You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Work Here (But it Helps)

Greetings, y'all! 👋😄

It's the weekend again! 🎉🥳 I know I'm glad the week is over! 😌

I talked a bit about my job in a previous post, along with new responsibilities and more work. As we move into the third week of 2024, things are going a lot smoother. There are still a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out, but for the most part, my plan seems to be working out okay. 

Being an independent contractor and working from home has been interesting. There are many advantages - short commute, no dress code, I can pretty much set my own schedule, and I don't have to put on my "customer service" face. 

One disadvantage (aside from being responsible for all the employment taxes) is that it can be somewhat isolating working from home. Don't get me wrong, I'm not champing at the bit to start working in some office somewhere, but when your coworkers are scattered all over the globe, "socializing" is a bit more difficult.

Thankfully, my coworkers and I have Teams available to chat - I mean, collaborate. 😉 We do actually collaborate on tasks when it's necessary, but we also engage in "water cooler chat", and I've met some great people from all over the world. I have coworkers in Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Philippines, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, and various places across the US, as well. I've also worked with folks in India, Sweden, and Myanmar. Not everyone is a chatterbox, but it's been nice to find out about other countries and cultures. I also get opportunities to share south Louisiana's culture (which even in the US can seem foreign 😄). 

Troy Landry from "Swamp People"

I've been blessed to have coworkers who aren't about workplace drama. Some of them have had the unfortunate experience of being subjected to bullying and outright hostility in the workplace, and they make it a point to try to foster a friendly, welcoming environment where disagreements are handled in a constructive manner. For the most part, it's been a success. 😊 It probably helps that we're all in our individual spaces and can just hit the X in the upper right corner of the screen if we get annoyed. 😉

My coworkers are some of the best people I've never met. 😄 We've been through a lot together these past few years, and we've shared our ups and downs with each other. We celebrate each others' victories, and we mourn each others' losses. We've made a pretty tight-knit team, and I'm thankful for each and every one of them.

Working from home is not for everyone, and not all work-from-home jobs offer the flexibility that mine does. I don't have to stay chained to my desk all day and look like I'm being productive (whether I am or not), and I have some freedom to work in a way that works best for me. I do still have some work to do on my time management skills (maybe if I didn't SOCIALIZE so much...), but that's improving with medication. 😄 I don't know if I'll always work from home, but I'll do it for as long as I possibly can.

Be blessed, and be a blessing! 😊   

Megan

  

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

Greetings, y'all! 👋😄

I'm going back in time with this post; back to when I was young and didn't have bills to pay, when $5 was gas money, and when MTV still played music videos.

When I was in early elementary school, I was a straight-A student, and by late elementary school, I was still making mostly As, with the occasional B grade on my report card (but they were very few and far between). I wasn't one of those kids who never had to study, but I didn't struggle to make good grades. I read well above my grade level, and I was really good at spelling. 😄 At that point, we were learning the very basics of math, and back then we learned "math facts" mostly by memorization. Once I got the math facts down, I did pretty well in that subject, too. 

By the time I got to high school, I was still making pretty good grades in everything but math (I got my first F, ever, on my report card in algebra, and I barely passed geometry). It was during this time that I discovered I might have ADHD.  

My reasoning for bringing this up is not to brag about how smart I was in school, but to highlight the fact that back then, a lot of kids who were struggling with ADHD fell through the cracks because they weren't disruptive in class, and they made good grades. Additionally, ADHD was thought of as a "boys' disorder", which meant that a lot of girls went untested and untreated. My younger brother displayed all the "classic" signs of ADHD by the time he was in 2nd grade, and the school recommended that my parents have him tested. He was diagnosed and started on medication, and the difference was night and day (he has other issues that weren't diagnosed until he was an adult, but that's a topic for another day). As it turned out, I was one of the "smart girl" kids who fell through the cracks due to the medical consensus at the time.

I didn't know it then, but by the time I reached adulthood, I figured out that my struggles with the more advanced math had very little to do with my intelligence, and a whole lot to do with my ability to organize, in my mind, the information I was being given.

Imagine a filing cabinet stuffed full of folders with papers sticking out here and there. There's some semblance of order, in that each folder's contents match the label on the folder, but there's no real organization in each folder. Each time you're given papers to file, you put them in the correct folder, but not necessarily in the correct order. Later on, when it's time to retrieve those papers, you know which folder to look in, but you have to sift through all the papers to find the ones you need, and by the time you finally find all the correct papers, you're given more papers to file, and the cycle continues. 

