Day 66: The First Day Back to Work

I was able to string together 2 consecutive nights of only waking up once the entire night. I even added an additional 45 minutes to my total sleep last night. 

That helped me to feel rested heading into my first day back at work.

I did wake up feeling sore in my upper back, shoulders and left bicep from yesterday’s physical therapy session.

I started my morning off going through my new normal routines of taking Sasha for a walk with Laura, taking my vitamins and protein shake then consuming content.

When I fired up my email I was surprised at the number of “welcome back” emails I had from colleagues. It was a warm welcome and completely unexpected.

I used my 2 of my 4 hours today to have a couple of one-on-ones with my team members. My other 2 hours were used to process email and tackle a number of admin tasks that had built up. 

After being out of work for 2 months, I was happy to process my inbox down to about 20 emails before day’s end. It makes it easy when you’re out for that long.

It was great using my standing desk for the first time today. Though it is recommended to start with 15 minutes standing and then 30 minutes sitting, I was able to stand for around 45 minutes before needing to sit down.

There are a few hiccups that I need to figure out with the standing desk. When I’m sitting my monitors are a bit too high and when I’m standing they are a bit too low, just below eye-level. Nothing too major but little things that need to be solved for in the coming days.

It felt really good to be re-engaged with work and directly with my team. It was a bit exhausting, as I expected it would be, but already feel mostly brought up to speed. The rest of it will trickle in throughout the rest of this week and next.

I decided to work an hour on and then rest for an hour. That schedule seemed to work well. Though that won’t hold every day this week, it was a good way to start back.

During my rest periods I tried doing low-energy tasks like scheduling an appointment and reading. This helped to keep my brain active but not burn too much energy before going back to work.

Laura decided to make homemade chicken stock using a number of ingredients that we had delivered from Good Eggs today. Tomorrow she will use that stock to make chicken soup.

It was a cold, chilly day in the Bay Area so it was fantastic having the apartment warmed up with the delicious smells of chicken stock simmering.

At the end of the day I went next door to the gym to get in my workout. I increased the resistance to 6 on the stationary bike and pushed myself to pedal faster. Both of these changes increased my overall mileage to 7.65 (+0.65) miles.

I am considering increasing my workouts from 3 per week to 5 to continue to push my body a bit more. We’ll see where I end up deciding over the next few days.

We celebrated my first day back at work with a bottle of bubbles (yay!). It was my first glass of champagne since being given the green light to enjoy alcohol again. 

Knowing that today would be a busy day we ordered dinner from Munchery. It was a fast, delicious and healthy dinner with easy cleanup. If you live in the Bay Area or Seattle (just added), you should really give Munchery a try (here's a link for $10 off).

I am proud of how much I was able to get done today in my first day back and with only 4 hours. The only thing that I am disappointed in is that I did not get a new Built Unstoppable article published like I had planned. It will take a bit of adjusting to my new schedule.

It is supposed to rain overnight so we’ll see if that means a great night of sleep or being woken up several times. It is always one or the other, never in between. Living on a marina, when it rains, it sounds like a torrential downpour.

Today was a major milestone. Thank you for all of your support along the way to get this far in such a short period of time - I genuinely appreciate it.