Um, I can't believe it's the weekend already. I am actually happy this week is almost over! It was a stressful week. My last guitar class of this session is today, which means there's a recital. Besides blogging, guitar took a hit, too. I've barely practiced and reluctantly decided to take a break this time around. But I don't want to never play again or give it up, so I joined the Old Town School of Folk Music. I figured if I was a member and paying for it, I'd be more likely to sign up for classes and not give up on my folk music dreams! : ) I'll take a break until June and sign up for the next session. Gardening season is upon us and I plan on working long hours over the next few months. Guitar would have been the death of me!
Anywho...I may not have gotten it together to blog Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week, but I did get it together to blog today...twice (I'll be posting a weekend date later on today!). I'm really, really trying to blog more, even if it doesn't seem like it. I've just been so, so tired and overwhelmed with work lately. Here's a short list of everything I've given up for work lately:
- Blogging
- Guitar
- Photography
- Talking to family
- Talking to friends
- Seeing family
- Seeing friends
- Crafting/making things
- Cleaning (A.P. does this almost exclusively now)
- Reading
And I'm sure there are more things I'm forgetting. It makes me wonder, though, how do people do it? I'd love to do a feature here on balance because some people seem to do it so well and I seem to struggle with it so. I obviously have much to learn. I'm amazed when people work full time, are part of some kind of book club or sport team or what have you, and they manage to have a social life. I just don't get how that happens. If they have kids on top of it, I'm even more baffled. How do people find balance in their lives? Do they just make a decision to leave work at a certain time or not work on the weekends? Or are their jobs simply more conducive to having a life?
How do YOU find balance? What tricks can you share with the hopelessly unbalanced like me?
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
4.26.2012
3.14.2011
Advice
So, I have a dilemma and I don't know what to do. I figured who better to ask than you lovely readers. Here goes...
Currently, I am working overtime twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I earn pretty good money for doing so. It's almost the equivalent of a third paycheck a month. Then two other days a week, I stay late for purposes related to the grant I won a few months ago. This means that 4 days out of the week, I work late and get home late. In fact, Mondays are my only early days, and typically those days I run errands for the house or for my job.
Here's how a typical work week goes these days:
Monday - Get home @ 4-4:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work or do house chores, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Tuesday - Get home @ 8pm, eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Wednesday - Get home @ 5-5:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Thursday - Get home @ 8pm, eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Friday - Get home @ 5-5:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
The overtime I'm doing is in three month chunks. If you sign up to participate, you sign up for three months and it's up to you if you want to do it again the next time around. The deadline for whether or not I want to work another three months of overtime is approaching and I have to decide soon. I go back and forth every day.
Here's a quick pro/con list:
Pros - I make more money which allows me to meet a couple of big financial goals (paying off student loan debt and saving for a house). It looks good to my bosses that I'm willing to pitch in. And if I get better at managing my time I could potentially get all my work done for the week in 5 days (meaning no Sunday work, which is typically a whole Sunday).
Cons - I'm exhausted all the time. I don't get to see A.P. as much these days. I, in some ways, tripled my work load. I also feel that soon my grant project will take up even more time on Wednesdays and Fridays and I will be at work even later those days. My personal life is taking a major hit. I barely have time to clean, cook, or do anything I love: read, write, take photographs, etc. Finally, by the time the weekend rolls around, I become pretty useless. I bum around, take naps, and do nothing on Friday night/Saturday, and I work all day Sunday.
So it obviously looks like there are more cons to pros, but that first pro is a big one, and I'm torn about what to do. The ability to pay off my student loan debt way faster than I anticipated is a big draw. But this whole thing is affecting my appearance, too. You all should see the sad, sunken eyes I'm sporting these days! Plus A.P. keeps telling me I should just forget about it, and just pay off the loans eventually. And he's the first to get excited about reducing my debt, but he really sees the toll this is taking on me. I also feel that as long as I can handle these overtime stints, I should take them on. It will help us so much financially, and I still have that poor person mentality that I have to bust my ass for money. Argghhh!!!
What would you guys do? I'm so torn. Every Tuesday/Thursday morning, I wake up and want to kill myself at the thought of another 12-hour day, but then the work day ends and I kind of think I can do it. I really can't make up my mind.
Currently, I am working overtime twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). I earn pretty good money for doing so. It's almost the equivalent of a third paycheck a month. Then two other days a week, I stay late for purposes related to the grant I won a few months ago. This means that 4 days out of the week, I work late and get home late. In fact, Mondays are my only early days, and typically those days I run errands for the house or for my job.
Here's how a typical work week goes these days:
Monday - Get home @ 4-4:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work or do house chores, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Tuesday - Get home @ 8pm, eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Wednesday - Get home @ 5-5:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Thursday - Get home @ 8pm, eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
Friday - Get home @ 5-5:30pm, write, try not to fall asleep, work, make/eat dinner, watch TV/surf the net/hang out with A.P., go to bed
The overtime I'm doing is in three month chunks. If you sign up to participate, you sign up for three months and it's up to you if you want to do it again the next time around. The deadline for whether or not I want to work another three months of overtime is approaching and I have to decide soon. I go back and forth every day.
Here's a quick pro/con list:
Pros - I make more money which allows me to meet a couple of big financial goals (paying off student loan debt and saving for a house). It looks good to my bosses that I'm willing to pitch in. And if I get better at managing my time I could potentially get all my work done for the week in 5 days (meaning no Sunday work, which is typically a whole Sunday).
Cons - I'm exhausted all the time. I don't get to see A.P. as much these days. I, in some ways, tripled my work load. I also feel that soon my grant project will take up even more time on Wednesdays and Fridays and I will be at work even later those days. My personal life is taking a major hit. I barely have time to clean, cook, or do anything I love: read, write, take photographs, etc. Finally, by the time the weekend rolls around, I become pretty useless. I bum around, take naps, and do nothing on Friday night/Saturday, and I work all day Sunday.
So it obviously looks like there are more cons to pros, but that first pro is a big one, and I'm torn about what to do. The ability to pay off my student loan debt way faster than I anticipated is a big draw. But this whole thing is affecting my appearance, too. You all should see the sad, sunken eyes I'm sporting these days! Plus A.P. keeps telling me I should just forget about it, and just pay off the loans eventually. And he's the first to get excited about reducing my debt, but he really sees the toll this is taking on me. I also feel that as long as I can handle these overtime stints, I should take them on. It will help us so much financially, and I still have that poor person mentality that I have to bust my ass for money. Argghhh!!!
What would you guys do? I'm so torn. Every Tuesday/Thursday morning, I wake up and want to kill myself at the thought of another 12-hour day, but then the work day ends and I kind of think I can do it. I really can't make up my mind.
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