Day 18: The easy answer
There's a pub quiz I attend locally every Tuesday with friends from high school. Well I try to attend it every week. But usually it's decided whether or not I can finish my work in time.
Like I've said before, my job is one of those jobs where, as long as there's an internet connection, there's something to do. Unless the internet ends, my job doesn't end. And for a good time, about three months or more, I didn't see my friends at the weekly quiz because work kept me too late. In my head, I didn't think it was a big deal. Work was my work. I had responsibilities. It needed to be done.
So week after week, I had messaged the team, say my sorrys, say the same reason as I always did. Sometimes they'd tell me they wished I was joining. Sometimes they'd say I work too much. Most of the time they just got used to it.
I didn't really get a reality call into what I was doing until I learned one of my closest friends was suddenly leaving New Zealand to travel the world for almost a year. And all of a sudden, it felt like I had lost valuable time to hang with someone I cared about.
It's the old saying of 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone'. I wasn't going to see my friend for months - but all along I had so many chances. But they were all wasted overworking myself and rarely making time for my friends. Sometimes there are things I have to get done at work, but it doesn't mean I should let work be more valuable than the time I spend with my friends. Because if I had to choose between my work and my friends - Well there's an easy answer for that.
The week my friend left the country to travel the world was the day I decided never to let work keep me away from the people I care about.
Don't live to work. Work to live. Have that balance to never forget all the aspects of your life that are important too.
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For the month of January 2016, I'm writing 31 personal stories about things in my life I'm thankful for. See all my posts during my month of thankfulness here.
