How I’m Adjusting To My New Life On The Road…

Airport Weekly Reflections V. I

Home sweet Home…

Rug // Coffee Table // Sofa // Throw Pillows // Tom Ford Book // Pink Notebook

 

Alright people, this is possibly the 14th time I’ve claimed to be starting a brand new blog series (which in the past, never seem to go past the first post… but hey, my intentions are always pure!), but this time I really really mean it!! I am officially through week 3 of my new life on the road, traveling Monday through Friday to outside of Detroit for work at an automotive plant, staying at a hotel, still maneuvering through all of the bumps and kinks that come my way, hopefully slowly but surely learning how to get this down to a perfect science? Well, maybe just kicking ass at this to the best of my abilities. I’m booked on a late 8 pm flight tonight, and as soon as I finished up for the day, my team was scattered and the plant was a ghost town, so I headed to the airport with overly ample time on my hands, and am currently treating myself to a much deserved PF Chang’s dinner of vegetarian lettuce wraps and a big ole glass of wine. Laptop is out, and there is loads to chat about this week!

I mostly want to use this series as a place to reflect on my past week (while I chill at the airport on Thursdays, hence the name), and share some of my lessons learned, whether they be work related or even more on a personal note, or any general anecdotes I thought you guys might get a kick out of.

Okay, so super super random but have been thinking about this all damn week; I learned the other day that Canadian geese are legit the BIGGEST assholes!!! My god. They are allllllll over the giant parking lot out front, and the other day I walked right by a few of them, thought they were so cute, so I say hey! “Hey honey bunny geese babies!!!!!” My go to generic animal nickname, just normal stuff. (Worth mentioning that I was walking in with the MD (managing director) of our project, so maybe I should attempt to tone down my weirdness?) One of these geese whips its neck around, opens it mouth real wide, sticks out its blue tongue, and lets out the LOUDEST hiss I’ve ever heard in my life. I was shook to my core. Rude. Little. Assholes.

Promise that’s the one totally off topic tid bit for the day haha.

This one was a very quick and HUGE takeaway from my first week (which I would’ve acted sooner on it, but I can be lazy AF sometimes). Anyway, I had been taking all of my notes on my laptop, sometimes in Word, sometimes on random virtual stick notes, but it was making my life such a living hell. Too much disorganization and chaos! Most of the senior guys on my team all carry around physical notebooks with them— my dad is in the tech space and has done this since I was a little kid— so clearly there’s some solid reasoning there. So, I took it upon myself to find the perfect notebook— something professional and not with some dumb saying like “Live Laugh Love!!!!!” on it, but still perfectly me, a little ode to The Blonde in Pink, heheh. I found this super cute millennium pink notebook from Nordstrom’s (it just went on sale for $11!), and it’s totally blank inside, no lines or anything, the color makes me happy, and it’s just exactly what I needed. I’ve been writing all of my meeting minutes in it, specific instructions anyone gives me, action items for the day, names, email addresses, etc., truly everything. I just put the date in the top corner and use it as free space to get everything I need written down and it has been SUCH a life saver. Plus it’s always a good look in the workspace when you’re constantly taking notes (if someone is taking the time to explain something to you or tell you how to do something/what to do, and you don’t write it down, they’re kinda like … what ze heck, how dare you, you WILL NOT REMEMBER THIS)! So yes, very good habit to get into.

Other good habit to get into? Drink literally All. The. Water. I pound the shitty office coffee all day long, and need to make sure I’m still keeping hydrated for health and beauty reasons! As of now, no one has questioned the amount of times I need to get up to pee, so counting that as a win. But seriously, water is bae. Well, coffee is. Then water? Moving on.

Now onto a more personal note…. The first night I started this project was by far the hardest. I had no idea what to expect, and by the end of it, when it was pitch black outside, I had been up since 5 AM, had worked a 12 hour day, and was just feeling exhausted, emotional, and overwhelmed— I kinda lost it. Water works, sobbing to my boyfriend over FaceTime, the whole 9 yards. Thankfully, I’ve managed to put on my big girl pants (as Francis instructed me to do in the most loving way possible, ugh, he’s the best), and things have gotten so, so, sooo much better. That said, there is still a lot to adjust to, and this life is proving to yes, be extremely rewarding and motivating from a career perspective, but very, very tough emotionally. Tuesday night in particular was hard for me. I was being such a self-critic, thinking all these negative thoughts, and just being so down on myself. I was just in one of those sad for no reason moods, you know?

But. A big but here. I’m learning that it’s ok to be outside of your comfort zone, that it’s ok to choose something scary, less convenient (I could’ve found a project in Chicago, somewhere local where I could still sleep in my bed every night, or better yet, do entirely from home like my last role). There are all of these emotions and feelings that I’m just not accustomed to experiencing because of how life was before; I feel homesick for my city, I miss my boyfriend, I want to sleep with my tempurpedic pillow, light my favorite candle, and yell out to my Google Home “Hey Google, play my Spotify playlist “It’s Cuffing Season, bitches.” I hate not getting to start my day with a healthy green smoothie, and have my beloved avocado toast for lunch. I have my team and I’m so fortunate to enjoy their company so, so much, but it’s lonely here, you guys. I feel lonely in my hotel room, with my rental car, going to a plant every day in Livonia, Michigan. I feel like I have two lives right now, and I only get to live my “real” life three days out of the week before I have to pack up and get back to this.

But I’m learning that it’s okay. It’s okay to feel lonely. It’s okay to feel out of your element. It’s okay to do something you’ve never done before and think “holy shit. how am I going to do this. How could I possibly learn this. I’m not smart enough. I’m not good enough. I can’t do it.”

But you know what you do? What I’m learning to do? To quote future Bachelorette Becca K, you DO the damn thing. You tell yourself I GOT this. I CAN do this. You figure out a new routine that makes life feel a little bit better. You find new ways to cheer yourself up when you’re feeling down. You persevere. You hold your head up high and make yourself proud. Because eventually, all of those unpleasant newfound nuances will fade away into a new normal, and in return, you get a tougher and more badass you. By Wednesday, I felt SO much better, and by end of the week, I’m actually feeling really positive and focusing on why I’m doing this, and everything I will get out of it.

And with that, my bill is paid and my pinot is out (still got some time till I board lol, but you know, I think imma splurge on some streaming Internet access to catch up on This Is Us). Corporate Blonde in Pink, over and out.