It's okay to have a bad day

After leaving the job that was slowly killing me and starting a new job that brings me joy, it finally happened. I had a rotten day. Before I even got to work, I felt kind of crummy and my kid managed to make me say "F it. Wear pajamas to school." H was very much in a "no pants!" mood this morning. So when I got to work, finding 2 million (rough estimate) ants in the children's non-fiction DVDs, I knew I was in for a clunker.

I remember watching A Bug's Life, and thinking, "aww, ants are people too." But today, as I found yet another ant CRAWLING ON MY ARM all I could think was "Kill. Kill them all!" 20 minutes and half a box of Clorox wipes later, there were significantly less ants in the library.

Note: just this morning as I sipped my coffee and nibbled my donut in the car (unaware of the irony I'd encounter later) I mused over the fact that the library is pretty strict with its NO FOOD policy. Hangry people make terrible customers. What are a few chips or a couple of chocolate bars going to hurt? Oh to be the carefree and naive Catherine of 8 am. 9:30 am Catherine was cursing the creator of Reese's Pieces and declaring that there is a special place in hell for anyone who eats in a library.

After the glorious start to my morning, my day frankly sucked. I won't go into all the details, but it certainly wasn't stellar.

But here's the thing. It's okay. I came home and while tired, I'm fine. If this had been three months ago, when I was at my old job, I would have been in tears. I was in such a bad place that a minor set back made me feel like a failure. Today, I was certainly crabby (especially when I was CERTAIN that ants were crawling all over me all day) but it was okay. I came home and hung out with my awesome kid and ate a donut (yes my second of the day).

I cannot stress enough how wonderful it is to have an okay bad day.

A new start

Back in May, I left a library job I had grown to hate. The people I left behind were lovely, but the work, the commute and the time away from my family were all getting to be too much.

But because I had a boss who was kind and caring, I was able to step down from my management position and go back to being a front-line librarian at a new library branch. I went from sitting behind a desk, filling out budgets and work orders to working with customers and helping people directly. As an added bonus, rather than being on call 24/7 (or at least during all the working hours of the library) I work three days a week. The other two, I get to hang out with the cutest kiddo on the block - H.

My life isn't perfect by any means, but I am exponentially happier than I have been in years.