Wow. I promised to regularly update my blog, but I haven't been blogging for over a month. I guess I've been so busy/lazy/tired lately, to the point where I haven't been doing very much. This entry was meant to be up sometime at the beginning of June, though I just didn't post it. I actually had to rewrite the entire introduction, since I've been working here at Perfect Weddings for over two months now. Which leads me to the main point of this post: my thoughts on working life. 

An overview of my work: I'm a writer intern for Perfect Weddings, so my job is to write wedding-related articles, which they'll then put on their website for prospective brides and all. I like what I'm doing and I have pretty awesome colleagues, so I guess I was pretty fortunate to end up in an awesome company like this. Even though I've only been working two months, and I'm just an intern, this experience has allowed me a glimpse into the daily life of a working adult, which has made me realise some things. Seven, to be precise:

1. Sleep is gold.

Picture credits to favim.com

Actually, I should rephrase that - sleep is worth way more than gold. Since I'm working at an SME, OT is very common for some of the key staff, and some of them even get by with just three to five hours of sleep (sometimes none at all) on an average weekday. Before concert, I felt as if I was juggling two jobs with my actual day job from 10-7 and Reso practices at night from 8 or 9 to 10 or 11. Not to mention, I teach piano on Wednesdays after work. Even though that hectic period's over and life has become more mundane, working eight hours a day is still pretty tiring. This has made me realise that sleep and naps are truly luxuries for the working adult - and to think we used to resent nap time as kids! I guess we humans really don't know how to appreciate what we have until it's taken away from us. 

The reason I said sleep is worth way more than gold's because of the wonders it can do for our health and wellness. I know I'm starting to sound like a naggy mother here, but believe me: keep late nights and you'll end up like me - with massive eyebags and horrendous dark eye circles. It simply ages you. Just in the past ten days I've been 1) mistaken as 30 years old by a cab driver, 2) described as looking like I do drugs by a sister's friend and 3) looking old enough to be my sister's mother. It's so upsetting for anyone to hear they look at least 10 years older than they actually are, and even more so for a woman! I'M 21 I'M NOT 30 OKAY CAN'T YOU TELL OMG. Plus sleeping early can help you lose weight, so why not?

So in an attempt to rectify this disaster, I shall try sleeping early for the rest of this week and see how things go. Bottom line is: SLEEP EARLY WHENEVER YOU CAN. Your body will thank you for it. 

2. Weekends are extra precious.

Picture credits to melissajoykong.tumblr.com

I've generally always liked the weekends, although I didn't look forward to them as much as in JC and secondary school since I started university since I had a pretty flexible timetable and all. Even if I didn't have a 4-day week, it wasn't so bad because some days were really chill - just one 2-hour lecture at the most, so it wasn't much. But when you're working, all of that changes. In just three weeks TGIF - Thank God It's Friday - really took on a whole new meaning for me. I now truly appreciate Fridays and even look forward to them, simply because it marks the start of a brief respite from a desk-bound job, with the same routine day in, day out. Sure, I like what I'm doing, but that doesn't make it any less clockwork or tiring. 

I'm very grateful to be able to rest and recharge over the weekends (even though I'm still running around, but hey, Sundays are rest days!), which really helps in rejuvenating the senses. I'm not one for a desk-bound job, and I need a lot of me time. Never thought I'd appreciate the weekends (especially long weekends like this one) that much. Oh weekend, never again will I take you for granted. 

3. You start to treasure time spent with your loved ones more.

Taken on my birthday this year. No pictures of my family since they like their privacy haha.

My boyfriend and I are pretty sticky, but since summer began I went from seeing him every other day to just once a week on average. In any case, our workplaces aren't very near each other, not to mention he ends a full hour earlier, so making him wait an hour and a half just to have a quick dinner with me isn't very fair to him. When we do meet, it's usually a short meeting, and we're often too tired to do much, and so we just end up chilling at someone's place HAHA. Not that I mind, though I wanna go out and have fun too! When was the last time we actuually had a proper date? Now when we meet, I feel extra happy and excited to see him, especially if it's after a long day or week, and I really like it. It makes me appreciate him even more, and I'm so happy for that (: 

When I was shuttling to and from office to school nearly every day, I reached home super late and as a result, hardly got to see my family, much less even have a meal with them. That made weekends - when I spend the day at home - a real treat. Now I understand why my parents are so insistent on Sundays being "family days," and can truly appreciate them now. As much as I love going out and being busy, there's really no place like home and family. Which brings me to my next point.

4. Home-cooked food is the best.
They say home is where the heart is, but home's where the stomach is too. My office goes for lunch together every day, and there are quite a few eating places to choose from, so we alternate between them every day, depending on how busy they are or the weather. While a couple of stalls serve pretty good food, they are some distance from the office, meaning we can't always go there. Honestly, most of the options aren't that great: Ubi isn't known for having delicious food - just think of it as your school canteen on average, but slightly more delicious and significantly more expensive. 

Even though I often rave about my home-cooked meals, I rarely eat at home nowadays because I'm always out. Not gonna lie, I've taken my home-cooked food for granted.

When I started working, I realised how unhealthy eating out is. The amount of oil and salt that goes into the food that's prepared... It's kinda gross, actually. It may or may not taste good, and, in my case, food's usually not that great (and I'm not a fussy eater, so you can imagine how meh it is). 

Eating outside's really unhealthy, and I'm not keen on gaining weight/becoming unhealthier this summer. I'm often too pooped to exercise recently, so I've taken to bringing home-cooked goodness to work recently. It's a really healthy and tasty alternative! And even though it's not piping hot anymore, it tastes way better that just about anything else. Special thanks to mummy and my helper for doing that - I'm truly blessed (:

Picture credits to bentozen.wordpress.com

5. You see your colleagues more than anyone else.

Yes, this is exactly right. I see my colleagues way more often than I do anyone else. Although as I mentioned at the start, I'm pretty fortunate to have nice colleagues who're not much older than me, so we all get along very well. Having good colleagues really does make a difference. That being said, I do wish I can see my close friends/boyfriend more often... :/ I do get to see my family nearly every day now, so that's not too bad. 

6. You start to become more health-conscious.