It’s been a while
This is a self-reflective update for myself and a bit of my story.
It really has been more than a couple of months since the last time I was able to sit down and create or work on something.
What’s stopping me? Work has been taking more than a fair share of my life, I’d say.
What has work been like:
Here are the facts and you can judge for yourself:
Work is Finance IT L2 handling backend maintenance, system checks/updates, batches for about 30+ apps, and application support.
I work about 9-10 hours a day (often no lunch break)
20-60 hour overtime a month (went down a bit since I complained in October)
On rotation to work on weekends
Need to pick up work phone whenever even in the middle of the night; this is not paid.
My salary is about 310,000 yen a month including everything
Overtime is not paid
If I need to commute to the office, on an average day I have about 24 - 10 (work) - 3 (commute) - 7 (sleep) = 4 hours for myself.
This may be a bit of a rant… I consider myself a responsible person. Since I’ve had this job for almost 2 years now, I think I committed more than what I was paid to do. But perhaps I have performed at my job too well. I was given more responsibilities than my peers without additional compensation. I know it’s a normal thing almost anywhere we go, but realizing how big of a difference it was, I was really thrown off balance mentally.
I have been stressed and braindead most of the time, especially lately, as somehow I became responsible to train two new people. I think the fact that I dream about work is saying something…
…
I strive for growth and creativity. And I need to make changes for the better.
So what I want to do is dial myself back at work. I will do what’s needed but will not commit more than I need to. I don’t see room for growth or even fair compensation in the near future. I need to find myself more time and energy outside of work, even just the mind space.
I am also considering finding a different job - either more time for myself or a better salary.
Short term goal is better management of effort and energy, and being on the lookout for opportunities. I can do this!
Getting back into it
Getting back to blender and getting started on small project.
It’s been a bit more than a month being busy with work and dealing with emotional exhaustion.
I am glad to say I am slowly but surely getting back into creating and making ideas come to life.
Moving to Squarespace
After quite a bit of consideration, I have decided to move my website host from Bluehost to Squarespace… mainly for its convenience, as I find myself having so little time to manage and upgrade my website in terms of design and coding. Let along wanting to spend more time on Blender and Music… Fulltime job has been a bit more than normal fulltime in recent months…
First day into it, it seems alright so far.
Most of the tools and templates are less customizable by default, but easier to use as there are just not that many options.
I am glad CSS customization is still available.
Still exploring and setting everything up.
I saved some of the texts but it will probably take a little bit to (re)populate the void.
Excited to start fresh. Let’s do this!