If there is something that I have always struggled with, it has been work life balance. From the time that I can remember I have always enjoyed working, no matter what job I was doing, I always found when I worked I was able to forget everything else and just focus on said activity and I would get lost in that, in a good way. This has lead me to seek out and work long hours, often without getting paid for it just because “I enjoy” it, which has in turn resulted in missing out a lot of my life, for lack of better words. I’ve easily spent an extra 2-3 hours of work daily – for the past 20 years and I realized recently that this is time that I could have been spending on myself.

And maybe having all that time to myself is what scares me, I mean what would I do with all of that time, when I was younger this never really seemed to be an issue as I always found something to do but as I have gotten older very few things really seem to bring me joy the way they used to. And maybe its all part of getting older or a result of changing priorities but as of recent weeks I can’t help but feel that change is on the horizon. I have taken some time off work to move – and this sudden burst of things to do and keep myself busy has started to change my outlook on life. Maybe its not that I have lost interest in things so much as it is that I have not dedicated the required time to enjoy them. I haven’t dedicated the required time because I have spent all of it working.

For the next two weeks I will challenge myself to only work my required 8 hour shift each day and shut the work computer off until the morning. I will provide an update of my experience to see what difference it has made, if any. It feels like now is a good time to try something like this, the move has made things like work really seem less important in the past week and so perhaps it’s something I can build on.