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What kind of a dream?
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I posted on another thread how inconvenient it is when work gets in the way of running - in part its true, the best holidays are those when we don't go away but I can get up when I want, perhaps exercise twice a day - have an afternoon snooze.
BUT
1. I'm still waiting for the idea to pop into my head that will make me my first million.
2. Still waiting to be made redundant with a disgustingly large pay-off.
3. Still waiting to retire and hope my knees are still in good enough shape to run.
Questions
1. Who thinks they have the perfect balance and how did you get it?
2. Has anyone thrown in a highly paid job and downsized just so they could run more? Do you regret it?
3. If neither 1 nor 2 applies to you - is it something you dream about doing? What stops you?
(PS - I will compile all your stories into a milion seller so I can retire!)
BUT
1. I'm still waiting for the idea to pop into my head that will make me my first million.
2. Still waiting to be made redundant with a disgustingly large pay-off.
3. Still waiting to retire and hope my knees are still in good enough shape to run.
Questions
1. Who thinks they have the perfect balance and how did you get it?
2. Has anyone thrown in a highly paid job and downsized just so they could run more? Do you regret it?
3. If neither 1 nor 2 applies to you - is it something you dream about doing? What stops you?
(PS - I will compile all your stories into a milion seller so I can retire!)
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Comments
the only thing I've done that comes close to any of your questions is I've given up studying for a degree bacause it eats too much into my time.
I was doing it part-time through distance learining but with one night a week attending a computer centre-this night was club night, I hated not being able to go to club!
Anyway with 3 children and a husband and a job something had to give, so I chose the studying-it wasn't too difficult a choice.
I'm lucky really that I work in a school so training isn't too difficult to fit in.
I also take a group of pupils for cross country training on Friday lunchtimes, which is nice as I can get a bit of training in through the working day.
My own children are now quite independent, but I always make time to be there/support their activities. It's definitely a juggling act!
You sure you want someone to tell you they have the perfect life.No responsibilities.Endless amounts of money.Time to do what they want.I know i would turn instantly green and probably end up hating that person.Forever.
Anyway, i work early/late swing shifts which leave me tired one week and unable to sleep the next.
Funnily enough i always have my best runs on the week of earlies were i am constanly knackered.Figure that one out?
I do dream of the day when the kids are grown up and self sufficient and i can give up the shiftwork, leave zombie land and work in the land of normal people doing normal hours.
I occasionally find myself casting an envious eye at people who have time to run when I'm working, or who can while away their time learning languages at college or drifting from one gym class to the next then buy whatever they fancy for dinner that particular day on the way home instead of raking through the chicken nugget and ice lolly mountain in the freezer to find something vaguely palatable. But I know that in reality that sort of passive, functionless existence would drive me bananas very quickly.
I'm happy. I work relatively normal, if longish, hours in decent conditions for a respectable pay, I've got a good lift-it-and-lay-it paying hobby (writing), I've yet to find the man I'd take as a straight swap for Mr V-rap, my kids are a decent lot and I've got legs to run with. Who could ask for more?
I started running this summer when I got made redundant. The payoff wasn't huge but it was enough for a couple of months sat on my bum and running was a nice way to enjoy the extra free time.
Before I'd spent the expected two months sat on my bum, I found work that pays nearly as well as my old job and which I do from home. Being my own boss and with no commuting to worry about, I can run whenever I feel the whim.
So, plenty of money, time to exercise (and time to sleep!) whenever I want it, gorgeous wife, nice house in the countryside, is that the perfact balance you wanted? :-)
But I’m still waiting for my numbers to come up ;o)
I've given up a good job to have a few years at home, working part-time and enjoying more time with the kids. That was hard - cutting our income by nearly 50%, but equally we cut out a lot of waste and expense associated with working (travel, childcare, work clothes etc)
Then I took voluntary redundancy to work for myself -no big payoff sadly, but good decision, no more politics or compromising my values working for a company being taken over by a company being taken over by a company with absolutely no consideration for people or customers in the process.
I'm humble enough to realise life is never perfect, it's a question of shuffling choices around until the compromises are ones you can live with. And we often have a lot more choices than we may think.
Every week is different timetable wise so running can't fit into any kind of routine. That's great as I dislike routine anyway.
Anyway, we're healthy and that's almost the most important thing, and just the luck of the draw, isn't it?
Life is a compromise
Mostly I agree with v-rap, if you choose to live in the developed world there are inevitably compromises. In a way I did pack it all in by leaving the endless commuting of London to live in the comparative serenity of a much smaller German city - although I still do essentially the same job, albeit I just don't understand it now!
