Exhausted

G’day eaters!

For those of you who have been reading consistently since the summer you know that I have a job.

For those of you who are new to the club…I have a job. I work at a clothing store called Altar’d State, which is something like a mix between Forever 21 and Anthropologie in both style and price, and I recently got promoted from a sales associate to a part time manager. (I probably forgot to tell you that, didn’t I?)

I don’t talk about it much because, while I really love my job and just about every shift is a hoot and a half and it’s surprisingly challenging, it doesn’t really have anything to do with what we do here — food and exercise and occasionally trying to be a little healthier.

But then I realized the other day, as I flopped myself down on the couch after a particularly exhausting shift, that it kind of does have a little to do with what we do here.

I remember back in the summer, when I was looking for a job, scoffing at all the job postings that stated being able to stand for 6 hours at a time as a requirement.

Of course I can stand for 6 hours at a time!

I work out!

I’m in shape!

I’m not carrying around an extra 15 or so pounds like the average American. I’m healthy as a horse — the healthy kind of horse, not the kind bound for the glue factory.

Fyi, I don’t usually wear yoga pants to work. Today we were doing inventory. And fyi again, my dog does usually use a pillow.

And yet here I am, not even 7 months later, absolutely exhausted after a 5-hour shift.

In my defense, I’m not just standing for 5 hours. I’m walking, sometimes running. I’m carrying things and climbing and bending and twisting and smiling and remembering where things are and lugging around a giant commercial vacuum at night.

Granted, I’m climbing a ladder not a mountain, and the heaviest thing I carry is a dozen maxi dresses or a box of hangers, but now I know that I shouldn’t have been scoffing at 6 hours of standing as an important job requirement. And I’m reminding of that every day after a shift when I come home tired and just a little bit sore and the mere thought of sitting down in a comfortable chair makes me weak in the knees and I would give almost anything for half an hour in a hot Jacuzzi.

Now this isn’t a post about how physical exertion comes in all varieties, not just Crossfit (though that is a post I want to write). This is a post about how I need to find comfortable, fashionable shoes. And I need to learn how to recover better, both from work and from the gym. And I need to learn how to save enough money to buy a Jacuzzi.

Your turn, eaters:

Got any suggests for comfortable, fashionable shoes besides Toms? 

How do you recover? Food? Stretching? Active recovery? An on-call masseuse? 

Later eaters!