The Longest Day

I work a 50-hour a week job.

Don’t get all judgey on me.  And yes, I’m still an avowed/evolved minimalist.  (I should talk about how I discovered and warped into a minimalist some day.)

Weirdly, right now I consider that I get to work 50 hours a week.  If you had asked me a year ago, or even a couple months ago, if I would consider working 50 hours a week, I would have laughed in your face.  And probably made a real jerk of myself in the process.

But things change, and with no debt and my husband working evenings, a 50-hour work week seems to make a lot of sense.  Even if I got home two hours sooner, I wouldn’t get to see him until 8 or 9 at night, so the extra time is a blessing.

Here’s why  working 50 hours a week works for me right now:

1. 

   Overtime.  Duh.  Wouldn’t do it otherwise.  Extra money means I’m moving toward my goals faster.
2. The work.  I probably wouldn’t like it as much if I constantly had people demanding things of me.  In the job I’m currently working at, aka. temping, I am left fairly alone and trusted to get the things done for which I am responsible.
3. Minimal home responsibilities.  As a minimalist, I don’t have a ton of things to manage at home.  True, I should probably clean a little more than I do…”should.”  But if I don’t go home and do my laundry tonight it’s not the end of the world.  I’ll just wear the same thing tomorrow.
4. Learning time.  On my drive to and from work, as well as at work, I play podcasts that are uplifting and educational.  I turn my drive time from a nuisance to nutrition for my brain.
5. Focus.  I’m not working 50 hours a week because I am trying to pay off debt or improve a career.  I am working in a position that I’m enjoying and working extra to make more money for me, not debt.  This makes the work much more enjoyable than if I were focused on something arbitrary.

I know people who work 50, 60, or 70 hours and are just busy, not happy.  I don’t recommend that everyone work 50 hours a week. Happiness and a long work week are not mutually exclusive, though. When you are working because you want to and not because you have to, the whole story changes.

Besides, what else would I do?  Add another week to my monthly TV time?