Members Ani Posted August 22, 2007 Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 Balance??? Why does it always seem to be that whenever my career life begins to prosper, my personal life starts falling apart? edit: [TMI] Anyone have anxieties when it comes to balancing career and personal life? It seems as though every time I near the finish line with a winning touchdown; the ball gets fumbled and the game has a turnover with only seconds left on the clock. The ball comes back into possession just long enough to make the decision to let the clock run down , punt, or attempt a hail mary..... How many have succeeded in chosing the option of HAIL MARY??? It seems like that's the point I'm at in my life with dreams.... sigh..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted August 22, 2007 Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 There's a first! Anyway, congratulations on your midlife crisis. Most people buy motorcycles. Anyway, I wouldn't get too keyed up about personal issues because you can't really control what other people do. As long as no one is physically threatening you, or clearly causing a problem that threatens the stability of your living situation, there's really nothing you can do. If those sort of problems are self-inflicted, go see a doctor. As for professional development, find a focus. I know what I want to do with my music, and while I have other interests in the arts, I try to focus on how I can integrate my major musical skills with those other areas, and further develop my strongest ability while learning what I can about those other interests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted August 22, 2007 Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 That's why I'm going to get 5 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains and live in a yurt and have a couple of goats and an organic garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boosh Posted August 22, 2007 Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 Anyway, congratulations on your midlife crisis. She's too old to get a midlife crisis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 22, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 22, 2007 She's too old to get a midlife crisis. :evil: Are you saying I'm OLD??? I plan on living to be at least 100 if living doesn't kill me first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Nice thread, Ani. I used to be "Gustavo G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 However, I am sure things will get balanced one day. This traveling madness will stop or slow down and once that happens, hopefully I'll have energy to give the next step into my personal life and then try to get a more "normal" life. At least, one that allows me to get a family again. A "normal" life does not seem to be within reach as a USPS employee. Not as a manager; not in craft. I've been there 22 years, and at one time, 10 to 15 years of service time would land daylight hours with weekends off; not anymore. I have daylight hours, but still have days off of Monday/Tuesday. If I get the promotion that I'm in line for, I will have daylight hours (if you want to call them that... EXTENDED and flexible) and Sunday/Tuesday off. Split days off are not really family friendly and neither are working during the weekend while the kids are home from school. It really sucks! The only time we can really do much of anything is during the summer when school's out. I just received word about posting the holiday schedule for Labor Day; it's mandated that we will draft our crew at 100/175%. That means that ALL craft employees, scheduled workday or not, will be required to work on their Labor Day holiday; supervisors and craft employees in mail processing units will be required to work unless they have scheduled annual from the beginning of the year. All temporary employees will work straight through without any days off; regulars will work both their holiday and a sixth day without option. People who call in sick during the holiday weekend will be required to bring medical documentation and the leave will go down as unscheduled. The person will be listed as AWOL if documentation is not provided and, depending on their leave record, it could invite disciplinary action. Since I have gone back into management full time, my creativity suffers.... Especially my music and songwriting. I wish that I was still able to do the technical job that I had been doing for a while, but another supervisor left in a unit that I was fully trained in that no one else was qualified to do; I got yanked back into doomville... it's better pay, but a LOT more stressful. In this position I have to supervise a total of 72 people. THAT'S a LOT of personalities to have to deal with.... what's worse; better than two-thirds of them are menopausal or post menopausal women. Men think that PMS is bad.... try dealing with 50+ biddies with their hormones all out of whack at the same time. Now you see why I am willing to bid SPLIT DAYS just to escape; I'll also be driving about 3 times the distance. I'll be locked into the new position for a year if I take the job... but MAN, I'm tired of being mentally exhausted when I walk away from work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super 8 Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well, imagine if you were in nursing or something like that. You end up working crazy hours and holidays. And it does suck if you have a family.Maybe it's time to take your experience and move on to something less stressful with a better schedule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LiveMusic Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 That's why I'm going to get 5 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains and live in a yurt and have a couple of goats and an organic garden. Haha, that rings home. 