It’s now been a month since I started my first job in about 10 years.

My day now consists of getting-up, packing my work bag, walking to the bus stop, catching a bus to take me into the city and getting into the office first when it’s nice and quiet.

I then spend my day working hard, head-down, bum-up, until just after 5:00pm and leave to catch a bus to get me home, by 6:00pm.

I try to do 10-15 minutes of exercise before making my dinner, lunch for the next day and sitting down at 7:00pm to do some of my own work and simply relax, before going to sleep at 9:30pm.

I know I’m still adapting but I’m still very tired at night and a bit brain-dead.

My grand ideas of devoting two hours a day to building a side-business are just a dream at this stage. 😩

But I can also see how else work negatively affects you.

I’ve had to cut-down on my exercise regime and I’m seeing the consequences.

Immediately before I started work I had put on about 5 kgs in the prior 6 months; mostly muscle.

That required focussed devotion to the exercise regime I had constructed for myself.

I was doing around 4 x 45-60 minute sessions a week. But now I’m lucky if I do 2 x 45 minute sessions. 😕

This is in addition to the 10-15 minute sessions I already do at nights.

And while I still look a lot better than 9 months ago, I can feel the difference in my body. I can feel that I’m not getting that feeling of self-fulfillment you get when you know you’ve worked hard and pushed through a solid exercise session.

This definitely has to change in future as otherwise I won’t be adhering to the Health pillar I’ve set myself.

I’m also missing my weekly walks with my best friend.

We used to do these at 6:30am one morning each week and we’d walk along a bush track, solving the world’s problems and finish with visiting a cafe and having a coffee.

It was a way for us to catch-up and see how each other is doing, before the day really started.

But of course now I can’t do that!

And I realise just how much I needed that.

And as I mentioned in Are You Too Old to Change After 50? I’ve had to cram what I previously did in seven days, into two.

None of this is any surprise!

I always knew there was an adaptation period.

But it’s only reinforced my desire to build something on the side.

I’ve tasted a work for yourself environment and I truly believe that having once tasted that fruit, you can never go back to being “just” an employee.

My plan was always to adapt for the first 3 to 6 months, pass my probation period and then look for ways to lock-in two hours in the day for me to work on other things.

Business … investments … health … me!

But that day can’t come quickly enough!