Good morning, friends! Today is an exciting (and a little nerve-wracking) morning because I’m starting a new job!
After commuting to the suburbs for the past year, I realized that the 3 hour a day commute and the job was taking a pretty huge emotional and physical toll on me – and I really, really missed working in Chicago. When you spend so much time commuting when you’re already working long hours, you don’t have time to workout or really eat healthy (hey Seamless and Grub Hub ordered while stuck in traffic!) because you’re just so exhausted by the time you come home. And even though I was still living in Lincoln Park, I felt like I was more of a visitor in the city since I was on the road so many hours of the week. I’m pretty sure being stuck in traffic on the way to Oak Brook every day is definitely a circle of hell that Dante missed. And when you add 30 more miles to travel after that, anyone is going to lose their mind after a little bit….
So I had the great fortune of having the past few weeks off in-between jobs, which allowed me to go to Asheville with my family last week and Door County for a long weekend – both of which I probably couldn’t have swung if I was working at the time. It’s felt so wonderful having some time off, and it’s helped me clear my head and decompress after the whirlwind past year. I’ve been trying to get into some healthier habits too and have been trying to prioritize classes at CorePower a few times a week, taking long walks when it’s pretty out, and making healthy food over ordering out as much as I was before. I’m crossing by fingers I can keep it up because it’s made such a huge difference in how I feel (and probably not working also helped with that too, haha). I also learned the valuable lesson that you actually can have it all – you just have to be unemployed with savings to have time to do it all. Clearly my luck (and $$$) has run out, so it’s high time I get back to work… 😉
Congrats on the new job and good luck on your first day, girl! I’m sure you’ll kill it like you always do. P.S. I’m SO behind on blog reading, but your Door County post was ah-mazing. Ryan and I had a horrible first experience there, but now I’m dying to go back based on all your recommendations. 🙂
Oh no! You HAVE to go back – I promise that it’s awesome! Seriously, check out the places I shared and shoot me an email if you decide to go back! I’ll give you all the best tips I have!
And thanks so much for the congrats, friend! Hope all is going well with you – I’ve been loving your inspiring posts lately! xx
Congratulations on the new job! Commuting can be one of the worst parts of any day so this change has got to feel great! And this is the best time of the year to start a job in a new location so close to Millennium Park because of the gorgeous weather.
Jaqui / http://www.blissfuljaqui.com
Awww thanks so much lady! It wasn’t quite so gorgeous today (oh hey, rain!) but the commute was definitely less brutal this morning. I’ll take what I can get! xx
Congrats Maya!! I’m so happy you’ll be back in the city and we will be work- neighbors!! This will include plenty of lunch dates and happy hours together!! 🙂 Good luck on your first day, you’ll crush it!
xo, Sarah
I’m so excited to be work neighbors with you! I’ll let you know once things get kinda normal at work and I can sneak away – I’d love to have a sweet green date or someplace yummy by you!
Yessss, you know the way to my heart!! I’m obsessed with Sweetgreen, it’s the best lunch place in the loop!
I’m coming too!!!!
Good luck with the new job! So glad this is a change you’re excited about!
Thank you thank you! I so appreciate the kind words. First day down, many more to go 🙂
SO happy for you Maya!! Commuting can really suck the life out of you. So excited that you got an AWESOME job plus a new quality of life. Hope you are celebrating BIG and hope the first day went well!
Thank you so so much sweet Nicole! I’m excited for a little bit of a respite from the commute – and enjoying Chicago in the summer. Please let me know if you’re coming downtown and we can grab dinner! I want to hear what’s going on with you too!!!
We work SO close to each other! Let’s sneak out of work early one day in June for HH…you in? 😉