Find work-life balance or you’ll burn out.
As I remember my parents didn’t get this DISEASE, as they refer to it nowadays. But as I remember, my parents’ goals didn’t contain any of being best at their job or change the world through their positions. At that time our country was part of the socialist East. My parents worked for their children, for their dream house, for family outings, for food at the crisis, for joyful moments. Their life goals were outside of work. Their trade was a tool and not the goal. Was it good?
For them? For sure. Will it be my path too? Honestly, I like my career. I enjoy it and want to make the most out of it. Enjoy the meetings, to make something new every time, the unique problems, the innovative solutions, and the new knowledge. As I love my job, I enjoy the cake too. When I think about my childhood, the only admonition regard cake was that I shouldn’t eat too much because I’ll get a stomach ache. Did I live like that? Yes, after I puked from too much donut. Sometimes I cheat and I’m not proud of those moments, but I’m moderate. If I think through my life I always got many admonitions to regard joyous things. Don’t run too much, don’t drink too much, don’t eat too much, don’t stay out too late, be modest.
It’s interesting, that I never got any about learning and working. Don’t work too much because you burn out. It sounds so silly. Oh, wait, that is reality.
Our parents thought of work like it’s something that you should do, but nowadays it’s something that we want to do. We didn’t learn those forewarning from our parents because it wasn’t needed by them. I think, our problem is that we enjoy it too much and forgot the lesson that we learned at the cake. Too much makes you sick. Our parents taught us to be abstinent about the things that they enjoyed and we forgot to extend this knowledge to the things that we enjoy.
Work is now something that you do cause you enjoy and it became part of your personality.
The last time somebody asked me to speak about myself, then the first thing it came to my mind, that I’m a project manager. Anything else? Not really. Most of the time I basically work or learn something new so I can be better at my job. I have a normal 9-5ish work, but if I got something new, shiny and interesting then it becomes an 8-somethingish job and I forgot my surroundings. I’m so into my job sometimes that I can’t add more to it, but I remember that I was much more than that. Is it okay like that? Is it okay to eat too much cake?
The key is that your work is part of your personality and not your personality. When you identify yourself as your work, then you are ready to burn out.
Honestly, nobody wants to be their job title. As I’m concerned I want to be more than a title either it’s a job for the community or in finance (sorry about that). I want to be a happy and cool person with nice memories and many fulfilled moments. I’d like to do something for my community, I want to change lives around me and get many more titles that can’t be associated with my job.
If you think deeply about it then you will see that we are the same gluttonous kid with the cake. We just got older and the cake turned to our job.
When was the last time when you made something until it felt good and not until the end? When was the last time you spoke about yourself and not about your job?
Maybe it’s time to practice some abstinence at work too.