The past few months have been such a challenging period that I’ve been close to dissociation to cope with the stress of it all. Balancing a full-time career with a side hustle and hobbies ain’t an easy task even for the strong hearted. (I’m already feeling some of the side effects to which I’m suppressing it during office hours. Can’t exactly afford to let it leak onto my face, can I?)
Yet, it was during one of those braindead weeks that I discovered a bunch of new cafes around my workplace. I’ve only managed to experience their dishes through takeaway because I didn’t have the extra time to spare for dine-in, but at least there are a few cafes in mind that’s worth spending time in and blogging about if the mood strikes. I mean, its homey atmosphere is enough to allow me to take a breather with a book in hand and a cup of coffee next to me.
We’ll see how it goes since old habits are dying hard.
I’m sure it’ll cause me to keep cans of 100Plus at a secret spot in the pantry where no one is able to locate it, considering that it is a popular drink in the office. As it is, I’m already stocking up on sugary drinks at home for those dizzy days.
Since another colleague had tendered her resignation, it led to a farewell lunch with takeouts as no one wanted to take the risk of dining in the restaurants. You know, with the severity of the pandemic and all. What transpired instead was a roundtable meal with our respective dishes and extra chairs being yanked into the meeting room. Don’t look at me; it wasn’t something that we had agreed upon in advance. It just so happened that everyone had the same idea of reminiscing our last few hours with the said colleague while we had the chance to.
And that led to us being packed like sardines.
Someone - I can’t remember who - even suggested a round of drinks and a sponsored dinner later that night, but none of us were open to the idea. I mean, there are various reasons for it with one being the danger of driving under the influence. I personally had my own things to attend to and it’s arduous for me to enjoy myself at events.
Although I was unable to explore the cafes and restaurants around my workplace and residence, I somehow found myself running errands and stumbling upon Christmas decorations. You could say that it was unplanned, considering that I’m not in the mood for socializing, not to mention I’m also keeping a distance from everyone and building walls again.
Could it be a symptom of me wanting a break?
Could it be a sign that I want my boundaries?
In the midst of it all was a simple birthday lunch thanks to my hesitance to honor the special day since high school. As barely anyone in the office knew about the special day, I sneaked out of the office to grab something light (although in hindsight, it’s considered high-caloric). On top of that, I also didn’t want the entire workplace, much less my department, to be aware of it since there was no mood to celebrate it.
Will this mean that I’ll hide on New Year’s Eve to sleep? We shall see because there’s a chance of me spending it with the freelance activities, lol.
