One son we took to the airport last night. He was catching the red-eye to Boston. The other left this morning, when it was still dark. He should be in Madison by tonight.
The house is quiet, but not so my mind.
The job offers keep coming -- it's almost laughable. I now have the option of working at four jobs: two with nonprofits and two for businesses. Alas, all these jobs are all part-time, which means that were I to take all of them, I would be working more than full time and at least six days a week, all with absolutely no safety net. That is, with no benefits of any kind. And, I suspect, this is one reason why I am getting so many offers. That, and my timidity around negotiating when it comes to the subject of compensation. It took me all of a few days to find out that at one of my part-time jobs I am getting 25 percent less in "wages" than my predecessor was earning. Why the fancy language, when the fact is that I am cheap! Unfortunately, it's mostly with other people's money and rarely with that of my own.
The funny thing is that putting a dollar value on my hourly output has a strange consequence on my psyche, at least when it comes to working in the for-profit world. I tend to become duller by the hour and less able and motivated to cope with the demands of the job. My stress level rises and I can measure its peaks in the rising caloric intake of carbs I consume, along with the time less spent on yoga.
Not so with my jobs in the nonprofit sector. In fact, it's almost the inverse. I am motivated to help the organization or clients beyond the call of duty, regardless of the wages I get. In turn, I always get something invaluable back. I am not sure it can be called satisfaction. I don't know what it is exactly, but it more than makes up for the low wages. Free of doubt over my abilities, I am also free to enjoy life outside work, which means more yoga and better interactions with the people around me.
Perhaps there is no need to analyze this in length or in fancy words. It's pretty simple, after all: In the for-profit sector I think that the routine of work takes the best out of me and makes me into a worse person in the end. In the nonprofit world, work takes the worst out of routine and makes me a better person in the end. Or, even more briefly: one gets me out of the world and into myself, the other gets me into the world and leaves me be....
This wasn't so hard now, was it? Thanks to this post, I now know how to decide about which jobs to take....
