For my entire working career, I have had Monday-Friday jobs.  I don’t complain about that too much because I have had a steady job and enjoy the weekends but too many times I am starting a Monday already working for the weekend.  I start another week in my job.  I pretty much know what to expect when I come in here on Mondays but there are always things that happen which I didn’t expect.  Sometimes the best laid plans are blown up by one person calling or showing up at my door.  Yes, I dread Mondays.  I often feel that Monday dread start late Sunday evening when the weekend has melted away and I arrive to the eve of the start of another work week.  

And here I am.  Of course, I will be working by the time they blog gets posted.  

I have worked mostly a set schedule my entire working career.  It started with the Air Force and up to my job now.  I don’t hate it but I would like a different setting to my work routine.  Since I am close to be eligible to retire, I foresee an opportunity for that to happen but will I be ready for it?  How will I adjust to a possible work schedule where I am working on the weekends and off during the week?   I don’t know but I’m sure it will be an adjustment for me.  

Mondays aren’t so bad and my job isn’t too much to dread.  I like my job but I’m not in love with it.  There was a time that i was obsessed with it.  Mostly because I had a terrible home life and my self-esteem was wrapped up in my work.  I volunteered for lots of things and jumped on anything that would take me away from home.  I tried to be a star in my career field and wanted to make a name for myself.  I have learned now, as I look back on it, that it was a shallow and fleeting existence.  No matter how much you want to be a star, there will always be brighter stars.  I also learned that volunteering or the inability to say “no” only creates more problems for you.  It is definitely not the success you would think.  

I know people now who will tell me how much they worked over the weekend or after normal work hours.  I don’t respond to that.  It doesn’t impress me.  I have worked many places where I have worked weekends and overtime – and many times without any compensation for it.  Once I was told I was doing it “for the mission” which is still a constant joke.  Yeah, those uncompensated overtime hours didn’t earn me any metals.  It just enabled to others to take advantage of me.   Now when people brag about working the weekend I respond to them in my mind that they really need a life.   These people seem to need some affirmation they aren’t getting from any other areas of their lives.

Mondays.  I’ve had plenty of them.  A new start to the week.  Working toward the weekend.  Mondays bring a new week with new possibilities.  I wonder what possibilities might happen for me this week.  

In the jobs that I have had over the years, I would say that the Mondays I had during the few months I worked with a private investigative firm in Atlanta was probably some of the ones I dreaded the most.  I hated that job.  It was very stressful and sucked the life out of me.  I also had to drive 100 miles one-way each day to and from the job.  It was my first job after leaving the Air Force and there was always the fear of being fired.  It was a real fear too because the managers fired employees often for various reasons.  I did my best and hung in there until I found something else.  Those Mondays were hard and difficult to work through.  I also had those Mondays in Tampa when I had to board the bus for the nearly one-hour trip to downtown.  I hated riding that bus.  

No, I’m not a fan of Mondays but it is necessary.  Perhaps the day will come when I will appreciate Mondays more like I do when they are a holiday but for now they will continue to be a necessary evil in the life of the weekday worker.