Back To Work - My First Week

I love my new job and I am very thankful to be back at work in an office! Although I am also very thankful for the part-time job I've had through my entire period of unemployment, cashiering at SuperT... is not how I wanted to spend the rest of my career. I wondered how long it would take me to get back into the swing of things - getting up early, wearing something other than just red and khaki and being challenged mentally. It was a little odd because I started the new job before I had completed my obligation to T..... I worked at the new job Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday I worked at T......, and then I went back to my new job Thursday and Friday. That was weird. I felt like two different people living two different lives. I think I'm really going to enjoy my new position. The people are nice and the work will be very challenging and interesting. I am working for a nationwide brokerage company that represents food lines.

Speaking of food, my diet this past week has been less than ideal. I had a spinach smoothie every morning for breakfast and my lunches weren't bad, but when I got home every night, I had a glass of wine and it went downhill from there. After dinner, I would find myself craving sweets so I ate things like Chocolate Cheerios and Sugar Free Fudgsicles. There was absolutely no tracking of calories. I need to make a plan and follow it. I also need to skip the wine so I can get some exercise in - either walking or a bike ride.

Now to address my other health issue - the smoking. What I've done over the last week could be called, "The Creative Addict", lol. As I got closer to my first day of work and still had not been able to successfully quit smoking, I began to panic. I felt backed into a corner. I couldn't quit smoking the day before starting a new job because there would be no room for irritability or the fuzzy brain that goes along with it in the beginning. But standing outside the office building smoking several times per day was absolutely not an option either. What to do? I bought a package of T..... brand 21 mg nicotine patches which are less expensive than the major brand. Every morning, I got up and made coffee then headed outside on my balcony a few times to smoke. Then I would shower, put on the patch and head to work. All day, I was fine with the patch and really didn't think about smoking. Mainly because smoking and this job had never been linked. Then I would leave at 4:30 and get in my car and drive home. The very first thing I did when I got home was rip off the patch and yes, head out to the balcony. Each day, I repeated this. Right now it works for me, but this is obviously not an ideal situation. The plan is to get through the first few weeks and then move to having the patch on the entire day without smoking. A smoker will read this and completely get it. An exsmoker will read this and be thankful they're free. A nonsmoker will read this and think I'm crazy. I hope that someday I will read this again and see it all three ways.