The advantage to the life I have chosen is that, most of the time, I can work from home. The bad thing is that, most of the time, I have to work from home. This makes getting to spend time with the kidlets easier and keeps day care costs down to a dull roar but it also creates a dilemma most people don't have.
When do I get to stop working?
My work is always around me. My office-ette is located upstairs in our Great Room (which is our kitchen/dining room/living room combination) so if I feel like being anywhere other than the bedroom or the bathroom at the house – I am "at work." And I have workaholic tendencies.
Imagine being an alcoholic and you live in a pub. Yeah, it is kind of like that.
Now, don't get me wrong. I would NOT want to go back to the way it was with the First Batch. I had to work ridiculous hours just to make enough money for us to be broke. If I wanted to act at all (which was my sole source of sanity during an otherwise INSANE time), then I had to take my poor darlings with me. And I frequently did. But once I left work – Work was left behind. I was free to relax (as if that was something I have EVER been good at) and spend time with the kids and/or friends. Work needing to be done was not constantly watching me as I walked around the room trying to ignore it. Stacks of postcards were not snickering at me, demanding to be addressed and mailed and most certainly, my computer was used SOLELY for entertainment and word processing and not attached to my fingertips at all times.
I miss leaving work at work.
And the kicker is – it is only going to get worse. As I get better at marketing my writing and coaching services, the MORE I will be "working" and the less I will be "living" in our communal living space. This is both the goal and the fear.
I will make a concerted effort to do what all the time management books tell me to do – schedule ME time – but if in order to leave "work," I have to leave "home" - well, that seems to negate the whole idea of working from home in the first place, now doesn't it?
If only I could afford to quit work and make home home again.
Instead of dichotomizing your life, since you are doing the things you love and actually "want" to do, why not consider all of these functional activities as LIFE writ large.
ReplyDeleteYou then never have to mourn your erst-while ability to leave work at work. Your work life and personal life are one and the same, and all the activities you undertake - just the things you love to do!