Summer Life Update

Happy memorial day weekend, everyone!

I’ve been meaning to do a little life update post for the last few weeks; if you’ve watched my Insta Stories for a while, you may have noticed that my day to day life has looked a little bit different then it did a few months ago…

If you’re new to following me, I work full time in technology consulting, and up until recently, was placed on my first traveling project out of Detroit. I would wake up every Monday at 5 am, head to the airport, hop on a flight, then take a shuttle to the rental cars, and then drive to the automotive plant I worked at. Talk about a Monday morning commute, am I right? I would check into my hotel for the week after work, maybe pick up groceries for lunches and snacks, do a workout video in my hotel, fill my alone time reading, catching up on shows or blog posts. There were elements of it that I really did like, but it could be pretty lonely!

My time traveling was an incredible adjustment, and ended up effecting me in ways I did not anticipate, but I can honestly say I came out stronger, tougher, more skilled, and more bad ass than I was before. I really left feeling like if I could do that, and be successful career-wise in such a unfamiliar and strange setting (the plant I worked at made axles and engines, I had to wear safety glasses every day, and the majority of my team were all men), then I could do anything. That said, when it was getting to my roll off date, and I had to start looking for my next project, I knew I reaaaally really wanted to be local in Chicago. Especially for the summer. I was homesick, missed my apartment, missed getting to do random weeknight dinners or after work drinks, and I felt like I was always in a constant cycle of stress and anxiety when I was home Thursday night through Monday morning. The time would fly by like crazy, and I just felt like I could never fully relax and enjoy being home. It made me so on edge and not so fun to be around. I kinda felt like for that period of time, life was just all about work. Which is bound to happen sometimes! It’s just not necessarily sustainable longterm.

Fortunately, I had a fair bit of luck on my side. I ended up finding my next project through one of the senior managers on my team, interviewed, and found out I’d be leaving my project two weeks early, all within two days. I then was increeeeeedibly surprised to find out that not only would I be staffed in Chicago through August, but my project would be virtual (aka work from home!). My first project at my firm was virtual, and I was on it for about a year and a half- This time around has been so, so different. Every day feels like a sprint— As soon as I have my 8:30 am call, it really is go, go, go until the end of the day. I’m learning so much, getting awesome hands on experience with the technology I’m specializing in, and can really feel myself coming into my own with this job. It feels good to be starting out on a new adventure, new challenge.

Life has definitely been crazy busy and way more stressful (this project is definitely pushing me in really awesome ways!), but man oh maaaaan, I am just so happy to be home in Chicago. It’s gonna be a good summer!