Work-Life Imbalance

Family, career, fitness - with only 24 hours in a day, can we have it all? Maybe, but never as much as we want. A recent, and fortunately temporary, spike in volume at work has made me skimp on running. In the last two weeks I only ran four times:

1) October 12: 5 miles in 7:25, 7:35, 8:00, 8:15 and 8:15

2) October 19: 3 miles leisurely

3) October 22: 3.5 miles on the treadmill in 25:30 (7:17/mile)

4) October 24: 5 miles in 8:10, 9:00, 8:35, 6:28 and a 8:58 cool down

My hamstrings have been holding up well since my injury last month, but my days of starting off at a quick pace with no warm up are probably over. During my last few runs, I definitely felt the potential for pulling my hamstring again, which subsided after a mile or two.

But back to my family/career/fitness conundrum: when I leave home, my kids are usually just waking up. And when I return from work, we have just a couple of hours until they go to bed, if I get home early. On days I work late, I don't see them until the morning. Which leaves just a couple of hours more to spend with my wife, take care of things around the house and anything else - like running/working out? - before I sleep and start all over again. The astonishing part is compared to my work life in my earlier years, I have it easy: I have regular work hours and a 10 to 15 minute commute - I really have no excuse to not run more consistently.

I read that President Barack Obama works out every morning at 6:00. He likely has lots of staff to assist with daily house things, but despite the demands of being a world leader, he still seems to have a happy family life. For the rest of us mortals, balancing family, career and our other personal interests will continue to be a regular challenge.

A Brazilian man once told me a parable he heard growing up about time, money and paixão (which he loosely translated as "lust"). When we are young, we have time and lust, but no money. When we start working, we have money and lust, but no time. And when we retire, we have time and money, but no longer have lust. That story - part joke, part resignation to never being 100% fulfilled - overlooks a simple solution: Choose your priorities and pursue them fully. I once used to work 80 hour per weeks many years ago, which I was willing to tolerate, in part because I was single. After almost three years of that intensity, I resigned. But I did learn my limits: if it ever came down to family, health or work, it'd be time for a career change.