Hit me like a light bulb!I was in class today and my professor was telling me that he intentionally will leave his laptop in his car or office when he gets home from work. He does this so he intentionally has time to enjoy life away from work and to have time with his wife.
I left class that day thinking about this comment. This really is a great statement about life-balance and self-care. He admitted that he loves his job and it is not "stressful" to him but his wife, family and colleagues tell him to work less and relax. For my professor, his work is fun. He enjoys it. So just stopping to spend time with his wife away from his work has been a challenge to him.
After class, I was still thinking about what he said, as I ate dinner, I had a topic worthy of more research:
Has having internet access been ruining our marriages? Just because we have access to our work and the internet 24/7 with Wi-Fi and data plans and hot-spots, does not mean that we should be on it all the time, at least not on our work and research. A recent popular internet meme is Maslow's hierarchy of needs with "Wi-Fi" tacked onto it at the bottom and most essential need. It is hilarious but sadly seems true to many of us.
The principles of self-care and life balance are not new. And the problem of bringing work home is nothing new either. The solution is also the same as before. Time management and priority setting skills are still essential.
What has changed with technology is access to the internet and our work or studies. Just the mere ease and convenience of having this access is an amazing thing. We can be more productive and get more things done more quickly. Along with the advantages come some problems.
Again, we have to have balance and boundaries in our life. To build and create healthy marriages, we have to have time alone with our spouses in communication, intimacy, passion and in honest commitment to each other. If work and.or technology is getting in the way of this, it is time to create boundaries to protect what is most important in our lives, especially our marriages.
