Day: October 21, 2024

I live in a space where rewatching every episode of TV series is considered a significant accomplishment. I could end the blog there and you would already know everything you need to know about what that does to my psyche. 73 hours of actively watching TV only to flip through lists to locate another 70+ hours is the consumer version of what I do for a living. Here I see the dual sides of creation and consumption, but consumption wins out. Consumption is the driving force–a distraction from anything that is valuable. What bugs me most is that it is a distraction to me as I try to exist in the space. All I hear is the noise of TV–often that of high pitched Japanese girls screaming unintelligibly (to me) about things I’d rather not care about. To stop it I need to actively take control of the TV or tell the culprits I want to watch something else. Yet in this there is an inherent unfairness. I live with them. They are family that has a right to exist. Moreover, and more importantly, I have a partner who puts up with my taste for football and also deals with the nonsense alongside me. So, I have, IMHO, little right to constantly cancel the behavior.

Yet the impact is killing me.

I cannot focus. I cannot work consistently. I need to go back to white noise and headphones…

I had really high hopes for the week. They didn’t pan out. I did get started. I did get the ball rolling. I did complete some of the tasks required, but overall I was underproductive and left a lot of opportunity on the table. Most of my energy went in a very good direction, and I am insanely proud of having made a step forward with the Lady Talis. On the other side of the life-work balance… nope.

The key to maintaining life-work balance is having success in both. It does not have to be huge but it cannot be push pull. You cannot allow yourself to sacrifice either. I pulled back on the working this week. It had nothing to do with life. It was just me feeling a bit overwhelmed in general with the work and stressed over little shifts within the home environment. This destabilization vexed me all week and now I need to work twice as hard to get halfway caught up.

I will not let another week go by like this. I need to lock in on many levels.