Winding up the week

So it took about 30 hours before I started to feel significantly better after the injection. Three days after the fact, I would say it's helped for that area, though not for the glutes. Sitting all day at work still is somewhat uncomfortable. I'm not certain I'd have the needle again. Therapy of some sort instead, perhaps. Which I likely will end up doing anyway.

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I've been reading an executive summary of the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. A coworker has the book, but I don't have the patience or focus to wade through anything of length. (Isn't that sad? I remember when I did and could, and it wasn't that long ago.)

Anyway, even the exec summary helps explain a few things. Of course for decades I've been aware I'm introverted, and have known for a number of years that there are actual differences in parts of the brain between introverts and extroverts. But some things that I've chalked up to my mental health issues, such as my sensitivity, actually might be more related to the introversion. That and the "horror" of small talk. (I love how that was stated. Not that we're antisocial, that we do like to engage in deeper conversation one-on-one, but we have a "horror of small talk." Yep.)

It's exceedingly difficult to be an introvert in a culture that values only extroverts in every facet, from education to business to church, etc. No wonder I go home exhausted every day.

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I'm taking a week's vacation (staycation) the first week in August. The Monday is a holiday anyway, so I'll use only 4 vacation days and I'll still have a week for Dad and Hélène in September, if they make it here. (And if they don't for some reason, I probably would take a week regardless.)

I'm looking forward to schlepping around in lounge clothes and doing as little as possible. (Have a couple of appointments scheduled already.) I'm not even going to pretend I'll get anything useful done in the house.

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I guess the big news this week is that my work position is being upgraded. I knew it was in the works, has been since January, but I found out yesterday that it will be bumped up two grades. That's a pretty significant jump and I confess that when I read the position summary yesterday I was almost physically ill. For the record, I had hoped the position would be upgraded one level, never imagined two. The summary of the "new" position is...daunting. (Same job, which is quite different from the original job description, when I was hired 13.5 years ago. But the language used in the description makes it seem far, far more than what I do, IMO.) I actually had to clarify a few things with my "big" boss before I felt comfortable signing the document.

Most people probably would be over-the-moon for a job upgrade like this; trust me not to be. The increase in net income still won't be enough to even begin to dig myself out of debt, and of course it will make it even harder to ditch my job and life and run away from home, pick up elsewhere. You know, on those days each month when I desperately want to.  :-)

Anyway, this won't take effect until the end of the summer, if all goes well, so I'll just have to see how it plays out when fall rolls around.

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And that's another exciting week at my end. I'll keep my fingers crossed for quiet and serenity on the home front this weekend, because the current noise level at the office is driving this introvert batty.

Peace.