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My new job began on Monday, and it’s been exhausting since the minute I walked into the office. My first morning began in jail with a rather colorful defendant who operated in two modes—on and off. He would come close to crying one minute before trying to fire my boss the next. After that encounter, I spent the next two days in a trial with my supervisor. One huge bonus was the lovely painting I received as a welcoming gift from a senior partner. The work of art, “No Rest for the Night Shift,” gets passed down to each newbie at the office and will certainly be treasured as soon as I find a nice hanging spot for it, possibly behind the door or a filing cabinet.

On any given day, I get to the office before 8:30 and leave around 6 with a decently-sized lunch break when court is in recess. While this is a normal work day for a lot of people, I have never operated on such a rigorous and intellectually demanding schedule, and it’s definitely worn me down. However, my new schedule is slowly becoming a great thing for my diet.

The thinnest that I have been as an adult was while I was teaching, around 21 years old. Six years later, I can look back at that experience and realize that my physique then was due to the high-intensity of the situation and the rigid schedule that I had to hold myself to. My diet wasn’t necessarily “healthy” at that point, but it had structure, which I think is more important. I was forced to eat at regular intervals and it had to be food that I had packed and brought for myself.

As with teaching, I now have a job with certain times when I can and when I can not eat. Period. There is no snacking in between meals or grabbing something quick because it’s near me. I realize that if I don’t have access to food, I don’t think about food. Also, it’s immensely helpful that I don’t have much food readily accessible in my office to just gorge on. In my own little controlled-environment, I have apples, caramel rice cakes and fruit cups. I don’t have to deal with a roommate’s food, a fiance’s food or junk food I bought in a moment of weakness.

I feel healthier already, knowing that I have my own space to control what happens, where the only choices that I have to make are for me. Hopefully, healthier-me will lead to a lighter-me soon enough, because my heels are already killing me!

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