This is what I mean when I talk about the "noise" in my mind - all the information is there, but there's very little order, and I have to sift through all the random bits that are somewhat related before I can get to the important parts, and I need that information sorted and collated and ready now. An illustration:

It gets exhausting. 

Over the years, I've tried different strategies to manage my ADHD. Some have worked well, such as making a schedule and sticking to it. Others, like making lists, not so much. I've tried several "natural supplements" that claim to help you focus and deal with distractions - "herbal Ritalin" so to speak, but they didn't do a thing for me except lighten my wallet. What I found that does work for me is actual Ritalin, and since I've started taking it, it has made a big difference in how I feel and how my brain processes, stores, and retrieves information. My care provider and I are fine-tuning the dosage, but I feel like we're very close to what I call "just right".   

Be blessed, and be a blessing!

Megan

 

How'd I end up *here*, and how do I get *back*? (✨The Side Quest✨)

Greetings, y'all! 👋😁

In a previous post, I mentioned that I was almost caught by ✨The Side Quest✨ (yes, the sparkles are necessary), and how it's the main culprit in my poor time management issues. I wanted to expand on that a bit more here. 😊

Maybe you've heard someone say, "I fell down the rabbit hole." or "I followed a rabbit trail, and now I don't remember where I started." when talking about starting out on one thing and during the course of whatever it is they're doing, their attention moves to something else they see, so they follow that, and then something else grabs their attention so they follow that other thing, and so forth. 

If you've found yourself scrolling social media, and hours later you're on some obscure website that's totally unrelated to what you started out viewing, or if you're having a conversation with someone and find yourself going off on a tangent, congratulations! You've been hijacked by ✨The Side Quest✨! 

With the internet, it's very easy to start off in one place and follow links here and there until you're reading (or watching) something you may not even have known existed, or you've gotten a glimpse into the life of your best friend's cousin's sister's third ex husband's fourth wife's boyfriend's ex-father-in-law's cousin's youngest grandchild's aunt on his mother's side.

✨The Side Quest✨ has led me down some interesting paths online, and I've learned a lot of things (some of them useful) that I otherwise wouldn't have, had I not followed the rabbit trails. I've also had some really cool conversations (and met some really cool people) following conversational tangents. 😊 Unfortunately, there's a dark side to ✨The Side Quest✨ that takes a bit of shine off the sparkles; it can be a massive time suck. 😑

It's very frustrating to take the time to plan out a project and begin working on it, only to get sidetracked. What happens to me most often is that I'll think of something that is "project-adjacent" and jump to that, and then the cycle continues until I have a string of unfinished tasks behind me, and I've lost track of what I'd planned to do to begin with. My train of thought jumps the tracks a lot. 😑

In my work, I have defined tasks and deadlines, so I can't go wandering off with ✨The Side Quest✨ too far, but it still catches me now and then. For instance, I may be looking for a particular file, and I'll notice that the file directory is disorganized. Instead of getting the file I was after, I'll make new folders and organize the directory. Since it's shared, I have to notify others that the files are now in new folders. After that's done, then I'll see a message or two that I missed, so I'll catch up on messages, and by this time, an hour has passed, and I still haven't gotten the file I needed for the task I was on originally (whatever that was). Calgon, take me away! 😱

Since I've been on medication to treat my ADHD, ✨The Side Quest✨ hasn't been able to hijack me as often, but I've been able to recognize it sooner when it does, so it's a little easier to get back on task. My healthcare professional and I are still working out which medication and dosage is the most effective to manage the symptoms without overmedicating. I feel like we're very close to the "sweet spot". 

For so many years, I struggled and tried to cope with ADHD, figuring it was too late to do anything about it, since I'm not a kid or a teen (or even a young adult) any more. It wasn't until I read personal stories from people around my age (and a few who are older) who sought a diagnosis and treatment, and got it, that I saw a glimmer of hope that maybe it wasn't too late. And here we are today. 😊

Be blessed, and be a blessing! 😊

Megan

Out With the Old (And In With the New)

Greetings, y'all! 👋😄 

As I write this, it's 10 minutes until midnight on December 31, 2023. We decided to spend New Year's Eve at home this year instead of going out. None of us are really in a "party" mood, and it's cheaper to stay home than it is to go out. 😉 

Looking back on 2023, I can say that we had a pretty good year (for the most part). We definitely had more ups than downs, and after back-to-back years with major hurricanes hitting Louisiana, it was a welcome relief when no storms threatened us this year. 🙌 Our youngest child turned 21 this year, and hubby and I marked 30 years of marriage. 👰🤵💞 

I'm looking forward to what 2024 brings. 😊 I'm sure there will be highs and lows, just like every other year. My prayer for 2024 is that whatever storms (literal or figurative) come our way, we'll weather them and emerge on the other side with the strength to keep going forward, and that I am able to continue to make personal progress in the areas of my life that need improvement. 🙏 

Out with the old, in with the new! Happy New Year! 

