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Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone celebrating it today!
Here is what is new in my life lately:
Festivus Geekiatum
Last October, Long and Short Reviews released a Wednesday Weekly Blogging topic about which new holidays participants would like to invent.
My friend Michael Mock responded to that question by inventing Festivus Geekiatum:
Festivus Geekiatum is a day to indulge your favorite interests. Work on that knitting project, watch that anime, re-read that favorite book, perform in — or attend — that one play. Reconnect with your hobbies, re-engage your interests, work on your projects.
I will be participating in this on February 26 and am talking about this in advance in case anyone else would like to join in on the fun.
Career Change
I’m gearing up for a career change and job hunting in the near future.
If any of my readers happen to excel at job hunting, interviews, or making career changes and have experience doing so within the last few years, advice is appreciated.
For everyone else, I’d love some good vibes and encouragement if you have any to spare.
It will be interesting to see how this goes.
Getting Back Into Exercising
I started feeling sick around New Year’s Day. My cough eventually lead to me developing costochrondritis, a benign but uncomfortable inflammation and injury to the chest wall. My covid tests were all negative, and I did have covid and flu boosters last autumn. Whatever bug I picked up in late December was not a fun way to begin this year by any means.
Exercise other than the occasional slow walk was really difficult because every sort of movement hurts when you have this condition: breathing too deeply, coughing, laughing, carrying anything heavier than a pound or two, sneezing, bending over, rolling over in bed, etc.
The good news is that this is something that generally heals on its own with rest, patience, and ibuprofen as needed. I am just now trying to slowly increase the speed and length of my walks when possible.
Not exercising at all for well over a month was a huge change for me as I was previously someone who enjoyed 30 minutes of formal exercise most days of the week (weightlifting, kickboxing, dancing, etc.) and then usually another 30-ish minutes of brisk walking that was usually broken up into a few minutes here and there as I walked to errands, appointments, and other necessities of life.
So I am really looking forward to being able to get back into my old workout routines. I miss them so much.
That’s about it for me at the moment. I look forward to hearing about what’s new with everyone else.
Sending you so many good vibes, Lydia! 🙂
Thank you very much.
Best wishes for a full and rapid recovery. Job hunts can be challenging, particularly if combined with a career change, and I wish you good success in this. My own experiences are not recent, though I have found John Crystal’s book Where Do I Go From Here With My Life? useful in the past, particularly in the exploration phase.
Thank you! I’m looking that book up now.
Thanks for stopping by and, yes, pictures will be coming (if anything grows.. lol). Glad you are feeling some better… hope you are soon back in prime shape. And best of luck on the job hunt!!
Thank you!
Good luck with the job hunt, and with healing completely… neither is easy. My kid has been looking for work for over a year. Has gotten a couple of interviews (barely) but no offers. I wish I had a magic wand to wave over you!
Thank you!
I hope your kid finds a great position soon. Job hunting can be so hard, especially long-term searches like that.
Eww, I hate not being able to exercise…hope that’s over soon! Good luck with the job search.
Thank you. Yeah, not fun at all.
I’ve been at the same job for nearly twenty-four years, so I have absolutely nothing useful to share with anybody looking now — but I wish you luck in your search. Costochrodritis sounds incredibly irritating, and I hope it just ups and goes away and leaves you alone, too. Sheesh.
Thank you! I appreciate that.
Whoa! You have a lot going on. Good luck with the recovery — and be gentle to yourself as you re-engage in exercise. When one has been used to regular exercise, it’s so tempting to ramp right back up to where you were, but you don’t want to add a physical injury to your recovery. And best of luck with the job hunt/career change. My one bit of advice from both sides of the process (interviewing as well as seeking) is do your research to highlight specifics about the place you applying to you in your letter and bring questions to the interview.
Thank you. I’m being gentle with myself and will continue to do so.
I appreciate your advice about job hunting as well. That makes total sense.