How do you make sure that you take care of yourself, in the midst of all the things that you have to do for others? Do you have that kind of time, or do you feel like there's not enough time to do the things that recharge you?
Been there, done that. And I've decided I'm done with it. I took care of that by taking care of myself and changing career tracks from something that I was actually really good at and really liked but where I was not appreciated or valued, to something that I am refining with new skills that I'm learning on the job where I feel very valued and like I'm part of a small flower SWAT team. In the best way. And with dahlias.
If I could wear all of the hats, I would wear all of the hats. If I could have been a middle school teacher and a florist at the same time, I might have tried to do it. Logistically, it was impossible to do so. Let's examine the schedules of both of those jobs for a moment so you can see exactly why. Since today is Friday, we're going to look at a Friday schedule for both jobs, from my experience.
I should note that I am not the owner of the flower shop, or even a seasoned employee with additional responsibilities. I am at the bottom of the chain, and still learning about what we do there. If I were the owner of the shop, my schedule would look different. If I were only a freelance florist, the schedule would look different. But I'm talking about what is happening to me now, as an assistant designer in a flower shop.
Teacher: Get up at 5:30am. Be on the road to your school at 6:00am. Arrive at school at 6:45am, because if the building is empty, you can get more work done before work actually starts. Be downstairs for breakfast duty to cover for someone who is late at 7:20am. Students arrive at 7:25am. Be with students all day, since you don't have your own classroom. Teach, of course, but the details of that aren't important for this post right now. Pick up students from their last class for PM homeroom at ~3:40pm. Stay in PM homeroom for an inordinately long amount of time, for what it entails. Proctor dismissal (mayhem) for ~20 minutes. Staff is permitted to leave at 4:15pm. Sit in rush hour traffic from New Jersey to Philadelphia for over an hour. Get home anytime between 5:30 and 6:00pm. Feel tired, sad, ineffective, unappreciated, and like you're a bad fiancée to your sweet man who made dinner for you, because you haven't got the energy to do anything fun ever, or stay awake during a movie. Worry all weekend about things that you still need to do, despite using time effectively all week. It's never enough time anyway.
Florist: Get up at ~5:30am, because husband likes to go to work early still. See him off to work, and eat breakfast after he leaves around 6:10am. Pack lunch for the day. Prep food for dinner, or even cook parts of dinner so it's ready for later. Some days, make muffins, bread, or something else after breakfast. Arrive at work at 10:00am. Put out inventory for the shop, check the communications log for any notes from my boss, check for any orders that need to be delivered today. Process any flowers that came in overnight, chop and drop them and then process them an hour later. If no orders came in, work on various projects for events this weekend that still need completed, such as personal flowers for the bridal party. Everyone stops for lunch around 1:00pm. We sit down, we eat food together, and we relax for a little bit. It's important for us to take a break so we are ready for the rest of the day. We tackle the rest of event and shop duties until 6:00pm. There may be deliveries before then, pickups throughout the day for Friday weddings, and drop-offs after then. This provides an opportunity to work overtime on event days. Living 3.4 miles from the shop lets me get home in 10 minutes. I eat dinner with my husband, and we read or talk, make grocery lists, watch a movie, play with our cats.
See the difference? And this is why doing both is impossible.
Love and light,
Alyssa
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