The Holy Trinity of Work-Life

What is it that you desire out of your work life? What is it that you aim for? Doing good work and be known for it? Money enough to make you financially secure? Or adequate time to give to your family? Is it possible to achieve all of them?

Now that I complete 24 months at my place of work, and 24 days as a second time father, I thought I would ponder over this issue, this never settling see-saw of work life balance.

I see a generation older than mine, fully immersed in their work, and doing a great job at it … pioneers in their fields … having started from the pre-liberalization era, forced to work more, save more, spend frugally … now with enough money to spare … what do they feel? Have they achieved all three? Do they feel the need to achieve all three? My boss’s young son once said to him – ‘The extra time you spend at work comes at the expense of time with your children’ … with your family. But did they get a choice then, and do they have a choice now?

My generation thinks about work-life balance, because we got a new baseline … a better starting point for our education, our careers … than our parents could get in their time. But we have entered a crowded playing field. We make decent money and worry less about it than our seniors … we take the desired vacations. And though we do good work, whether we will ever be known for it is a question for posterity. People in private practice worry about finding good work, about making a name. People in Government jobs have limited working hours, and limited is the remuneration as well.

Does that mean that no one can get it all? I guess the real question is whether having it all will give us inner peace. How do we live a life with minimal regrets? I guess, though we can have these end goals in our far sight, there is a much simpler way of achieving inner peace. Just be happy at the little achievements … don’t sweat the small stuff. Always be in the moment … and cherish every good thing for the joy it brings, and every failure for the learning it imparts. As it was recently mentioned in an Oscar nominated multiversal cinematic experience … being optimistic is not naïve, it is a strategy to survive … a strategy to achieve inner peace. And who knows …!