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Thread: Work Life Balance?

  1. #11
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Just reading back of the numerous replies which have sprung up whilst I've been typing my post.

    Like others say what is a fell runners way of life? I come from a climbing background and its just the same, same utopian ideas. Wouldn't it be great to get out all the time with very few constraints put on time etc.

    Sure sounds good, but but for alot of people it simply doesn't work they need structure i.e forced windows of time in which to commit to training or it simply doesn't happen. Then you have other issues such as limited funds due to lack of work etc so you can't just go off on a nice jaunt with your mates etc.

    It really depends on what sort of person you are, maybe you just need to try it. That will pretty much be dictated by circumstances.

    Don't get me wrong it does sounds attractive in some respects but I can see the drawbacks as well.

    Personally more flexibility would be a reasonable compromise for the next few years, shortening my work hours is my first stop (9 day fortnight or similar) once the mortgage is paid off in 5 years then I'll probably look to set up by myself.

  2. #12
    Senior Member
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Interesting question

    I spent some time working in the City. Typical hours were 9am til 8pm, with some work most weekends. They paid me a lot, but I had no time to spend it. I ate takeways in the office most nights and was getting fat.

    One weekend I was back 'home' up north. My brother bullied me into doing a fell race. It nearly killed me but I realised that I was wasting my 20s and I needed to get out. 9 months later I started a job in Leeds. I took a pay cut but the cost of living is so much cheaper, it pretty much evened out.

    I've been up here nearly 6 years, now live on the edge of the Dales and have never been fitter or happier.

  3. #13
    Master Wheeze's Avatar
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    If you're single and planning to stay that way, I'd say Go For It. When you have family, mortgages, career etc etc, its hard to get some in. Then, when your family have moved on, the mortgage is paid and career topped out, you are too wrecked to do it properly anymore! Trust me, I know this!
    Simon Blease
    Monmouth

  4. #14

    Re: Work Life Balance?

    It's not so much giving up work completley but sacraficing careers/big wage for a simpler way of life that allows you to spend more time outside. In the big scheme of things is it worth it?

    climbing the career ladder V's more time outside............??

  5. #15
    Master Brotherton Lad's Avatar
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Interesting thread. There's an element of homostasis in the issue. I stopped working at 42 years of age after 22 years in the infantry and send my wife out to work, she's now done 19 years in the Army.
    I have no great need or desire to work, but if I did, I know it would cost me money to get a job what with kit, a more reliable car, maybe buying more convenience food, maybe paying for a cleaner etc and then going through the whole rigmarole each time we move house on posting (roughly every 2 years) At the moment I can service the car, cook all our meals from scratch, do the house-keeping, scour the shops and charity shops for bargains, bake bread, brew beer at 21p a pint, make and mend things, all of which I find very satisfying.
    As for running, I imagined I'd be able to take it more seriously and do full-time training, but in fact I haven't, even though I have the time. There's always something else to be done and I've realised, too, that I run for pleasure and relaxation, rather than all out and competitively.

    I suppose you can be either cash rich and time poor or vice versa, it's very difficult to be rich in both, and at a certain age you may decide that time rich is preferable.
    Last edited by Brotherton Lad; 18-05-2010 at 09:54 AM.

  6. #16
    Master and MR
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Quote Originally Posted by Wheeze View Post
    If you're single and planning to stay that way, I'd say Go For It. When you have family, mortgages, career etc etc, its hard to get some in. Then, when your family have moved on, the mortgage is paid and career topped out, you are too wrecked to do it properly anymore! Trust me, I know this!
    me too
    I worked silly hours in the bad old days
    112 hour weeks on the opencast sites. 6am till 6pm on the machines then welding till 10pm
    Work was totally My Life but I look back and yes I earnt serious money and have enough but my body has paid the price.
    Lying under a gas pipeline welding for 12 hrs a day. No more.
    Fri afternoons Im done

  7. #17
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    We took the decision to move north to the Lakes when Iwas in my 40s and as a family we have never looked back, we had a large drop in Salary but the quality of life we have had over the last twenty odd years has by far and away cancelled out, the supposed advantages of being a big earner, but then we are folk that would prefer spending the evenings walking/running around say Kentmere, rather than sat in front of a dirty great Plasma TV with a laptop on our knees checking that our investments are working to further enhance our pile of cash that we can`t take with us when we die.

