Naturally, I came down with a cold on Friday morning and have been sniffling all weekend. I am hovering between glad that I didn't get sick during my first work week and angry that I got sick for my first weekend off of work. These pictures were taken this evening and we all have the sun to thank for brightening/whiting out my red, sniffly nose.
What is it about starting a new job that's so exhausting? Do you think it's the constant learning process, the mistake-making (what a brutal learning curve), or the name memorization? I am not entirely sure why doing new and foreign things makes me so uncomfortable, but I find myself living on the very promising thought that I will learn the job, will be good at what I do, and will learn everyone's name/how the office works/where the shred bin is/what I'm actually supposed to be doing at any given time. When I think about my fear of getting things wrong or embarrassing myself at work, it seems a bit silly, as I take a lot of pride in what I do, love my career track, and love learning new things... but there's something unnerving about new-ness nonetheless. There's certainly something to be said for sticking with your employer for as long as possible.
I've heard that it takes three to six months to fully learn the duties of a new job. If that's true, I might just stop getting up in the morning because that's a really long time from now. How do you guys cope with adjusting to new environments? Be it a new city, a new job, or new hobby? Do you embrace it, jump in, and come to terms with the awkward first few months? I'd love some tips from the pros out there that are aces at trying new things.