'Cept mine is 1 acre in the Red River Valley and live in a single wide. As for Ani's angst... life's a bitch, then you die. (Sorry, I just finished a biography on Townes Van Zandt. I'm actually happy I'm still here.) Go by a bottle of wine and cue up Townes Van Zandt. You'll get over it. I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well, imagine if you were in nursing or something like that. You end up working crazy hours and holidays. And it does suck if you have a family. Maybe it's time to take your experience and move on to something less stressful with a better schedule. I spent 12 years on the oddball shifts, many of which I spent working 12 hour days and sixth days. The last two years are the first that I have actually had Christmas Day off and that's only because so many greedy buzzards signed up to work to get the triple pay.... I'm not mad at em... I can't even breathe the word Thanksgiving and wish for time off... having Monday/Tuesday off with the holiday falling on Thursday pretty much guarantees that I will work the holiday, a sixth day, and often times a seventh day.... involuntarily. STILL!!! We're getting ready to head into the mad rush... September means the mailing of textbooks and educational materials. October means all of the vendors mailing out their catalogs encouraging folks to get their orders placed in time to have delivery prior to Christmas.... Thanksgiving Day, all chaos breaks loose. With a new plant manager on board, things may differ a bit, but when push comes to shove... upper management is merciless about calling mandatory overtime. As far as moving on... I'm hoping that the move out to the station branches will provide relief. The staffing is minimal.... I'll be looking at crews of 10 to 20 people in stations smaller than a grocery store as opposed to 72 people spread out across Egypt and back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 Go by a bottle of wine and cue up Townes Van Zandt. You'll get over it. Damn!!! That HAS to be it!!! :thu: I've been being a good girl and staying completely away from the bottle. Had a man preaching at me and telling me that liquor was the evil that led to many other evils..... Not if you use control..... Maybe I ought buy me a bottle of brandy and chill... It's been quite a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Maybe it's time to take your experience and move on to something less stressful with a better schedule. Word. My own "change/balance" will actually mean getting a new job / career switch, like operating my studio / producing music for others. Even while that might sound very stressful, at least is way less traveling than being a touring clinician / live performer. Just try a good chilean wine and relax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well, imagine if you were in nursing or something like that. You end up working crazy hours and holidays. And it does suck if you have a family.Maybe it's time to take your experience and move on to something less stressful with a better schedule. The grass is not always greener. My wife works in healthcare. After years of hospital shift work she pursued some other opportunities which come with nominally better schedules, but the nature of those jobs didn't suit her personality the way the relative clockwork of hospital shifts do, and they became extremely frustrating and stressful. In addition to that, there were still the same kind of personality issues that were making the hospital a difficult workplace and made other options seem attractive. But the bottom line with that is again, that you can't really change other people. Any workplace is going to have moments where you just don't want to deal with some particular person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 There's a difference between career life and personal life? I have to think about that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 The grass is not always greener. Agreed!!! I worked 7 years for a privately owned company that yielded enough frustrations for me to seek employment elsewhere... The pay was nothing to brag about and benefits were only mediocre; nothing in comparison to the salary and bennies I have today. Wrote a song called "A Company Full of Kin Folk" if that gives you any idea about the beauracracy that went on inside... Going to work for the Post Office was a BLESSING compared to that insane assylum. The beauty of working where I do is the advantage of bidding out to different branches. I average about 3 years in a position before it begins to wear at me and then I start bidding on other job opportunities within the organization. With several thousand employees in the Kansas City Cluster, it's like getting a new job with every transfer. Every now and then you run into people that you've worked with in the past at a branch office, or you reunite with folks you know at conferences that occur sporadically; but other than that... it's like starting over while having a deep seeded knowledge from prior experience to carry with you. 22 years is job stability in any sense of the word... I was eligible for retirement after 20 years of service, but I do not have the age yet. With every 5 year increment, the percentage of my retirement pay goes up until it maxes out after 35 years. I will have 30 years in when I am eligible age-wise to retire. That's only eight years away from now and I have better than 2/3's of the headaches out of the way; 8 years is nothing in comparison to the 22 I already have under foot. I have to work somewhere between now and that time and I doubt very much that I could walk out at age 47 and find a job making even HALF of the salary I do now. At least, not without relocating (at my own expense) and going to work for a major competitor... I've had a few offers to move to Memphis, but that's WAY too risky in having 2 kids that depend solely upon me for their livelihood. If I were footloose and fancy free and without parental obligations; the sky would be the limit as to what I could do... it'd be a whole lot easier to take risks and not have to worry about anyone other than myself... that's not me. I wouldn't trade the position I'm in with my kids for a life out on the road alone for anything. I get frustrated, as do we all, but I'll make it over this slump.... hopefully sooner than later... and get back to my music... In the meantime, I've still got photography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 23, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 There's a difference between career life and personal life? I have to think about that... You're like me; YOU HAVE NO LIFE!!!! :D:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 Ora et labora! (= pray and work) . