Here's some thoughts that have been swirling around in my head for the past couple of days (although I see I've written about this before). What does a healthy work/life balance look like for a single person, who works full time, but does not have the responsibilities of a spouse or children? It seems there is a good deal of stuff out there about how families or working mothers can find a balance between work like and family/personal life, but what about single people?
My job can be pretty stressful at times, as it seems there are never enough hours in the work day to get done all that I plan/need to do between the hours of 8AM and 5 PM. It could be easy for me to work late every night and on Saturdays and not run out of things to do. But what kind of a life is that? Sometimes though, I wonder if there's a societal expectation that just because I'm single - and therefore don't have the demands of children to take care of - that I should be working more than the standard 40 hrs/week. And while I do appreciate the freedom I have to be able to put in longer hours when specific (time-limited) projects call for such, as a regular practice I don't want to have to always put in the extra hours. I need a work/life balance too.
Disclaimer: I've never gotten any impression from my employer or co-workers that I don't "do enough", so any pressure I feel to work more is strictly coming from within.
I find my typical week nights after 5PM (during the school year) look like this:
Mondays: volunteering at tutoring
Tuesday: gym (or missions committee once a month)
Wednesday: church
Thursday: gym (usually)
Friday: crash + veg out or connect with friends
Saturdays: (sometimes work in the AM) usually a day to connect with friends, do stuff around the house, grocery shop, laundry, etc.
Sunday: rest, rest, rest
I'm not going to feel guilty when I decide to not go in to the office on Saturdays, even though I know doing so would help me knock out a few hours worth of work I didn't get to during the week. I need a life too.
1 comment:
I think you should never feel you need to work more then your 40 hours unless it's once inawhile to catch up on things to make your next week less stressful. You should enjoy your time to relax and have a life. Never feel guilty!!! Angie (I wrote the comment about loving to teach Kindergarten)
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