Be blessed, and be a blessing! 😊

Time Keeps on Slippin' (Slippin', Slippin')

Happy Saturday, y'all! Welcome to the weekend! 🎉🥳

By the way, there's no TL;DR. I suffer from diarrhea of the keyboard. ⌨ Even my text messages are novellas. 📚 The beauty of reading the written word, however, is that you can take a break and go do something else, 🚚 then come back and pick up where you left off (And I won't know, because I can't see you... or can I? 😉) 

Here we are at the end of the last week of 2023. In just 2 days it'll be 2024. It seems like only a few weeks ago we were at the beginning of 2023! 

I've had some time to think about time over the past few days. Mostly, I've thought about how it flies by, and how it seems like there's never enough of it to get everything done that I need to do. I've also been frustrated when something I feel shouldn't take long at all ends up sucking up much more time than I anticipated. 

I've been blessed for the past 4 years to have a remote job that allows me to work from home. It's nothing glamorous or prestigious (or illegal), and the pay could be a lot better, but it's the type of work that's perfect for my introverted self. 😄 That being said, it's not all sunshine and roses and lazy days on the couch. It's work, and sometimes it gets to be a drag. 

Over the past 2 weeks, our processes and procedures got a major overhaul, and it's been... "interesting", to put it mildly. 😄 Along with those changes, I was promoted to a "senior" position which came with a 7% pay raise (80 cents an hour more, but putting it as a percentage makes it look like a lot 😉), a shiny new title (Senior Quality Auditor 📛), and a truckload of new responsibilities (no comment 😶). I'm very happy that my hard work has been recognized. I earned the promotion, the pay raise, and yes, even the truckload of responsibilities. 

The adjustment to all these changes has been more difficult than I expected, and I admit, I stumbled hard out of the gate. Time management has always been a struggle for me, which I've discovered is fairly common in people with ADHD. The biggest contributor to my poor time management is ✨The Side Quest✨ (which almost caught me just now), which I will get to in another post. 

Anyway, where was I? 🤔 Oh, yeah! Tripping over my expectations and falling on my face. Right. So yeah, these new processes and procedures have necessarily led to reassigning tasks and reorganizing timelines and deadlines. Before my promotion, when I was just a regular Quality Auditor, one of my responsibilities was to write a weekly document that went out to my assigned market's people (who are in India and speak and read Hindi. I'm in Louisiana and speak English-ish). The document isn't overly long, but it's more complex to put together than it looks. With the reorganization and promotion, I'm now responsible for writing a weekly document for each of 15 markets (with 10 different languages among them). 💀 A quick note about languages - The documents I write are in English for all the markets, but there are items from each of those 10 foreign (to me) language markets that I have to translate for my understanding. Google Translate and I are like this 🤞.

Now that I've given the super-summarized (no, really) background info, here's where things went sideways: when I was assigned to write all the documents, I thought, "Ehh. Yeah, it's more work, but I won't have to do this other thing that took up a lot of my time, so it should be super easy; barely an inconvenience!" Oh, ho, ho, was I mistaken about that! 😬  

I failed to do the math and extrapolate the results, so I was not prepared (so not prepared) when it came time to do the work and have it ready by the deadline. You see, I knew it took me an average of 1.5 hours to write my one document. What I didn't take into account was that it would most likely take at least that amount of time to write each of 15 documents (which calculates to 22.5 hours), and I have other responsibilities besides that (which I also failed to take into account). 

I did not meet the deadline that first week. I didn't even get all the documents written, in addition to other tasks that didn't get done. I faceplanted into a pile of unmet expectations. 😑  Thankfully, our management is very understanding, and knew that things wouldn't go very smoothly at first. 

This week, the second week, I thought I had it all figured out, but I found myself scrambling to finish my tasks again. At least this week I got all my documents written. They were late (again), but I covered all the markets this time (and management was still very understanding). It wasn't until I clocked out and looked at my time sheet that it occurred to me to "do the math". It was certainly an eye-opener! 

Now that I have a baseline number to work with, I need to make a real plan. I'll be spending time over the weekend working on that so I can start the new year with realistic expectations (New year, new me!). 🙏

Be blessed, and be a blessing! 😊

Megan

Coming Soon: "How'd I end up here, and how do I get back? (✨The Side Quest✨)"

   

Ain't it Funny (How Time Slips Away)?

