At the beginning of previous year, I finally got a full-time job. I wanted to do this look-back on how my life changed earlier but… I’ve found myself in a slump and couldn’t get myself to it.

Daily life

If there was anything that changed since the start, it was the fact that my life now had a system to it, unlike before. This also brought challenges when it comes to hobbies (more on that below).

The good part is that my daily commute is quite short (less than 30 minutes) and that I can choose when to start in the range between 6:00 and 8:00. I start at 6:15 because that’s when the bus schedule fits the best for both morning commute and the return trip. Another advantage of starting early is that I’m not dividing the rest of the day into two parts and instead have it in one chunk as soon as I get home.

This, eventually, turned into the biggest benefit – giving my life some semblance of order seemed to have a few small positive effects, such as more regular digestion and better sleep pattern.

Planning free time

I guess it’s not necessary to say that, unlike before, I have to plan my free time, at least to some degree. While I have less of it, I use it better.

The fact that I have an office job and thus don’t work on weekends or state holidays makes this easier as my work schedule is quite regular. What I struggled a bit at the start was planning my days off, but COVID had thrown a wrench into it so the plan made in February is just a rough estimate and we improvise on the go anyway (especially if someone goes into a quarantine).

Hobbies

I guess this may be the big deal, as this is pretty much the only thing I share about myself on this blog.

When it comes to hiking, this meant that unless I took a day off, I would have to go to the hills during the weekends, but I was often doing that already. The biggest challenge is choosing when to take the two-week holiday. As many of my coworkers are 30-ish or early 40-ish women with children, school holidays (July and August) are in high demand. So for me, it’s easier to take my main vacation before or after that (June or September).

Then, COVID had a bigger impact on my hiking habits than starting a full-time job due to travel restrictions.

When it comes to reading, that changed the least – I often read in the evenings, and my schedule doesn’t disrupt that.

Writing was impacted probably the most – I can’t just start working on my fictional worlds at work, so I had to try and organize myself in that a bit. Thus, my writing is not mostly in weekend bursts (usually giving it 3-4 hours in one block during Sunday), though there are times when I write in the afternoons on any day. As my trilogy is story-complete and most of my writing work is drafting and editing, this is more manageable – I can just write down any general idea I have and work on it later, editing ideas don’t seem as elusive as new ideas.

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So, this is my personal looks back at the major change in my life that happened back in 2020. Next week, I should be back with my “introvert” series I started a week ago, unless there’s something that forces a change of schedule.

I’ll also welcome your experience – how did getting your first time job change your daily life, and your hobbies? The positive and negative effects? Especially if it was during a normal time and not the last 15-ish months?