22 Jul Slow Down! Well, maybe not…
I was talking with a “wriend” (my word for work-friend) yesterday. We were chatting about our work and life situation. I lamented – gee I have a lot going on. I’m in a job transition and I’m looking for a new opportunity, I am working through my hip rehab, a close family member passed away, I got the worst haircut ever – what is the universe trying to tell me? He told me: The universe is telling you to Slow Down!
My wriend has a point. By the end of June, I had flown 120,000 miles all around the world. I’m shocked that it’s mid-July and it’s no wonder – I’m never home and time has flown away from me (pardon the pun). I’m afraid to calculate the number of nights I have been home versus the number of nights I stayed in hotel rooms – it might be a depressing number.
Don’t read anything negative into this – I consciously traveled this amount, and I liked it. I’ve been doing this for about 12 years. But as I look back on the past 18 months, I became consumed by work and the travel that went with it and it’s time to slow down.
We all struggle with the work/life balance, so much that the term work/life balance is ubiquitous. Do a Google search (“it’s worth a Google”) and page, after page, after page of links. I got bored after page 12. On that page “Fathers struggle with work-life balance too”. Hmmm – that’s a big duh – anyone can struggle with work/life balance, but I digress.
Ok – so back to topic. I do this every time I get a job I love. I throw myself into work and slowly the things that are important to me in my personal life take a back seat. It typically starts with reading – I don’t just sit down and read a book. Then, my studies – I’ve been studying French for years and I stop my daily practice. Then it’s exercise and generally taking care of myself. Except for walking the dogs, I can find many reasons to ‘ditch’ my workout.
What do we learn from this? I will be perfectly honest – I will change nothing. I am between jobs and I will take time for myself and do the long list of things that I want to get done. Then when I take employment I will fall into my old habits. And that’s ok with me. I will continue to have the balance that works for my family and me. Maybe not 120,000 air miles in 6 months, but throwing myself into work and enjoying all that it brings me!
About the author:
Kim McMahon has done sales and marketing for more years than she cares to count. She writes frequently on marketing, life, the work, and how they sometimes all come together.