    OK if we had stayed down south we would very probably have been retired now, but we very much doubt that we would have the health and fitness that we have now, and it`s a fact that we would have lost 20+ years of what has largely been a very active and pleasant life experience for us.

    It really doe`s depend what you want out of life if the materialism thing is what float`s your boat then unless you are lucky with finding a well payed job, or prepared to commute for one (defeats the object really) then it may be better to settle for what you have, the old proverb ANOTHER MANS GRASS ALWAYS LOOKS GREENER can often be true.

    Good luck whatever you choose to do
    The older I get the Faster I was

  8. #18
    Master nikalas's Avatar
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    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Quote Originally Posted by ZootHornRollo View Post
    I dunno Daz but I'd love to hear ideas from people who've packed in City life or changed career or moved to the country or whatever.

    I live in London, have a well-paid job which isn't too stressful, and I don't mind it sometimes but I'd move to the Peak or the Lakes (or neighbouring country) or somewhere like the Brecons at the drop of a hat.

    As a web editor / financial journalist I could maybe look at working freelance from home but I know for a fact times are hard for that sort of thing. I'm just coming up against a brick wall when I start trying to think of a new job in a new place - could I take the ML course and set up as a walking / running guide in the Lakes? Sounds great but I bet it's not that easy - i.e., a hundred outfits all offering a similar thing.

    I am nearly 40 and a big career change can be difficult at that stage.

    On the downside, I don't own a London house to sell for loads of cash, on the upside I don't have any debts and I do have some money in the bank ...
    Hi ZHR,

    My wife and I were on the "London Treadmill" for 8 years before we escaped to the Peak District 3 years ago. I'm a freelance writer (health, fitness, adventure sports and travel) and have found that lots of mags have been cutting back on staffers and giving out more work to freelancers. I was managing a personal training studio in Mayfair and doing stupid hours. My wife was working as a radio producer for the BBC... she now does freelance radio work and has set-up her own business making designer baby/children's clothes www.peakprincess.co.uk (sorry about the blatant plug... I'll have Auntie Social on my back!)

    Anyhow the biggest calculation/mind-shift we made was working out how much we needed to live as opposed to how much we wanted.... doing that is incredibly liberating. You then have to be willing to diversify and take on anything.... the variety is a lot of fun and it's amazing how many doors start to open once you take the plunge.

    I thought about the ML route myself but it's a very congested market. I'll probably get round to doing it to add an additional string to my bow but wouldn't rely on it.

    GO FOR IT!

  9. #19

    Re: Work Life Balance?

    Thanks Nikalas and MikeH, BL, and all - great replies and food for thought.

    I'm very lucky in that I get to run to work and back almost every day and mine isn't a long-hours' job or stressful, although I am bored, which brings its own form of stress.

    Compared to many people I know down here I have a good quality of life - low outgoings, no stressful commute. But of course I still manage to spend like a loonie, not least on trips up north to get to the hills.

    Just seems a bit daft being down here to earn this money so I can use it to get up there! Although there is something to be said for all those train journeys - they are relaxing and I read a lot and there's a pleasing sense of transition I get - it's like going on holiday every month.

    But I just know London and this job isn't for me any more, been here too long. Shoulda done summat about it four years ago to be honest.

    The biggest obstacle is not having a house to sell. Not getting in the property market in my 20s / 30s was a big mistake in retrospect. It shouldn't have to be that way, but in the modern UK it just is.

  10. #20

    Re: Work Life Balance?

    PS Daz H: I have been thinking of buying a campervan recently, exactly as you say - but with petrol prices as they are ... it's going to cost me £5,000 for secondhand T4 or similar, god knows what on tax and insurance, and then probably £100 petrol to the Lakes and back.

    Off-peak return on the train is £80 - cheaper if you book in advance. OK, maybe a room on top if I can't be bothered camping, but still ....

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