Independence from Work Day

4th of July was my first holiday off since I began my job last November, for one reason or another. I spent the day at a coffee shop doing work, but it was worth it because afterwards I felt refreshed, well-planned, and excited about what was to come.

Sometimes I compare working in a retirement community to working as a school teacher. The most notable similarity is that it seems like there is not enough time for planning, unless you are willing to let the execution suffer. Since the people who take the jobs are likely to care about what they are doing they let their non-work time suffers instead.

Another similarity is that expectations are in no way related to the time and resources you have. In order to keep everyone satisfied many sacrifices must be made. Take a simple query like "Can we do more ceramics?" Here is what I would need to do:
1. find time in the activity calendar to have a ceramics activity
2. decide where the activity should be held, and make sure it does not conflict with another use of the space. reserve space if necessary
3. determine which materials are already available and will continue to be available (this may mean asking everyone else who has access to them)
4. check with budget to see how much can be allotted for materials not available
5. based on budget, either in store or online, find needed materials
5b. agonize over budget limit in comparison to what materials you can get
6. house materials
7. add event to calendar, including set up and clean up time
8. find people who are interested in activity when the people who expressed interest invariably have other things to do or just can't be bothered
9. consider changing the time of day/ length of event/ location based on resident's requests
10. explain tactfully why certain materials were chosen/ why we can't buy more right away/ why we need set up and clean up time/ why we must share
11. help residents be successful at the activity/ stay on track/ not spill paint
12. add more set up/ clean up time to include time to track down materials that get misplaced
13. feel guilty and take away extra time and work during lunch instead

Since I work on an hourly basis rather than a salary this leads me to make many tough calls: "Should I take my break or work through it and help that resident with their request?", "Should I leave early since I get here early or just take the extra time to organize?", "Should I turn my working brain off before I get home or make use of the non-hectic car ride to generate fresh ideas?"

I knew when I accepted this position that it was not a job that ended when I punch the clock. I also knew that I would have high standards for myself and take full responsibility for anything that was expected of me. What I didn't realize was how similar it would be to my "real" life and how difficult that would make it for me to keep track of budget and receipts, gather supplies, and think creatively at home. My attempt at an independence from work day taught me a lot.