For no real reason, I'm taking today off. When I told Jenny that I was doing this, she looked at me kind of funny and asked me, "What did you do with Terrence?" Jenny has known me for a long time and knows it isn't too often that I actually take time off. It is especially rare when I decide to take a day off for no reason.
But there really is no reason. It was true for a long time that I never took days off work, but that has lessened as I have gotten older and my time has become more valuable to me. When I was young and single, work was everything. While work is certainly still very important, I'm putting more emphasis on a work-life balance. Not a lot more emphasis, but some :)
Even when I was at Microsoft, I took some days off. I even went so far as to take three consecutive days off once to take a much needed trip with the girlfriend. And now, when I probably need vacation even more than when I was at Microsoft, I am going to take some time off to go hang out at the beach. This has me thinking about how much my life has changed over the years. Back in the days I worked with Jenny at our previous employer, I didn't even know what work life balance was. It was all work. I would work 70 or 80 hour weeks, go home, and then work some more. I didn't really have a life, so work kind of filled a void there. That wasn't to say I wasn't happy, I was, but it's amazing to me how much my priorities have shifted. I probably work 50 hour weeks on average, and rarely go over that. Only occasionally will I work more than an hour when I get home.
So I'm off to somewhere in the direction of a beach. Don't have a lot of plans, that would almost be too crazy for me, and knowing me I'll still be checking work e-mail via my blackberry, but at least I won't be in the office.
Work-life balance is key. When I look back each year, I always wished I had spent more time with friends or loved ones. The days go by so quickly. One day you're on a meeting for a new project, next day you start the project, then before you know it, eight months elapsed. The project is done, but nothing else happened. I didn't see anyone during that time. I'm okay with some long stretches work, but it just becomes an easy pattern for me to follow. If I don't make an effort to look up from my desk, I just keep working.
ReplyDeleteSo take a couple days off here and there, just so you can break yourself of the pattern.
How great that we have 25 days of paid vacation in europe.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a lot. I don't know what I would do with all that time off.
ReplyDelete