Pursuit of Eggsellence

It seems like over the last year, we’ve embarked on multiple projects that have taken up a considerable amount of time, energy, and effort. These undertakings have consumed much of our lives, but we anticipate that they’ll propel us well into the next phase of our lives. From side gigs to more relational arenas, it feels like we’ve overextended ourselves. This has been a big pain point for us, as many aspects of our day to day lives now do not even closely resemble that of when we first met.

Due to how scattered our lives have been recently, we’ve made some major adjustments. One of the biggest adjustments was to actually stop working overtime shifts. I initially picked up extra shifts while Peter did freelance jobs on UpWork to help pay for some major expenses. In the last two months, I’ve stopped extra shifts altogether while Peter is similarly no longer taking on freelance gigs. This was in large part because we were starting up our own side gig and I just ran out of steam to be juggling all of these responsibilities.

The shift was initially very uncomfortable for me. After all, I thought that with the reduction in work shifts that there would be more time for relationship fun. Instead, those hours have only turned into work of our own design. This side project is now actually occupying large segments of our hours after our day jobs throughout the week as well. Despite the initial discomfort, it’s actually significantly better than being beholden to strict scheduling hours. It’s freeing to work on our own terms and hours (aside from Peter’s slight managerial edge).

We are hoping to leave our enviable DINK status to become a TINK household, at least for the time being. In so doing, we’ve slacked off in our previously regimented lives, from housekeeping to health. We’ve been cooking substantially less, maintaining a barely livable space, and frequently missing gym mornings. Our lives in the last few weeks have been barely recognizable.

In this vacuum, we’ve started relying on quicker but equally nutritious meals. Eggs have been a staple in our diet for this reason. We never did eat many eggs before this, and now we’re consuming them by the dozens. Soy marinated eggs in particular have secured a place in our weekly rotation—easy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pro tip: dry, powdered spices like garlic and ginger do not go well in the marinade. Peter has unfortunately been the experimental guinea pig for multiple failed iterations. This is an eggsciting time in our lives, in more ways than one. It’s curious to think about how eggs have taken center stage in our lives.

As Peter and I have worked on projects together, we are learning a lot about ourselves. I used to think I was pretty lax when it came to business, promptness, and expectations. This was reinforced when I met Peter whose expectations can be bewilderingly high at times. But in this project, I am finding that I’m actually very type A, and in so many ways. Peter is actually type A+, all things considered. Our side gig has required us to work a variety of individuals and personalities. That definitely put into perspective just how anal retentive the two of us are.

This level of anal retention have worked to our benefit in many ways, but it’s actually been a source of great frustration. While we understand we cannot manage all of these other individuals, we can’t exactly compromise on our expectations either. And that tension causes a lot of discontentment and angst. We tell ourselves to be unrelenting in this pursuit for excellence, but I think Peter wears it better than I do.

Peter and I were rambling about this to our therapist one day—the level of flustered we become when we simply cannot get a simple email response back from our collaborators. Both of our jobs require that we are prompt about our inbox tickets and messages. Still, it’s not that we are conditioned by our jobs but rather we feel intimately the internalized pressures of urgency and courtesy in responding in a timely manner. Our therapist only chuckled at this expectation of a 24-48 business hour turn around.

As tired as we (I) are (am), we’ve had a lot of fun learning a variety of skills. We collected them over the last few years while engaging in various tasks and hobbies. Our current projects allow us to utilize this mash up of random talents. We’re hoping that our work will come to fruition. In its most nascent stages, the project consumed much of our livelihood. We’re slowly getting the hang of things, and hope that it’ll only get easier from here. As our therapist put it, growing this project together is akin to the challenges of parenthood.

We often think about whether this project will actually come to bear tangible results. Truthfully, we’ve each had our doubts. We take solace in the fact that, at the very least, we are learning along the way. It’ll be a very expensive lesson if that were the case. But, as it unfolds, we are hopeful to share more of this project with our friends and family!