My summer motto, in the words of the beloved Tom Haverford from Parks & Rec: “Ya gotta work a little to ball a lot.”

And I don’t just work a little. I work a lot. I’ve shared about my intense summer work schedule on the blog & how I am a legit workaholic. I thrive while being busy and that’s just a simple fact about me. I love to work and I love to work hard.


Last summer I took a paid digital internship, managing the social media for a 3D printing tech start-up which meant I was at home controlling my hours, needless to say it wasn’t my best. So this past spring I was determined to be busy, organized & work, a lot. Hence why I am the crazy chick working 2 jobs as well as planning this sweet space of a blog for when I go to school.

So what do I do? I have been asked this quite a bit because I never explicitly say! I work as the studio coordinator for my local Pure Barre & Flywheel locations. My typical day varies as my schedule changes but typically I work the morning shift at Flywheel (beginning at 5:15am and lasting 5 or so hours) four days a week and the afternoon shift at Pure Barre a few nights (4 hours each.) My week varies but it falls into a pretty consistent pattern of early  mornings and slow afternoons.

It is really easy to say that I just do a bunch of cleaning and working the front desk, inferring my work is meaningless. And I got into a rut my first week of this pattern, where I woke up to clean shoes and spent my nights organizing a desk, putting me into a rut. While I still have come to dislike the smell of “fresh linen lysol” and mopping isn’t my favorite thing in the world, my perspective on work has changed.

I read an article (which unfortunately I can’t find) about how Millenials need to begin embracing the bottom jobs. As an adamant not-millenial (Gen Z – whoop whoop!) this really hit me: your highschool summer job isn’t supposed to be the best job you have in the world but that doesn’t mean you can’t find the fun.

Nope I’m not working in a glamorous start up company or even wearing a cute outfit. It isn’t the most Instagram worthy thing in the world. There’s not a “summer work daily OOTDs”: I rock a uniform and messy bun, Walmart black leggings and some sort of tee-shirt on the daily.

But just because I’m doing work that people would seem meaningless, doesn’t mean my work has to be.

Yeah, I work a lot and I work in group fitness. I clean a lot of things. I organize a lot of things. And yet I have found ways to have meaningful connections and learn and love the place I’m at.

I remember a conversation with a former friend back this fall who questioned why I wanted to work so much during my last “free summer” but working so much this summer is freeing. Sure I’m not going on extravagant road trips with friends or living at the beach but I treasure my time with friends more than I would if I saw them every day. Because I work so much I genuinely love going to church as a necessary social outlet, I enjoy going on sweat dates with friends to work out and treasure it all.

So is my work meaningful?

Yes.

My weekday begins at waking up at 4:30 am where I go to work, open the studio and greet clients. I’m the or one of the first faces they see in the morning and for most of our clients I’m the last face they see before they continue with their day and go to work. Then for my afternoon shifts, I am for some, a huge part of their social life. Group fitness is many people’s social outlet, so for those needing to feel community or craving genuine friendships, this is where they find it. I especially work in an area with many teachers who work long days, needing adult interaction and smiles from someone who isn’t a preschooler.

I work where most people wouldn’t find it fulfilling and while it isn’t my “ultimate life calling” I’m called to love and be a light in whatever place & space I am, so I hope my conversations & smiles are doing just that.

It may not be pretty or glamorous but I sure do love this short season I’m in.

Xo

Mags

This post first appeared as a guest post on Brittany Guerin’s Blog Series #mindflipmonday