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Doe Posted August 23, 2007 Members Share Posted August 23, 2007 It depends. Are you talking NCAA or NFL? (If NCAA, do you mean SEC, Big 10, PAC 10, Mountain West, or what?) We might be better able to help if your were a little more specific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kendrix Posted August 24, 2007 Members Share Posted August 24, 2007 You're like me; YOU HAVE NO LIFE!!!! :D:D Ahem. i believe the point here is that if you love what you do then your personal life is your professioonal life. Thats a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Kendrix Posted August 24, 2007 Members Share Posted August 24, 2007 Nice thread, Ani. I used to be "Gustavo G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted August 24, 2007 Author Members Share Posted August 24, 2007 Ahem. i believe the point here is that if you love what you do then your personal life is your professioonal life. Thats a good thing. I was poking a joke, hence, the smilies. Tedster used to include the text "Chairman of the Get a Life Society" in his old avatar on the MPN version of the SSS due to high post counts. I guess it's an instance of my "dry" sense of humor that some may pick up on and others may not. Craig helps provide a living for himself by "having no life" It wasn't said in an insulting manner.... and I'm sure Craig wouldn't take it that way. At least I hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted August 24, 2007 Members Share Posted August 24, 2007 Agreed!!!I worked 7 years for a privately owned company that yielded enough frustrations for me to seek employment elsewhere... The pay was nothing to brag about and benefits were only mediocre; nothing in comparison to the salary and bennies I have today. Wrote a song called "A Company Full of Kin Folk" if that gives you any idea about the beauracracy that went on inside... Going to work for the Post Office was a BLESSING compared to that insane assylum.The beauty of working where I do is the advantage of bidding out to different branches. I average about 3 years in a position before it begins to wear at me and then I start bidding on other job opportunities within the organization. With several thousand employees in the Kansas City Cluster, it's like getting a new job with every transfer. Every now and then you run into people that you've worked with in the past at a branch office, or you reunite with folks you know at conferences that occur sporadically; but other than that... it's like starting over while having a deep seeded knowledge from prior experience to carry with you. 22 years is job stability in any sense of the word... I was eligible for retirement after 20 years of service, but I do not have the age yet. With every 5 year increment, the percentage of my retirement pay goes up until it maxes out after 35 years. I will have 30 years in when I am eligible age-wise to retire. That's only eight years away from now and I have better than 2/3's of the headaches out of the way; 8 years is nothing in comparison to the 22 I already have under foot. I have to work somewhere between now and that time and I doubt very much that I could walk out at age 47 and find a job making even HALF of the salary I do now. At least, not without relocating (at my own expense) and going to work for a major competitor... I've had a few offers to move to Memphis, but that's WAY too risky in having 2 kids that depend solely upon me for their livelihood. If I were footloose and fancy free and without parental obligations; the sky would be the limit as to what I could do... it'd be a whole lot easier to take risks and not have to worry about anyone other than myself... that's not me. I wouldn't trade the position I'm in with my kids for a life out on the road alone for anything. I get frustrated, as do we all, but I'll make it over this slump.... hopefully sooner than later... and get back to my music... In the meantime, I've still got photography. Plan it out, take you retirement now and dedicate the rest of your life to music and living frugally. You have done enough of the grunt side. Get your pension, and start a business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members KoaFreak Posted August 26, 2007 Members Share Posted August 26, 2007 I have been struggling with this a lot lately. My only comfort is that all of my friends are in the same boat. If you want a good lifestyle and nice things and you aren't born rich or didn't win the lottery, get a big settlement, etc, you're going to have to bust ass for a long time to get to a comfortable position. As my boss says, you'd be better off pushing hard when you're young and before kids, so you will have made it by the time you get older, rather than saying you'll push harder once you get a higher salary, etc. My uncle had a lot of financial success late in life that he never had when he was younger, but one day suddenly found out he had cancer and was dead within a year. So that money meant nothing really other than leaving his wife and kids in decent shape. But they would have been much better off with him alive obviously, and I'm sure he would have rather spent more time with them if he had known it was his last year......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 No kidding. I think there is someting about certain engineers and having an interest music. I never realized that was your path to all this craziness.. Congratulations on the metamorphasis. That's a big deal. Craziness is good Thanks for the kudos. Yes, it is a big deal. Engineers and music is a good marriage, btw. I am also a psychologist, but that is another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super 8 Posted August 27, 2007 Members Share Posted August 27, 2007 My uncle had a lot of financial success late in life that he never had when he was younger, but one day suddenly found out he had cancer and was dead within a year. So that money meant nothing really other than leaving his wife and kids in decent shape. But they would have been much better off with him alive obviously, and I'm sure he would have rather spent more time with them if he had known it was his last year......... Time is the one thing you can't get back, or get more of. Once you've spent it, it's gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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