The Third Rail in Work/Life Balance
It seems like I write a lot about what I don’t know, and this is yet another example. I have been struggling a lot lately - feeling overwhelmed and like my current life pace is not very sustainable. Before having Clark, I thought that work life balance was about being able to fit in both work and home. I seem to have missed completely that “self” also needs to be factored in. For 19 months or so, I am either a professor or a mom all the time. I have given up on hobbies, have lost track of friends, and don’t even know how to relax on my own anymore. I know that this sounds pretty bad. I’m hoping that having made this realization, that there’s a third party to be “balanced” here, means I’m on my way toward figuring it out. I’ve brought this on myself. It’s me that chooses to spend every moment I’m not working playing with my little boy, and it’s because I love doing this. I think I’m starting to feel the cost of that now, and I’m sure I will feel it more and more as Clark gets older. I have no sense of how I’m going to resolve this, only that I need to try a few things and find something that I enjoy that’s outside of work and home that doesn’t take too much time. Honestly, before having a baby, I thought people were blowing the work/life balance issue out of proportion… boy was I wrong.