Musings of a Working Professional

Life as a working professional is invigorating and draining at the same time. 5 days a week of corporate life is tough and yet there are good days of productivity and satisfaction. Of course, I am very grateful to God for my job and all the benefits it offers to me. But on the flip side, there are long working days, tight deadlines, and tiring commutes to work.

And before you know, you are sucked into the daily humdrum of life. Sometimes I am too busy to notice anything as I am keen to reach work on time. Or by the time I reach home after work, I would simply prefer to retire to bed.

But it’s in this busyness of life that I find the joy of slowing down and gaining a better perspective of the world around me. There are a couple of things I do to keep myself focused as a single working Christian.

Being Connected
No matter what folks feel about this, I have experienced the blessing of beginning every day with God. I know for me to do that means hitting the sack early so that I am refreshed and eager to meet God through His word and prayer. There are days when I am tired and my mind is heavy with other things. But the moment I begin reading His word, it helps to get my mind off myself (for once) and focus on the majesty and immensity of my God. It really helps to prepare for the day and pray for the things ahead of me.

Being Available
As a single working woman, I have the blessing of being available in church and to my family and friends. That means helping my family or friends in times of need. I remember many years of babysitting my friends’ kids over the weekends. Of course, I had the option of enjoying time with my single friends. But it was such a neat opportunity to serve and not be selfish with my time.

Being Fit
My work forces me to sit in front of the computer for hours. And what better way to break that sedentary life than to exercise! Exercise for me is either walking in the morning, or hitting the gym in the evening. And I add cycling and swimming to my list of activities.

Being Adventurous 
I have just started travelling to places and I cannot begin to tell you the benefits of it. I mean, if you are working so hard, it does help to unwind by visiting new places and experiencing life in a totally different manner. It has helped me to keep in touch with friends and I am able to appreciate the simple blessings of life.

Being Generous
I think it’s easy to fall into the temptation of being miserly with your time and money. I have struggled a bit when it came to being generous with my time with people. I am not very good with interruptions and lack flexibility in my schedules. But I have personally experienced the joy of meeting friends and spending time with them when I would have preferred to read a book at home. Same holds true for money. Experience the thrill of spending on others, whether it is paying for lunches or coffee or buying gifts. Trust me, life as a hoarder is no good!

These are some of the things I do to keep the balance of my work life. What are some of yours? I’d love to hear them.   

Tea Breaks

My favorite time of the day at work is the tea break. Not the one where you have tea near the water cooler with your colleagues and chat. This is when you are in the middle of work and you sip hot tea all the while staring at your computer screen!

I don't know about you but the sheer joy of drinking tea in your favorite office cup and moving the mouse at the same time seems fun.

So, what about you? What's your favorite time at work?

Of Transitions and Change

" Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." said the novelist, Arnold Bennett. I couldn’t agree more! There is something about ‘Change’ that makes me weary. I can see adjustments, lots of adjustments and so much to give up in the process of reaching that ‘Change’. 

Where am I going with this? I have just emerged from a lot of change in my work life.  Change in my office campus and new work timings–it all felt too hard to bear.  Initially, I felt strange to the new campus despite the buzz of being in a new office setup. And to top it all, the change in the work timings, which I must confess was a blessing in disguise. 

And, now that I have quite settled in the ‘Change’, I kinda like it. It was a bit tedious getting adjusted to a new place but now that this has been scaled, I am grateful to God for the change. Maybe, on second thoughts, change is not that bad as I imagined, because it was an adventure and deep down, I enjoyed it!! 

Like someone rightly said, "If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies."        

Tearful Goodbyes!!

Saying goodbyes could be so hard was something I did not expect. Farewells are painful. You get used to a place, working together, sharing a joke and laughing together with your colleagues, and who can forget lunch hours?? There is so much you learn when working together...you actually learn to work together, as a team!! Co-ordinating, getting things done, meeting deadlines. I am going to miss all of this. There will be a lull for a while.

I am thankful to God for the great memories I have of my workplace. Memories that will lighten my mood on a cloudy day or bring a smile when I am blue! Thank you guys!! I loved my lunch hours as I loved digging into different lunch boxes....for me it meant tasting a variety of cuisines and flavors. In my workplace, lunches were extended where conversations began with food and ended on global issues.

One of the highlights of my company were parties - to make it more specific- treats for practically everything!! Getting married, birthdays, anniversaries, freshers....all these called for a treat! There was no escaping from this! This meant biryanis, pizzas, vada paos, SPDP, bhel (which could turn out spicy once in a while)...The list is endless! :)

I start a new journey and I have no clue what it will be like. Leaving you guys will be strange but this is life!! And it must go on!! So long dear friends, life's journey has been wonderful with you all!!

Sleepy!!!! Somebody help me!!!!!

Health is Wealth

Coming back after a long hiatus of sorts. I was quite sick and it was so difficult to function. I was stay put at home and the rest did me good!!!! It is really great to get back to work and continue with the mundane things of life......

This week is gonna be long and I hope to have the energy to take me through. Getting back to the routine takes a bit of time.....But once you are in the grind, everything's a blur....Falling ill helped me slow down and think a lot.....Kinda a blessing in disguise, huh?

Waiting for a change!

The past few days have been quite slow and very tiring. Nothing's worse when you wake up in the morning and find yourself feeling oh so tired and unrefreshed. Then you drag yourself to work hoping to catch a few winks in your cubicle.

I am so dying to go on a vacation and take a long break from work. This commuting back and forth to work and home is killing me at the present. But this will have to wait a while. Till then I'll have to be satisfied with what's available to me at present......

I call it a day!

I remember writing an essay in high school titled, 'The day when everything went wrong'. Well, I kinda experienced it today. I woke up with a splitting migraine and somehow managed to make it through the morning trying to ignore the pain. Unfortunately there were no tablets to pop in and of course the chemist's store does not open till the sun's way up in the sky. I couldn't take an off since I had few deadlines to meet.

At work I realised, the web designer wasn't ready with her website and lo behold! I discovered some loopholes in my content too. All the while my headache was getting worse and add to it nausea. Wow!! I popped the pills by noon which gave me intense acidity. And had lunch all alone since everybody were tied up with work. I couldn't wait because of my migraines. Trying to finish my deadlines turned quite disastrous....Will not bother to mention the details...hah! Trust me I would call this a day......

Realised one thing-Plans can be broken and one needs to be flexible. And yet to be thankful for every single event and not complain was kinda difficult to accomplish....Even though it seemed like everything went 'wrong' in my sight, it was all planned by God and I need to trust Him in these seemingly trivial things.......