS hard is waking up early and going to bed late (11 pm or later) THEN doing the exact same thing the next day. Everyone needs a certain amount of sleep to function properly and I don't doubt for a second that I don't regularly get "enough" sleep. From an outside point of view, I don't think many people can tell when I've gotten 4 hrs of sleep vs. when I've had 8+ hrs unless I tell them. I do sleep less then average though. It's just the nature of the game I've chosen to play. Not a good thing, but it's my thing.
  2. Minimized Visibility - I CAN'T SEE. Kidding. This has nothing to do with my eye sight. This is about my physical presence in the workplace. When someone finds out the best way to safely clone a human, please let me know! Until that happens I shall always succumb to the fact that I can't be in two places at once. In turn, when I'm electing to be at job #1 over job #2 on a certain day, my visibility at job #2 is reduced. I miss important changes or people begin to think I'm unavailable, etc. I try to compensate for this by working outside of my scheduled hours for some jobs. This doesn't help with physical visibility though, but it does ensure that my workload doesn't fall onto someone else. 
  3. Less Time for Others - This is the drawback I struggle with most because it effects others. Because I work so much I have less time for others. Less time to spend with others, less time to talk to others...just less. Everyone that knows me and understands why I work multiple jobs is supportive but I know it can be annoying when I can't hang out or attend some event because I'm CHOOSING to work more. While I do choose to work, I don't ever what people to think I'm choosing work over them. My family and friends are extremely important to me so I make an effort to be at most major things, but I do skip somethings or leave early to accommodate my work schedule.  
  4. Others' Perceptions -  This. one. right. here. This drawback is double-sided. I feel bad when people worry how my lifestyle is effecting me. I don't want my decisions to worry anyone else. For example, I know hands down my parents are worried I do too much. Work too much. Workout too much. Awake too much. Every close friend, coworker or supervisor has shared that concern with me at one point or another and I don't want them to make decisions based off of that. On the other side, it's funny (& kind of cool) when people think I'm Super Woman or that I have some special powers, but it's not realistic. SPOILER ALERT: I'm not Super Woman & I have no special powers. I just do what I can to the best of my ability, day in and day out. No fancy recipe. No trick meds / cocktails. Just living life the way I know how.
  5. Burn Out - There are days when I want to quit 1 or more of my jobs. I never do, but for 2-3 min of those days I want to say "DEUCES" and live a simpler life. It happens sparingly but it does happen. I get exhausted. I get REALLY exhausted. I try to refrain from having major meltdowns in public. So far so good. I believe my dad, Brian and a couple close friends have witnessed a burn out meltdown a time or two, but I try to keep those to a minimum. Don't want to have people thinking I'm crazy!! Hah. 
In the end I still do what I do. I've found someway to spin every drawback to some form of a positive so that it doesn't make me feel like I'm a terrible person. I do enjoy my jobs and working them, so for now I shall continue the path I'm on because it sure is an eventful one!!

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