When Life Gets in the Way

For anyone who follows this blog, I just want to let you know that I’m still here!  I’m still a PSO, but things have been a little chaotic in our home recently.  Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and that usually means a major interruption to the normal schedule.  We recently added a 16-week-old puppy to our family.  Boy what a change!  I feel like I have a new toddler in the house.  Normally I try to write about my job itself, but this has been such an upheavel that I thought it was worth noting.  Since our puppy arrived I have been exhausted by early morning walks, training, afternoon walks, vet visits, evening walks, keeping the puppy from chewing everything, late night walks….  You get the idea.  It occurred to me that there are many changes that could occur in our lives that would disrupt the job of a PSO.  Probably the most profound would be the birth of a baby, a move or a death.  There are no hard fast rules about when to take time off, how much time, if you need to start all over again, or if you even want to.  Most PSOs work according to their own schedule.  Only a few companies have a minimum requirement for the hours worked and most are pretty outrageous.  If I had to do this job 35-40 hours a week, I wouldn’t have lasted more than that first week.  So what do you do when life throws a curve ball your way?  In a normal job you either take some time off or you use your job as an escape from the stress that’s just landed in your lap, but this isn’t a normal job.  Whatever your dealing with is going to disrupt your personal schedule, stress you out in positive and/or negative ways and most likely leave you with little desire or energy to take calls from horny clients.  Take some time to sort yourself out, reestablish your personal routine and if you need to take more than a week off you need to realize that you will probably lose either your regular clients and/or contract with your company.  Don’t stress, you can always sign a new contract and letting your clients know that you will be unavailable for a period of time is okay.  I was surprised at how off-balance I was after getting our puppy.  I took a week off to catch up on some much needed sleep and reassess my schedule.  I didn’t think it would be such a big deal, so I can only imagine how a major stressful event might affect your job.  Many PSO’s decide not to return to their jobs either reaching their financial goals or simply don’t have the energy to continue.  And let’s face it, if you have a new baby who has the energy for anything?  The important thing to remember is that this is only a job, your life is way more important.  Make yourself a priority, don’t try to be Super Woman.  What real woman wants to attain fictional status created by a man anyway?  Enjoy life, you only get one chance.  The job will always be here when and if you want to get back to it.