Monday 25 January 2010

Adding, but not taking away


More of the above technique required

A lot of life seems to go like this - adding more new things to do, but not removing anything. So there is less and less time. Work counts as one of those things that ‘has to be added’, especially if you are self employed. Time for family, friends and leisure (in my case climbing) counts as one of those things that ‘has to be sacrificed’. Too many sacrifices in a row create a bit of a crisis. And for me, thats what’s happened now.

Over the past three or four years, I’ve worked more and more and more. And every piece of added work has made me less happy. Thats not to say I don’t enjoy the work. I enjoy all of the things I do. But not the balance of them. There’s just too much of one ingredient thats blotting out everything else. Bit of a mess.

So now I just cannot continue at this pace of getting up and working straight through to the wee hours every day of my life, trying to fit in training and life on the end. Along the slide of this slippery slope I’ve forgotten what options I have for replacing new activities for old, rather than just adding, and generally fitting everything in better.

Like any big and deep change I’m going to have to be pretty firm about it. I’m hoping it follows the pattern of other really important changes that you know are the right and necessary thing to do; the hardest thing to initiate the move and the easiest thing to finish it.

6 comments:

  1. Good luck. life is the finest set of scales to try and balance.

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  3. Dave, I hear you. My world seems to have been this way for too long now. Bring on the changes! Good luck :)
    Emma

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  4. As another freelancer, I know exactly what you mean - saying 'no' to anything seems like the wrong thing to do, but there times when it's the best thing for everyone. I'm not sure there's ever a perfect balance, or at least not one you can sustain for a long time, but it is possible to get a reasonable perspective. Keep the really good stuff in mind all the time!

    Tony

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  5. Totally agree with the above comments. Good thing is you've realised that there's a problem and are serious about making a change. I've seen too many folk in the same situation who haven't acted on it and ended up ill and unable to help anyone.

    Keep well Dave!

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  6. Hi Dave (We me met at Plas y Brenin during the AMI AGM, actually we had breakfast one morning but also met at the services after the weekend on the way out of North Wales.)

    I realised a long time ago that some people think life is going to be easy...and if they do certain things it gets even easier...However, this (as we know) is not the case. I have a few philosophy's for life which help me accept things, (actually thats one 'Accept and move on')and help me make sense of what is going on in my world.

    My favourite philosophy is 'who said life was going to be easy?' once I accepted this I realised that I was going to face struggles (emotional, mental etc) but knew that everyone else would be facing these sort of struggles too (even though some people dont seem to).

    I wish you well Dave and hope your acceptance helps pave out the future in a positive way.

    Kind wishes

    Cliff Lowther

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