A few months after being laid off, I took up a new job as an Assistant Project Manager at a construction subcontractor company. This was the role I had been working towards after completing a semester of Construction Management classes. It was a quick pivot from my tech career, but I was given the opportunity to jump right in and start fresh in a field I’m passionate about.
I quickly learned a few things:
- The Construction Industry is a Big Dinosaur. Coming from the tech world, I was shocked by how much slower the processes were.
- Supportive Team Environment. I was relieved to find that I wasn’t expected to do everything on my own. My team was very supportive in onboarding & training, which was a pleasant change from my previous roles.
- Early Work Days. Workdays start VERY early. Even arriving at the office at 7:45am, I was already on the later side. This was a stark contrast to my engineering life.
- Rough Project Site Offices. My project was at the SFO airport, and the makeshift office was set up in a windowless tunnel under the airport – far from the office environment I was used to.
- Car Commute. I did NOT enjoy commuting by car every day. Traveling from the city to the airport took 1.5 hours round trip, and remote work was not encouraged.
After about three months, I made the tough decision to leave. The daily commute and early start times left me feeling exhausted when I got back to the city. In the first few weeks, attending my usual evening runs felt impossible – I was so tired I could fall asleep while standing (or running). Although it got slightly better over time, I remained in a constant state of fatigue. My body wasn’t recovering well after runs, and my performance started to suffer.
After missing my PR by about 30 seconds in the Santa Rosa half marathon in late August, I knew I had to make a change. Despite being in great shape before starting the job, my fitness had drastically declined over the three months of employment. The physical toll began affecting my mental health, and I finally summoned the courage to call it quits.
It’s been a month since then, and I had a brief stint of interviewing at new companies. I made it through a few onsite rounds and received some rejections. I even considered returning to tech, but ultimately canceled all processes. I was burnt out from juggling the new job, my real estate business, and training for a race. I didn’t have enough time for self-care, so I decided to take the rest of the year to myself. With big travel plans in December, I’d rather not start a new job before then. Once I return, I’ll figure out which direction to move forward.
I am learning to cope with just “being”. I’m a doer and have always lived life at full-throttle, curating every day for maximum efficiency. It’s a jarring feeling to stop and be idle. However, even with less “doing”, my days are still packed full. Self-care is more involved and time-consuming than I ever gave it credit for, and I’m spending my days doing just that. I finally have time to catch up on organizing, cleaning, reading, writing (this blog!), managing finances, knitting, and more.
This wraps up my crazy year so far, with more changes than I (and my friends 😅) can keep up with. With less than two months until the end of the year, I hope to find some peace in my chaotic life. And to finish up way overdue blog posts. Stay tuned!
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