I will describe a day of my life, specifically on a Thursday or Friday during the school year. Right now I am on summer vacation, so my day is much less eventful and harder to write about. The purpose of this blog will be to discuss the daily restraints I have in my life from all levels of society and some ways that I overcome or cope with these restraints. This is only an example of my day two days a week on Thursday and Friday during the school year.
I wake up at 6am and lift weights, drink coffee, read a book, and take a shower. By 7am, I drive from my apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland to the school I work at in Springfield, Virginia, which is roughly a 40 to 50 minute drive. My drive is all on the highway I-495 and the design of I-495 heavily constrains my movements. The way the road was built and the fact that so many people use the road causes bottlenecks which increases traffic and often my commute time. This leads to me having to wake up earlier and leave my apartment earlier. I exercise agency during this often brutal commute by listening to history podcasts while I am driving. I love listening to historical podcasts and it brings me happiness, taking an otherwise very frustrating commute into something I often look forward to.
I then proceed to work at the school from 9am to 3:15pm teaching history at the school. By day at the school, I follow a certain amount of societal norms such as a set class schedule and a set curriculum. I can’t go into as much detail as I would like about certain subjects in history because of these societal norms. Working at a private school, I do have much more freedom in a curriculum but the time restraints of the class period are still restraining. Obviously, norms such as class time and a set curriculum are the norm in all school systems all over the world.
At 3:15 the school gets out, I proceed to drive to Falls Church, Virginia to the restaurant where I work, which is about 20 minutes from the school. My shift does not start at the restaurant until 4:30, so I normally have about an hour to relax. During this period, I do a number of things depending on the day in order to exercise agency and have some control over my life. First, I always face time with my girlfriend, then I either sleep in my car, listen to my podcasts in the car, go see my father a few blocks away, or go to church for a few minutes before work. All of these activities help me to relax and recharge before my shift at the restaurant.
I then proceed to work at the restaurant from 4:30 until about 10:30, this time is very hectic and random, as the restaurant industry always is. Obviously, the number of people who go or don’t go to a restaurant heavily affects how the evening is going to be. For example, if the weather is bad, it will be a slow night, for the patio will not be open. On the other hand, if the weather is nice, many people will come to the restaurant. The unpredictability is a restraint on how my night will be and one that I have absolutely no control over. The general economic situation in Northern Virginia is also a major factor, the restaurant is quite expensive, and located in the wealthy city of Falls Church. The economic resources of our clientele lead many of them to be able to afford to eat out at a restaurant, therefore keeping me employed and making me money. At 10:30, I leave the restaurant and drive back to my apartment in Silver Spring. This drive takes about 35 minutes, though usually without the traffic that plagues my morning drive. Similar to my morning experience, I listen to my history podcasts which helps me stay awake and alert when I am very tired on my commute home.
