Fumbling My Way through the Furlough

Surviving a Government Shutdown, a Day at a Time

It’s the third week of my unexpected time off without pay. Personally, I am fine, actually enjoying and making the most of the found time. Understanding that I am someone who likes to have a structure to work within, and how crazy I got during the last government shutdown (in 2013), I’ve taken advantage of what structures I could continue to work within, and this has helped.

For starters, while I am considered a “Non-Excepted” employee, meaning I am not needed to continue working full-time during the government furlough, there are excepted activities under me, specifically training of the field workforce who are excepted, so I’ve had to work some throughout the furlough. I worked full days the first two days of the furlough, then have averaged 1 to 2 hours a day since then, most of which I’ve been able to do from home.

This status has allowed me to keep my government computer and IPhone on throughout the furlough, as most of the work I’ve done has been responding to questions or issues surrounding the excepted training classes. There’s a lot of planning and logistical activities needed to prepare for these trainings, as well.

There were three classes held this week, there will be four next week, two more the following week, then eight classes coming up in February. That means a lot of planning and prep work, so it looks like I’ll be kept relatively busy, however long this furlough lasts. Judging by the rhetoric coming from both sides, it may not be ending anytime soon.

Let’s see what happens after 800,000 federal workers don’t receive their pay on Friday. That’s when there will be a lot more pressure brought to bear upon the President and Congress to find a way to end this shutdown. Plus, the longer it goes, the more people will become upset about the services that are not being performed. The work the government does is usually taken for granted, until it’s not being done anymore. Then people get upset, and start to realize how important some of that work is.

Outside of the couple hours a day I’ve worked, I have stepped up my involvement with AA during this time. As it is, I normally attend 4–6 meetings a week, so now I’m hitting between 7 and 10 a week. This is also helping to provide more structure that I can work within.

In terms of fitness, I’ve started the new year off like gangbusters, averaging 6 ½ miles walking per day, swimming just about every evening, and doing some other exercises that I’d gotten away from doing, now that I have more time for such things.

I’m also reading much more, having picked up a few new books to begin reading, while I’m still finishing up the Ulysses S. Grant bio by Ron Chernow, which has been excellent. I downloaded Reckless Daughter: A portrait of Joni Mitchell, by David Yaffe, that I read a review of and thought it sounded fascinating. She was one of my favorite singer-songwriters from the 60’s and 70’s, a very uncompromising individual with her own, unique style.

I also downloaded a new book by Allen C. Guelzo, “Reconstruction — A Concise History” after getting a tip about it from my oldest brother, Jim. He’d previously turned me onto Guelzo’s fabulous Gettysburg Battle account, called “The Last Invasion”, which was the best, most comprehensive and readable account of that battle that I’ve read. This new book by Guelzo dovetails nicely with the Grant bio, which is just now getting into the post-Civil War Recontruction era.

I’ve read a lot of Civil War books, since I once planned to, and may still, write one of my own. Its a historical fiction based on my great grandfather’s experience, both during and after the war. I’m also reading a book my old captain wrote, “Leading People to Be Highly Motivated and Committed”, which might come in handy when we return to work after the shutdown, and everyone is grumpy about the shutdown and not getting paid for however long it lasts. My counselor lent me another book on leadership he was telling me about, “Leaders Eat Last”, by Simon Sinek.

I had planned to use some of this found time to download more of my stories from Cowbird to Medium, after making some headway with that project right before the shutdown. Believe it or not, I’ve been so busy with everything else I’ve been doing, I haven’t gotten to that yet. I was going to say I ‘hadn’t found the time’ to do it yet, but remembered that I decided that this year, I won’t try to find time for things. I will make choices, to either do something, or not. If I wait until I find the time, it may never happen, since time is not real, so I’ll never find it. I’ll just choose to do it, or I’ll choose not to do it. So far, I haven’t chosen to do anymore of that, but I still hope to make that choice again, soon.

At this point, my best guess is, we have about another week of the Shutdown, then something will give. Perhaps I’ll still have the opportunity to choose to download more of those Cowbird stories, before this thing is through. I’m just taking it a day at a time, and dealing with what’s right in front of me. I watch as little of the news as possible, as I just can’t let myself go down that rabbit hole of frustration that I’ll quickly find myself in, if I fixate on it.

I’d rather read, and write.