I started 2014 with a new job - exciting times, for sure. But also trying.
This week I worked an 11+ hour day on Monday, a 10+ hour day on Tuesday, and a 9+ hour day today. I have been trying to keep to a healthy eating schedule (which has been interesting because I am so busy I rarely eat an actual meal at midday) and get to the gym (which has been less than successful) in what little free time I have.
Last night, I was working on a blog post for my professional blog and I started nodding off around 9:30 sitting on the couch with my laptop. I'm not joking. I told Sam, I am incredibly honored to have been hired by this very prestigious agency but at the same time, I am suffering the loss of my personal life and have no work-life balance whatsoever. Which is probably doubly difficult because in my last job I had the hang of everything, was working from home three days a week and had a very healthy personal life - I know, I was really spoiled. One thing I do know, I am NOT going to let this get in the way of my health and fitness goals. I let work consume me when I started at my last company and my eating habits went completely out the window... not so this time around!
Truth be told, it was a rough couple of days from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday morning working on a huge project for a HUGE client with an incredibly tight deadline. I was wondering if I made a HUGE mistake on Monday night and was so worried that I'm not cut out of this that quitting actually entered my mind. Talk about craziness! Everything looked much better by Tuesday morning when I reassured myself that worst case scenario meant I would lose [another] job but more likely than not, the project would end and life would get back to normal. Luckily, I was right.
Tonight I am feeling simultaneously very proud and very overwhelmed. The agency principle came to me today after reviewing my social media posts for our luxury jewelry designer and diamond client and told me they were fantastic... she asked me how much my other team members had revised my first draft and I said they each made one or two changes, which she was very pleased to hear. She brought a jewelry magazine and several fashion sections from our local newspapers that she wanted me to read and come up with pitches for. She also said I need to start looking at the big fashion and jewelry magazines on a regular basis so that I get accustomed to the industry's style of writing and colloquial terms.
It all sounds like a lot of work, especially when I have marketing and SEO books lined up on my nook that I haven't gotten time to read yet. I suppose this is what I'll start doing for fun... reading magazines when I get home from work. C'est la vie. I guess it's better than watching lots of TV but it takes a lot more brainpower too, and (as with all new jobs) I am completely mentally exhausted by the time I get home. The last thing I want to do is work on "homework" and yet there are some seriously important things I need to read, chiefly all the bios and pitches we've done for the diamond client because I am going to be pitching him to a couple of publications this week.
Pitching... eek! As with everything in this job, I am diving right into the deep end and learning to swim on the fly.
