How to Survive Third Shift

Some of you may know, I worked third shift as a SNAP (I will be talking more about this on a later post.) at a local hospital for over a year. Many people hate third shift and may only consider it as a last resort.

Not me! In fact, I specifically chose to work third shift. Why? I chose third shift because I knew it would give me more time with my friends/family and allow me to maintain a better routine. Plus the pay was better and I honestly run on little sleep anyway.

I understand not everyone can function on little sleep. So, how can you survive third shift life? Easy! Read my quick guide below:

Quick Guide to Working Thirds:

*Note this guide is geared towards someone working in a hospital, 7p-7a, but it can be modified to fit a variety of lifestyles.

1. What to eat?

• Eat dinner before you go into work. This will keep you full during your shift and prevent unnecessary snacking on junk throughout the night. During your break, have energizing fruits/ veggies that will keep you going. Although coffee is tempting, limit it and drink water instead. At the end of your shift or when you get home, have breakfast.

2. When to sleep?

• It is very easy to say, "sleep when you get home." But that may not be easy to do, so you may need extra help. If necessary, create a wind-down routine to help you prepare mentally. This may include meditation, sleepy tea, blackout curtains, relaxing music, etc. Also, I strongly recommend turning your phone off or on silent to prevent unnecessary distractions.

3. How to stay up throughout the shift?

• This was very easy for us, so I personally did not have issues with this. Typically there is always something to do, so in short, I would just say: keep busy. If there is downtime, see if it is okay for you to chat with colleagues, read a book, study, or something else productive.

4. How to maintain a social life?

• This one is tricky because it will be based on the number of days you work per week. I found it easy to do a little bit each day. This means I may clean one thing Monday and Tuesday then save Wednesday and Thursday for one fun activity with friends and family. However, allow flexibility so if something fun with friends comes up on a cleaning day, just swap those days. Now, some people may want to avoid that because they feel their off days are filled with too many obligations. If so, here is another option: do lots of activities on a few days. So clean everything on Monday. Rest Tuesday. Hangout all day on Wednesday. Rest Thursday. Make sense? This allows for more resting days on your off days, although two days may be jam-packed with things to do. Ps... spend a lot of time outside and get lots of sunshine!

5. How to know when thirds just are not working?

• Now, the tips above are great for someone eager to work third shift but sometimes it just does not work. If you are falling asleep on your drive home or unable to stay awake during your shift, it may be time to go back to day shift or cut back your hours. I

Review of Match.com

For this #30DayBlogChallenge I will be giving my honest opinion on Match dating site!

Background:

I used Match early 2019, to check it out and see what it was all about. I really trusted it would be a great site because I personally know two couples that met on Match and got married. (Cool, right?) So I figured I would give it a try.

My Membership:

I decided to go with a 6 month paid-membership because I thought it provided the best value. Their site does a nice job providing users with a variety of options, which is more than I can say about competing sites. Signing up and navigating the site/ phone app were very easy, which is a big plus. I hate nothing more than when I am trying to sign-up for something and I am greeted with problems... major turn off.

My Review:

Overall, I was very dissatisfied with the service and would rate it 2/5 stars and here is why.

Pros:

• The customer service was quick to reply to my email and quickly refunded my money when I canceled my account.

• The site has a beautiful interface and is very user-friendly.

• There are lots of users, so there is a good chance you will spend a lot of time communicating with potential matches.

Cons:

• The site asked me questions/preferences for my potential matches, but still suggested users that were nothing similar to what I was looking for. (Ex: I said I am only interested in matches from OH but the app still suggested men that were from CA or GA... how does that help me find love? This was the same for my age and education requirements. )

• Your best bet for finding great quality matches will come from using the search/filter options within the app to find users, rather than looking through the suggested users. In my opinion, this pretty much defeated the purpose of the app. I used the app and answered all the questions because I was expecting the app to send me people who fit my criteria. I do not want to spend hours going through filters to find the perfect match.

• Although there are a lot of members, there also seems to be a lot of bots/fake profiles within the app. It is hard to say if this comes from the site itself (perhaps to give the appearance of there being tons of members) or it is from people hoping to scam users out of money/gifts.

• The app does not tell you if you are communicating with a paid member or not, which really sucks! Match is free to sign up, which is great for people who want to see what the app is all about but problematic for paid users. Ex: If I paid to use the site, I may send a message to a free account and never hear anything back. This is a waste of time because if I had known your account was free (meaning you cannot send messages) I would have not sent you a message in the first place. See the problem here? It gets annoying because this can happen repeatedly.

• The app also allows you to show up in the suggestion feed for people that are not interested in what you offer. Like, seriously, what is the point in this? (Ex: If someone says they are only interested in dating a smoker but you do not smoke, you can still be suggested to that person. Despite the fact that you both have stated in your profile that you are not interested in the other person.)

Bottom Line:

I personally would not recommend the app. I have met more potential matches using free dating sites than using #Match . I am not saying people cannot meet on there and find true love, because I know and believe 100% it is possible but I just do not believe this app is better than any other app. I believe this app could be better if they make changes or even offered a free version of the app.