Monday, Monday

Today was spent, well, mostly Chanukah shopping.  There, I said it.  I mean, I did my various job search stuff, and I gave advice to a recent college graduate.  But then I spent a lot of time, and not very much money, stocking up for smiles on my kids' faces.  
Many days, I might feel guilty for not pounding the virtual pavement all day.  But one of the things I've found this year is that Mondays are almost always a killer in the job search world. The job searcher spends much of the weekend trying to focus on family, since not much will happen job-wise then, so by Monday morning, he or she is raring to go--writing letters, looking for postings, waiting for the phone to ring. The job searchees--the gatekeepers of all the possible jobs--on the other hand, have spent their weekends likely happily away from work, so come Monday, they are not necessarily raring to go, particularly not to talk to overeager searchers.
 
Believe me, I have spent many a Monday trying to push past that scenario, believing that if sent enough "checking in" emails or LinkedIn invitations, Monday would be a productive day.  And thankfully, there have been weeks when Monday was consumed with an edit project or with teaching myself some new software, but always with an eye on the email and the LinkedIn.  It's cyberspace after all, things can change every minute.  But on Mondays, things rarely do.

So this week, rather than fighting what I couldn't change, I fought for what I could--walking, fresh air (well, rainy fresh air), and giving myself a bit of joy as a mom.  The computer will still be there tomorrow, and I suspect that by then, the gatekeepers and I will be more on the same time schedule.