Lol, I don't understand how my view on life is "flat" or what that means. I've lived and worked on 3 continents, had tons of relationships, tons of experiences. I could stop working tomorrow and be fine for the rest of my life. I could buy my wife a mansion, send my kids to ivy league schools, go fishing Monday, hunting Tuesday, play FF14 Wednesday, visit Venice Thursday, buy a hooker Friday.. and do something completely different the next week. All because I stayed till 1am a few nights a year when I was 24 instead of watching the clock tick down to 5pm every day and running for the door so I could "enjoy" life. If I didn't want to stay till 1am, I wouldn't have. But I did. And now I can not go in at all if I want.
My view on life is called "realistic."
Work life balance is a phrase very commonly used in my field. It's sort of an inside joke. Why do you need to balance work and life as if they're two separate things? If you enjoy your work, it should simply be a part of your life. You shouldn't have to segregate them or set clear boundaries for them. My work is not just a place where I go to make money, it's where I have friends that my family and I go to dinner with, it's where I take part in events like rebuilding Sandy homes, it's where I go to unwind if I had a rough day at home. It should integrate itself seamlessly if you actually do enjoy your work.
I didn't say do a job you hate for money. I said don't make your job your passion, because you can achieve much more of your passions outside the boundaries of a single job.
Also, I was born and grew up in central, post-communism Europe. Didn't come to America until I was 10. My parents barely survived here until I got into college. America to me was just a way for us to bounce back on our feet. And now, again, I'm using it to my advantage to help my life. America is an awesome country, but it's such a small fraction of me.
I have two kids. The field I work in has things called busy seasons that usually last 3-4 months at a time. So I have 3-4 on months and then 3-4 more relaxed months. My wife takes our kids to our Europe home or our Japan home depending on the season. They're still small enough where missing school isn't a big thing. When we go back to Japan for good next summer my oldest will be ready to start shou so it works out perfectly. I spend plenty of time with my family, but I'm far enough in my career where the last ~5 years (since having kids basically) has been much less intensive than the period when I was 22-24ish. I'm holding my son as I type this lol.
