I’ve just finished my first week at a new job. I like the job, but it’s the first time in several years that I’ve had relatively standard 8 hours a day, 5 days a week as my schedule. The last time I did was in 2019 or so, and then I went and got back into graduate school for the interim.
Now that I’m back to standard hours, the commitment of time and energy seems to be quite a lot, more than I remember from prior ft experience(It could well be that this job is actually mentally demanding, whereas my prior full-time job was pretty brainless) and I’m not sure how I will make room in my life for anything else.
I like the job I’m doing, and I don’t feel as if I’m being unreasonably pressured at work (Boss even said to go out of our way not to work overtime, and it’s a salaried position so I know they’re not trying to skimp on hourly pay), so I guess I’m mainly wanting to ask how the rest of you full-timers do it.
And does it get easier to manage as you start to get used to it and make a routine?
Maybe it feels like quite a basic or rudimentary to ask… But these are things I’ve forgotten in the interim since last working 40-hour weeks.
Personally, I find that if I work in a day, then I’m drained. One great thing I was able to do was find a job that has longer hours, because working 8 hours and working 12 feels the same to me, but now I get 2 extra days off. With 4 days off I can have a recovery day where I do nothing, a productive day where I catch up on life’s demands, and 2 days to spend however I choose.
I went from 3/4 twelves to 5 8s and it sucks ass trying to do anything after work. I have 6 ish hours to do anything. I used to have two days off in a row during the week plus 3 day weekends every other. It sucked working weekends and getting home later.