A Day in the 9-5 Working Life

In the past, I’ve taught swim lessons, worked at Chick-Fil-A, lifeguarded, babysat, interned at the lt. governor’s office, shadowed attorneys at a corporate firm, and worked as an RA, but a 9-5 office job is still relatively new for me. I may’ve mentioned this before, but this summer, I’m interning at a non-profit law firm in Durham, NC, that specializes in immigration, human trafficking, and family law.

Sitting all day in an office is an adjustment because I’m used to moving around a lot and doing a lot of different things during the day, but working at this firm has also been a really cool experience for me.

Here’s a recent day in the life!

6:00 My first alarm goes off. I halfway wake up, and then when my second one goes off two or three minutes later, I get out of bed. I don’t like rushing in the mornings, so I try to allow myself enough time to slowly wake up.

I get dressed, make my bed, and tidy my room to let myself wake up more before I start running. I snack on some blueberries before I head out the door.

6:35 I leave for my run. The summer sunrise happens right around the time I leave for my runs these days, and I love it! Empty roads and the sunrise make for a perfect run.

7:15 Get back from my run, shower, and get ready for the day.

8-8:30 Eat breakfast, pack my lunch, and chat with my mom, who’s downstairs eating breakfast before she goes to the gym.

I have part of a leftover sweet potato with cinnamon, almond butter, and raisins, plus a Siggi’s coconut skyr. I end up getting full and save half of the Siggi’s for later.

8:30 Leave for work

8:55  Arrive at work. It usually takes 30+ minutes to get to work in the morning, but it only takes 25 today. A long commute has been another adjustment for me, but it’s not too bad unless there’s a lot of extra traffic. I enjoy listening to music and podcasts and sometimes calling my sister or another friend to talk while I drive.

9-12:30 Since I’m working at a law firm and I’m obviously not actually an attorney, I do a lot of administrative tasks. This morning, I create invoices, mail donation receipts, and work on the summer fundraising campaign. I snack on some black grapes around 10:30 or so for a mid-morning snack.

I have a box on top of my desk (I got the idea from my supervisor!), so I can alternate between having a makeshift standing desk and a sitting desk. Switching between the two definitely helps combat the stir-crazy, restless, I’ve-been-sitting-for-a-million-hours feeling.

12:30 I take a break for lunch outside with a few of my co-workers. It’s hot (maybe 90 degrees?) but we sit in the shade and it feels great to be outside. I brought leftovers from a dinner I made the night before: spaghetti squash and regular pasta.

1:00-4:00 Work on creating more invoices, take a trip to the post office, work on our grants tracking system, and eat a granny smith apple for a snack.

Last week on a different day, I got to spend the afternoon at the county courthouse on Thursday, which was definitely a highlight. The firm runs a free clinic there once a week where people can come to get free legal consultations if they’re representing themselves in family court.

(In criminal court, people who can’t afford an attorney have the option to be appointed one, but in family court, people who can’t afford an attorney have to represent themselves, and there are a lot of confusing legal things they have to work through!) I’m going again this Thursday, so I’m looking forward to that.

I think one of my biggest takeaways from this summer has been how much I enjoy getting to do a lot of different things in a day. I really enjoy the days when I have a mix of of meetings and collaborative projects and interaction with other people (time flies by!), versus the days when I’m working on a single project or two by myself.

I also love that my office is business casual, so I can wear fun dresses or skirts and casual shoes, so I rarely wear heels or anything super dressy unless I’m going to the courthouse.

4:00 I pack up my things and leave for the day. Since I live far from the office, I leave around 4 to beat the worst rush hour traffic, and then I finish up work projects for around an hour once I get home. When I’ve left at 5:00, it took me 75 minutes to get home, but when I leave at 4, it’s only (only?) about 40 minutes.

On my way home, I stop by the bank to deposit a check which I haven’t done in forever since I usually use my bank’s mobile app (best thing ever!), but this particular check didn’t work with the app.

5:00 I walk in the door and am greeted by my dog. My mom has roasted cauliflower in the oven, so I have a bowl of roasted cauliflower and the rest of my coconut skyr from earlier in the day.

5:00-6:45 I change into comfy clothes, finish up work and then head downstairs to help make dinner.

6:45 I sit down for dinner with my parents. My older sister’s newly married and living in Baltimore, and my younger brother’s gone for the summer, so it’s been just my parents and me for the past month or two. I feel like an only child for the first time in my life, and it’s a strange feeling!

For dinner, we always start out with a salad every night. For our main course, we have spicy fajita chicken with a black bean sauce and guacamole. On the side, I finish off my leftover rice from dinner out two nights before.

8:00-10:00 For the past few weeks, my parents and I have been watching an episode of some show after dinner if we’re all home. Tonight, it’s Fixer Upper. I have a small bowl of Talenti’s cookie dough.
I usually end up working on mini projects while watching things, so that night, I start typing up this blog post and edit pictures. My parents just celebrated their 30th anniversary of dating and I did a anniversary photo session for them! I’m also currently in the middle of redesigning my photography business website, so I’ve been spending lots of time working on that. Once it’s done, I’ll be sure to share it with you all! 

10:30 I get ready for bed and go to sleep!

So, that’s a typical day in the life. Wake up, run or go to the gym, go to work, get home, and then have a couple of hours when I get home to eat dinner (or make and then eat dinner), write a blog post, watch a show, talk to a friend on the phone, edit pictures, go to the gym if I didn’t run that morning, etc.  

My absolute favorite thing about this short season is NO studying at night!

So tell me…
Do you prefer morning or evening workouts?
Definitely morning- nothing will come up in the morning that’ll get in the way of a morning workout, and since I like being active early in the day when I know I won’t be for the rest of the day. And I love coming home from work, eating a big snack, and just crashing.
What do you like to do when you get home from work?