Well, hello there! 👋😊 My, it's been a long, long time. 😊

Since my last post, we've had 2 presidents, and both of my kids are now adults. I've also moved house twice, and we survived the CoVID-19 pandemic of 2020. I've also had a work-from-home job for the past 4 years, and I've been promoted twice. There's been a lot of water that's passed under the bridge, and it would take several posts to even begin to document how life has gone on and how it has changed. Fear not, dear reader, I won't bore you with the minutiae. 😉 

I've recently received a life-changing (for the good) diagnosis of ADHD, and I've begun treatment for it. I'm in my second month of medication trials (personal, not clinical), and my healthcare provider and I are working together to get just the right medication and dosage to help me best manage the symptoms so that I can "live up to my potential". 

After my diagnosis (which was really a confirmation 32 years in the making), I started thinking about documenting my past experiences and my new path going forward, and I remembered this blog and wondered if it was still available. I post a lot on Facebook, but I think this is a better platform for longer posts, and it was just sitting here, dusty and mostly forgotten... 

Anyway, I found the keys to the blog, blew the dust off it, and it looks like it just needs some fresh gas to run like a top again. 😉👌 

What this blog will NOT be: 

• A forum to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or disorder. Get your own diagnosis & treatment from a competent, licensed medical professional!
• A forum for medical advice. I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV or the internet. I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (or any other night), and my medical degree from Google U doesn't exist. Any mentions of medications, home remedies, "alternative treatments", or things that I tried that worked for me are strictly anecdotal and given for the purposes of illustration only. Again, seek medical advice from a competent, licensed medical professional!
• A single-issue blog. I'm not trying to be another "ADHD Blogger", and I don't intend to focus solely on ADHD, whether it's mine or the disorder in general. It's part of my life, but it's not my entire life, and sometimes I just want to write about random things that come to mind.  

Whether this is an exercise in "talking to myself" (which people who know me "IRL" have actually witnessed), or someone reads it and gets something from it, writing helps keep my mind active, and sometimes writing things out helps me get some perspective on problems or other issues that come up. 

So, "Welcome!" if you're new, or "Welcome back!" if you've been here before. 😄 Grab a beverage and a snack (the coffee's always fresh), have a seat, and enjoy the ride. 😊

Megan

Random Thoughts (Now in Color!)

Some of you may remember when color television was a new thing, and shows boasted that they were broadcast IN COLOR (!!). Series that started out in black and white made the switch to NOW IN COLOR (!!!). By the time I was a regular viewer of television, everything was in color, so it wasn't a big deal. My generation saw the birth of NOW IN HIGH DEFINITION (!!!!). I don't know what the next innovation will be, but you can bet it'll have at least 5 exclamation points.

Did you know that at one time, one of the selling points of Crisco shortening was that it was digestible? The can on which I observed this bit of marketing genius was old, but it couldn't have been more than 30 years old, and shortening has been around much longer than that. Remarkably, however, the can had remained unopened until 2009, and the product was still good! The (now-empty) can has been saved for posterity.

Anyone who has seen an infomercial has witnessed the hilarious (but often head-scratching) difficulties using such items as jars of mixed fruit, small appliances that have an evil agenda, and even the humble blanket. When the original Perfect Pancake pan came out, my family and I sat in awe as footage (in black and white, of course) rolled showing a glop of pancake batter being dropped in about an inch of grease in an ordinary skillet. The voiceover lamented that everyone loves pancakes, but "ALL that added FAT!!!" The scene switches to a pair of hands breaking open an egg into a stainless steel skillet. The voiceover complains that eggs stick and make a mess as a spatula-wielding hand attempts to flip the egg cooking in a skillet with no oil whatsoever. Enter (IN COLOR!!) the Perfect Pancake pan! After seeing that infomercial, any time an ad comes on TV showing morons trying to do simple tasks (and failing miserably), we look at each other and say, "Deep fried pancakes, dry-fried eggs!" 

There are a few infomercial products that fill a niche, and they perform as advertised. A great many, however, are "variations on a theme", and the tasks the products are meant to make easier really aren't all that difficult to begin with. As an old neighbor told my dad one day, "That's for selling, not for buying." 

I have to give props to the infomercial actors, though. I can't imagine how hard it must be to not only act as though they haven't a brain in their head, but go out into the public knowing that everyone thinks they're an idiot. 

The first cool front of the season pushed through today! :-D The cooler temperatures won't last long, but it's a welcome respite from the humid heat. Come on, Fall! :-D 

Have a blessed day! :-)