My life has changed. It's for the better, but today I'm missing pieces of my past. I finally finished reading The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I remember coming home after work and collapsing from exhaustion. Since I'm healthier I'm no longer exhausted, but working for a full day wipes me out. Fortunately for me I've become better at preparing for my work day - minimizing my wardrobe, writing things down in my calendar, waking up earlier, a lot of the things I pushed so hard for in the past are now mine to enjoy with less effort than I've had to expend to get results that were no where close to what I expect now. After physical therapy I went to get water from the spring. In the past this was a task, today I stood and listened to the sounds of nature, birds, insects, even the heat seemed to have a voice.

Today I read an article that appeared in the New York Times about air conditioning. I'm proud to report that I have yet to turn on my unit, there were days when I was tempted, this evening I am taking a great deal of satisfaction in my small contribution to decrease energy consumption. We have a small bookcase at work, my boss lets me take books and other literature home which is a great job perk. As I searched through the titles I saw the word thyroid jump out at me. I'm not very far into it, but so far the book is absolutely amazing. It was written by a physician who became frustrated when he didn't have a book like this to hand to his patients. 

His style is easy and informative. He cites numerous patients throughout the book, some of the stories are heartbreaking, others are less painful to read, all of them give me hope. After reading the section on symptoms of hyperthyroidism I wonder if my stay in the mental hospital was an undiagnosed case of an overly active thyroid gland, the book states that in extreme cases people will hallucinate. Other symptoms are rapid heartbeat, anxiety, racing thoughts, and a weird sort of exhausted energy along with insomnia or trouble sleeping. After seeing that I went back to the beginning of the book and started reading it as it was designed to be read. 

Another book I brought home from work is The Sedona Method. Without being very far into the book, it drags, the idea is that by releasing emotions we can experience greater health and wellness. I've found this to be true even without studying whatever they recommend, I was hoping the book would be more helpful than it is, but maybe I need to give it more of a chance than I have. My first couple of paychecks went fast. The other day I spoke with a woman in our accounting department who is very frugal. Now that I have a job I can do more things, it's very freeing and liberating to be able to have my own money to spend, but I can't go too crazy with it.

Work is going really well. There are a few things (and people) I don't care for, but you'll have that with pretty much any job, even if you work for yourself. My boss has given me a free hand to organize things as I see fit which has been a tremendous blessing. As we've cleaned up our shared office space I've noticed that other departments are following suit. The other day a guy who works in the produce department told me not to change and that my changes were appreciated. This is money in everyone's pockets and I think people are starting to see how excess paperwork and an untidy work space inhibits productivity and creates more stress and tension. 

Since my boss has exempted me from filling bulk spices out of her concern for my allergies I've agreed to be in charge of returns. When I started there were three large plastic bins taking up room in our back stock area. Today those bins are empty and the returns occupy a small cardboard box. I found products in there from 2015, the person who had been assigned the returns let them sit which ended up being to my advantage. For a while I was annoyed that I was being asked to take over a task she hadn't performed. We got into it after she either thought or heard that I had refused to do the returns, once I put my mind to it I was able to talk to several people and now the process is very streamlined and more efficient.

I had written out all the information I would need to start doing the returns on paperwork that a woman who works in the grocery department had made for us, after a couple of phone calls my boss came back and asked how it was going. I told her it was fine and showed her what I had done. She pulled out the boxes I had sorted and started going through them with me. My boss is super generous, especially when she feels as if people are in need. She let me take anything I wanted from the assorted products. I'm estimating that I came home with between $150 - $200 in free products, everything from really nice allergy medicine and eye drops that had never been opened to expensive organic skin care and sunscreen. 

Earlier in the day she had given me some gluten free energy bars for the girls that I had put into boxes for herself and other employees. She lets us take cardboard packages of gum, and she has told us that if anyone ever comes to us and needs something from our department we should take whatever they need off the shelf and open it up for them at no charge. Sadly a lot of people have abused her generosity, she knows that, but it doesn't change who she is. When I thanked her she said that she worked for a woman who never shared anything, she made up her mind that if she was ever in charge she would share the wealth, and it is a literal stream of abundance - magazines, full sized bottles of body wash, shampoo samples, probiotics, makeup, toothpaste, tampons, anything you can find in the health and beauty section.

I try hard to emulate her and give a lot to people in other departments. I also let them know that we had items in the back, people in my department protested the change, we used to keep things in a drawer under the counter, they used it as their personal pharmacy, and I'm really glad that my boss packed up the returns I didn't want and set them out in the lunch room for anyone to take. There were hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise in the box when she went upstairs and by the end of the day it was gone. We have someone in our department who is very greedy, she's going to find that things are changing and she can get on board with the new program or take her attitude of entitlement elsewhere.

I haven't written any fiction since I started working. I've tried a couple of times, but it just isn't working. Today I was talking to my physical therapist about it. I told him that I thought I needed to get back into the habit of writing down my personal thoughts again. I'm not positive the two are connected, but I know that I feel better when I take the time to log in and jot down what I'm thinking, even if it's just a few sentences. My job is exciting and fun, it feels like a calling so I'm not upset about the low pay. I get to meet interesting new people. It's something I care passionately about, and my own experiences with a horribly dysfunctional digestive system are actually coming in handing, who knew that would be valuable some day? 

My folks have come to visit and help me pack. The house is under contract, the move-out date is set, the movers have been hired. It's time to get stuff in boxes so I can get out of Denton by the deadline.

I've already done quite a lot of packing. Nearly all my books have been boxed up. There are a small number of unpacked books, partly to give me something to read other than the Kindle, and partly because I wasn't able to completely fill another box. It doesn't really feel like a lot, even though I've probably got 50 boxes filled with books. 

We haven't done much today -- the folks have driven seven hours to get here, so they're fatigued from the road. But my mom has done some organizing in the kitchen in preparation for serious packing.

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