Finding the balance between work and play

(I up-vote all worthwhile comments on my blogs) At the end of this month I am again leaving the world of dual monitors, 300+ remote desktop connections, hour long meetings with sod all output, and bullshit bingo competitions, for some time to myself. This is a pattern that has emerged over the past few years.... and i'm starting to like it.

The 9 to 5 grind

Monday arrives, so much potential, I wonder what can be learned and achieved this week? By 10am, the enthusiasm is all gone. Same faces, same lame issues to be resolved, and nothing new said in the hour long weekly team meeting that lasts 55 minutes longer than it should. So you are sitting, staring at the screen, looking out the window, and wondering what else you could be doing which would be far better for your body, mind, and soul. This is me today, but in 30 days time it's all going to change again!

Live to work, work to live?

Some people love being at work, they love their jobs and are happy. This is a great place to be, either they got lucky, selected the right path, or have chopped and changed their career to find the right role for them. To these people, I say well done, you've made it! For me it's a bit different. I wanted to be a footballer (soccer player) when i was younger, however this was not a sensible career choice according to my father. "There's no money in football", he said. How wrong he was! And anyway, I didn't care about the money, I just loved the game and played it in any weather and at every opportunity. When that dream faded, I found myself heading in the direction of Computing. This was the sensible choice, the Internet was coming to the fore and you were "almost guaranteed" a job as long as you weren't completely useless. Guaranteed a job yes, but was it as certain that you'd be happy sat behind screens all day? Obviously not.

'Necessity is the author of change' - Tim Hansel

At the being of 2015, I was signed off from work with anxiety and depression. Now i'm not going to say this was wholly due to being in I.T. for 15 years as there were definitely a few more factors involved, but it was safe to say the screens were getting to me big time. Through counselling and plenty of reflection time, I decided I needed a change. A change in employment, city, and stuff it - let's go large, a change in country too! The British weather had long been a major disappointment, I wanted the sun to shine on me and lift my spirits.

To cut this part of the story short, I ended up buying a small jewelry shop with a friend, and spend most of last year re-hooking earrings, and trying to sell them to Germans and Spaniards. This was a change alright, life was simple, the money terrible, but a swim in the sea each morning before opening the shop was an awesome way to start the day! Sadly, after differing opinions, I sold up and found myself looking back towards IT for work, as that's where my skill set is at.

Fortunately, I got to stay in the sunshine and have spent the last year working for a fairly large organisation with links to charities world wide. Valencia is a great city, and I've met some nice people (this is to any work colleagues reading this!), but it's time to move away from the mouse and keyboard again. So here we are, a year on and another year in computing almost complete. What's next then?

A new path

Work - save a bit - go live. That's my current plan of action. A new workplace is good. New people, new systems, a new city. This is all good. Keeping your skills up-to-date is important, so stepping back into work and grabbing some spending money is what needs to be done for the 'living' part. So now that's almost mission complete, what are the options? and what do I want to achieve? They say 'a change is as good as a rest', but i like the rest a bit more than the change, so i'll start with that. Whilst cycling 25 km a day is good for the legs, i'm too tired to exercise anything else after work - a rest for the legs, check.

What else is on the list? I've long thought about doing some charity work at ground level. Apparently it's good for your CV anyway, but i'm looking at it from the point of view of filling my soul. Computing can be pretty soulless. Your main interaction is with a keyboard and mouse, fulfilling requests for someone you'll never meet in person. Yeah, the task could be important to them, but it's just not the same as perhaps, teaching a personal skill, a language, repairing a broken ping-pong table for an orphanage in Nepal. These are the sort of things that will fill your soul with happiness, and make you look forward to each day.

Another option is to slip over to Steemfest. A chance to visit Lisbon and meet a bunch of new people and learn plenty from them. These sort of interactions can leave your mind buzzing at the end of each day, filling the brain with new ideas and new possibilities.... I like the sound of that.

Next up?

So in 30 days time i'll be visiting Mallorca and to see my mother. I'll have some time to read, exercise, and do things at the computer for myself. I'll also have more time with my girlfriend, and we can map out the next path, that I hope will keep us both happy and looking forward to the future. And perhaps during this 'break', i'll find something that makes me think 'I could do that', 'I'd love to get into that!' - One can dream....

So...

How are you finding your work/life balance ? Is it working for you with regards to your body, mind, and soul?

Asher

Images: pixabay