Work and Life Balance of a Young Professional

      I am 27 years old and I consider myself as a young adult. Sometimes it gets me confused why at this stage in life –time moves very fast. Every Monday I immerse myself into the corporate world to begin my week and do my job. It became a routine until Friday comes. On a Friday night I clock out and get out of work and get excited for the weekend just like everybody else. As I go along the way home, there are moments when I stop there in the crowd and look around. I look at strangers within the range of my age and ask myself “Where are they going? Where are we going?”

     Here we are, young and aspiring, determined and obsessed with a dream. I thought I’ve had it all figured out by having a job, clocking in and out on weekdays and spend much of the weekends on family or friends. Weekends are all about leisure and amusement mostly having the regular routine from work on weekdays gives us a reason to escape and forget work for a while. There is this thing called work-life balance. I would evaluate myself within the matrix below which represents the work-life balance matrix.

    The matrix itself is not linear; most people especially young adults like me are all over the place within the matrix–it also varies depending on the day. If I could put myself inside the matrix and describe myself in general as of now the two closest combinations would be job/amusement and career/achievement.

     Job is obviously the primary source of living. Some have extra income on the side whether it’s a business or an investment. Most people are fortunate to have that opportunity to earn aside from basic salary from a regular job. Most employees especially here in our country are depending on the monthly salary which is the only source for survival. In my entire working career, I have experienced the difficulty of just surviving through the basic salary that is provided by the employer. It is a very limited amount just enough to eat and live throughout the day and sometimes it’s not just enough. Without much of purchasing power, life is limited to the fewest of options. So we became desperate, we became hungry not just for food but also for opportunity. It is that helpless feeling of letting time pass by and just let go of things that makes us feel light or happy because we are required to perform. It would affect my income if I don’t do my job obviously.

     As an entry level when I first got my job, I thought I was free from everything; I thought I could be independent and support myself all the way. I was wrong, as most elder people say “you will never know until you get there”. So I got there and instead of feeling the freedom by finishing college, I’ve felt the opposite. The first few months I knew that we were prisoners of the system. Instead of believing that we are free, it was the other way around. So far I have been from one company to another. I’ve felt that if I leave, things might be different and hopes could be more realistic so I weighed my options. It was the same, just the same thing that I’ve ever done since day one except for the fact that slowly my salary gets higher every time I transfer but with just very few adjustments. I’ve realized that it wasn’t the money that was important, it was the experience. I’ve learned a lot from the stock market and somehow I’ve mastered my craft as a floor trader. It is a very useful experience where I’ve got the chance to appreciate the economy as a whole. From there I got stuck, and realized that I need something more to reach my full potential. Otherwise I’d just get stuck in this comfort zone also known as prison. It’s a trap; it’s a rat race on a daily routine that I could never get out of if I don’t consider other options or risks.

     It all boils down to finding alternatives like taking up graduate studies, thinking about making my own business, considering investments like stocks or mutual funds, and the most reckless choice to think about which is not commendable is gambling. Win or lose, do or die, it’s just a losing game for the desperate. This all pretty much explain the job, career and achievement that makes us whole, that defines who we are and the current reason why we exist.

   I believe that after these three important cycles are fully or partially realized then the amusement part comes in. Why do we long for such an amusement? Why do we need to escape? As described in the matrix. Obviously it serves as a balance from the stressful and crazy life in developing a career. Instead of being the moment when we rediscover ourselves, thinking about who we ought to be, leisure is “the moment when amusements succeed to the maximum in making [us] . . . forget” (Jacques Ellul). It makes us forget who we are for a while, to escape, travel, and run or do something else that is not a part of the job. Just let loose, relax and feel life under the sun. For a moment we could discover greater things beyond our borders. We could feel human and not as a robot who is required to perform like equipment or a machine. It is doing something without duty and as others would see it, it could be without meaning. For individuals like us, other activities such as climbing above the mountains, travelling around the world, playing the sports we love or to simply find time with our loved ones could give such meaningful experience in our lives that never fail in bringing us the happiness and feeling of contentment. We get the joy of rediscovering ourselves every time we escape and sometimes we just want to get lost and be away from a stressful day job in the city. Leisure and amusement is the best escape but we need to work hard for it and we should always be at our best in doing our jobs and responsibilities towards the society.