Rules For Kids

[mistral4543]

Originally posted by Zuvio: Ehm ... you work ~11hours a day for 5 days in the week?! No wonder coffee beans are the nr.1 selling product in the world

Correction... I work alternate Saturdays as well, from about 8 am to 12.30 pm on average.

All I can say is, I'm not getting much of a life outside work And I've been so stressed out due to the ridiculously heavy portfolio that I've been assigned, that my flu has not gone away for good over the last 2 weeks (not helped by the fact that I end up foregoing medical leave) [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]

I sure hope kids today appreciate what they're going through now, though I suspect they treat it as an entitlement...

[cloud ff7 38]

Im a teen and actully i totally agree with you arvon. As strange as that may sound a lot of your "rules" are quite agreeible. You see i dont normally ask for help i say don it now and be prepared later.

[Zuvio]

Originally posted by mistral4543: quote: Originally posted by Zuvio: Ehm ... you work ~11hours a day for 5 days in the week?! No wonder coffee beans are the nr.1 selling product in the world

Correction... I work alternate Saturdays as well, from about 8 am to 12.30 pm on average.

All I can say is, I'm not getting much of a life outside work And I've been so stressed out due to the ridiculously heavy portfolio that I've been assigned, that my flu has not gone away for good over the last 2 weeks (not helped by the fact that I end up foregoing medical leave) [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]

I sure hope kids today appreciate what they're going through now, though I suspect they treat it as an entitlement... [/QUOTE]
So your work is *so* important (to you) that you are willing to sacrifice health *and* all your spare time for it?

If I may be so bold to ask (and you offcourse may be so bold to reject) what is it that you do?

[mistral4543]

Zuvio, I'm a civil servant. Over the last few years, we've seen many initiatives being rolled out but with no increase in headcount, so in general the workload has increased.

As for why it appears that work is *so* important to me... it has a lot to do with the values I grew up with. You see, my parents were (and still are) hardworking pensioners who went through working life being very worried about losing their jobs. It is sort of instilled into me that I *have* to just push myself through whatever crap conditions, because I should try to hold on to this "iron ricebowl" for as long as I can. I'm not pushing the blame to my parents; it is after all, my life and how I want to live it. It's just that their words continue to ring in my heart at work and I still find it rather difficult to convince them (especially when I'm unwell and there are two voices against one ) that I need the rest. I'll work on it, though.

The other reason why I've been slogging over the past 4.5 years is that in the civil service, there are basically 2 schemes which graduates fall under - the premium scheme, and the normal scheme. I belong to the latter, which pays less and offers fewer chances of promotion. And I have tried so hard to "prove" myself all these years, but in the end lost sight of the more important things in life. These days, I am trying really hard to balance every aspect of my life (family, health, my own interests and work).

Arvon - Sorry if this has gone offline a bit. Hope you don't mind

[ 09-27-2003, 07:57 PM: Message edited by: mistral4543 ]

[Stormymystic]

I grew up i wanna have all that freedom again

[Zuvio]

Mistral: thanks for sharing your story here! Now I can better understand your reasoning. I was just so curious about your motivations for working so hard, because I'm really not like that at all: I'll do the job and do it well, I'll put in extra time when nescessary, but I won't sacrifice my personal life and especially not my health!!

But I'm glad you also mentioned the fact that you're trying to find a balance between work and play, because there is so much good in this world for everyone to see and to slip by all that just for your job, that would be so sad...

[mistral4543]

Off-topic:

Well, Zuvio, I agree with what you say.

I wish I had not been so selfish during the earlier years of my working life, when my maternal grandmother was still alive (I had treasured my personal time so much outside of work that sometimes I did not visit her every week, even though it meant a lot to her as she would feel cared for). My only consolation is that I did "wake up" to reality a few weeks before her death in May this year; I started visiting her weekly unless I was sick and did not want to spread my germs to her.

This is one regret that I have to live with, for the rest of my life. It is also the one motivation to me to will myself to snap out of working zombiehood and pay attention to matters of more importance. It is not easy, as I tend to stray back to work... but I will continue to strive for balance.

[Mack_Attack]

Really cool I loved reading that. Since Sydney is still young just 16 months. I can relate to rule 7. I use to go to movies with my wife and do alot of the spur of the moment things. But that is alot harder to do now having Syd. Do not get me wrong I happly give that up to spend time with Syd she is a alot of fun. And probaly get more laughs watching her then paying 14$ CAD dollars to see a movie.