I guess its the itchy feet scenario - never took the opportunity of a year off after university (or at any other time!) and sometimes just feel like running away (endless fantasies about ringing my employer from New Zealand).
But basically I'm a happy bunny, healthy, lovely family (can't decide whether to buy a dog) and if life didn't have its occasional downsides there wouldn't be enough cash for the upsides.
Balance is the new buzz word, everyone's looking for it. But I think we miss a trick if we think balance is a static state of perfection. Balance is actually the condition of continually making small movements and changes in order to maintain equilibrium. So you moved to Germany, MartinH, good for you - maybe now you need a three week holiday in NZ.
My life is mostly in balance, 3 kids, nice husband, own business. But tomorrow smallest daughter starts school, the end of 10 years of having a preschooler in the house so that'll be a lurch one way, and I'm coming back to full time work after three years of less involvement so that'll be a jolt another way. But I'm sure I'll get life back to a good state at some point.
And if I don't, I'll make some other changes until I do...
Now I'm working in the private sector, pay much higher, job satisfaction much lower. Careerwise, I've just lost interest, basically.
I stick with it however because there's still the occasional technical challenge, and at least the company is a) local and b) relatively enlightened in terms of its "family-friendly" policies, and so I'm not missing out on watching the boys grow up. Also I can be home by 1730 and out on a run by 1800!
I never like fantasising too long about winning huge amounts on the Lottery or whatever because the probabilities of that sort of thing happening are significantly smaller than those of, say, me being knocked down by a bus next time I'm out running, so a perverse logic insists to me "if one can happen, why not the other?".
I work full time and travel a lot, but when I'm not travelling I can choose to work from home if I want. I am more-or-less my own boss, I like what I do, and I am well-paid. Mr P is self-employed and does the school run /post-school childcare. I have 2 small children who get to spend a huge amount of time with their father who loves them deeply and fully appreciates how much time he spends with them. He doesn't do the ironing but so what? I do feel guilty about not being there as much for the kids (or Mr P) but on the whole, I am a much nicer person when I am working (and therefore a better mother and wife) and you try finding a challenging, well-paid, flexible, local part-time job - I tried and I couldn't!!
I run when I can - sometimes 3 or 4 times a week, sometimes none. I try not to beat myself up about it.
Of course I have dreams, as does Mr P, of moving to France and running that gite, and maybe one day we will do it. But in the meantime, we try and take each day as it comes.
My decision to move away from the UK actually came about quite spur of the moment as I had just completed a project in Germany and quite liked it - so I went home to Mrs Captain one evening (for it is she who makes the important decisions) and said "lets go" she said "I'll think about it" and next day I asked for a transfer. Knowing that I was leaving London was a hugely liberating experience.
I still work long hours - usually 7:00 until 7:00, but with only a half hour commute I now get home to see the children before they go to bed and have some exercise.
Now if I can just get used to the sausage............
What do you do Martin that you have to work such long hours?
So even our worst fears are not always as bad as they seem.
Tim, I'd like to be a full-time author too, but having to write books might be a problem. A bit of me fancies giving up the day-job for a career as a feature-writer, but I'm too old now and anyway, if I didn't do this job I'd have nothing to write about.
By the way, RF is rubbish.
Mind you I completely agree that RF is even worse. If it wasn't for the race listings and the ever present shoe index there would be nothing in it.
Sean, if you're reading how about a few articles reflecting some of the most discussed topics here e.g. the Gordon Pirie method / POSE, Nike SDM vs Timex SDM, Accuroute vs Trailgauge etc..
Why not go for it? I'm sure they're desperate for ideas. However, don't know about the Xmas leftovers one - if you run once a day then the leftovers would be 10 days old on the last run (assuming you took no rest days). Do sprouts last that long?
Neil
Actually, I'm surprised they don't have a special "what you thought of this month's RW" forum or ideas for future issues. Maybe we should do that as a monthly thread?
My gripe (well one of them) with RF is that it is soooo badly sub-edited. Also, I've never seen another magazine that has so many photos of its own staff each month.
Anyway don't get me started, on this..
Neil
Sprouts...aaah! I remember my old piano book had the tune of Frere Jacques coupled with the words:
Jet propulsion, jet propulsion
Gives more speed, gives more speed...
Roast potatoes are quite nice reheated the next day, though.
V-rap, my sister-in-laws father (is that an official relation of mine?) is a well published author and has about 30 books in print. However, because their westerns he only gets about 150 quid per book. Still he enjoys it - but I think its really quite hard to make lots of cash out of writing.