An excellent summary - thank you! I often wonder if my obsession with work is a personal fault, and feel guilty for short-changing my family. But perhaps this is just who I am, and maybe in some philosophies/religions this is not something I have a great deal of control over.
My belief is that privilege plays a major role in accompanying many to a place of managing a ‘life:life’ balance. This privilege can come in many forms, be this access to education, a safe, supportive and curious home life as a child, money and financial freedoms or, as mentioned by a previous commentor, a partner in life who makes it achievable. It is about real access to choices. Making these choices is a trade-off for some, but others never have the currency to trade in the first place.
I think of it as 'passion:chore' balance. At home (4 children, now solo parenting) and at work there are things that need to be done (food shopping, mopping floors, peer review, marking grants) , and things I am passionate about doing (seeing family and friends, developing a better pathway for men with prostate cancer). And there needs to be recognition that both chores and passion are necessary for a balanced (if busy!) life
I recognise this (and can confirm your hard work!) but in many cases gender roles and expectations play a role here, so would love to have seen acknowledged how your wife and others have helped support you to reach your career goals. Who did the school runs?
An excellent summary - thank you! I often wonder if my obsession with work is a personal fault, and feel guilty for short-changing my family. But perhaps this is just who I am, and maybe in some philosophies/religions this is not something I have a great deal of control over.
My belief is that privilege plays a major role in accompanying many to a place of managing a ‘life:life’ balance. This privilege can come in many forms, be this access to education, a safe, supportive and curious home life as a child, money and financial freedoms or, as mentioned by a previous commentor, a partner in life who makes it achievable. It is about real access to choices. Making these choices is a trade-off for some, but others never have the currency to trade in the first place.
I very much agree with this … straightforwardly, money confers the freedom to make many of these decisions.
I think of it as 'passion:chore' balance. At home (4 children, now solo parenting) and at work there are things that need to be done (food shopping, mopping floors, peer review, marking grants) , and things I am passionate about doing (seeing family and friends, developing a better pathway for men with prostate cancer). And there needs to be recognition that both chores and passion are necessary for a balanced (if busy!) life
What a nice way to think about it.
I recognise this (and can confirm your hard work!) but in many cases gender roles and expectations play a role here, so would love to have seen acknowledged how your wife and others have helped support you to reach your career goals. Who did the school runs?
What a great response. I suppose the question is - painfully - 'whose tradeoffs?'
Exactly! Work life balance is often a team effort ime