Balancing Work & Family Life

I am reading a book called, “In Praise of Slowness,” by Carl Honore. This book is about balancing work into your everyday life. The balancing of work and life is all in personal preference. Everyone is different so it is tough to have a theory for every individual. The only thing that I can say is that the more money you make the more money you spend, so if you are a family person like me then working 80 hours a week isn’t in your vocabulary. Now when you take a look at most of our society as Honore explains it is very common that we work our assets off and it is unnecessary. Our Society has become a place that frowns on coffee breaks and restroom time. It is also interesting that when you are out sick it’s frowned on, but then if you come into work sick people end up hating you. I believe it to be inevitable, that no matter what you do unless you never get sick or go to the bathroom, you’re going to have moments that are frowned upon. This really shouldn’t be our way of life. What happened to the understanding if your child is sick and you need to leave? Now in interviews, it’s do you have any kids?

There are not a whole lot of jobs out there that have the compassion for our family lives, so when you are committing to a job, you may be starting a whole new family. I believe that it is important to do whatever it takes to make you and your family happy, so going part-time or cutting your work hours isn’t going to break the bank as long as you set yourself up for it. Honroe said, “People who cut their work hours often take a smaller hit financially than they expect.”(pg. 201) If we spend less money on gas, eating out, childcare, retail therapy, and etc… Then your pocket book will still have money in it. After all, isn’t happiness what we are all seeking in the end, so why not support it?