Work/Life Balance

[Clock3rs]

So with the beginning of my full time work life (I am at the end of my 20s now), I myself recognized that I can not connect my actual life and interests with my working life. I am working in an office and usually have to dress something between casual and pretty stiff (suit). My work is quite boring, but money keeps me motivated right now.
I am trying to not identify with my actual work and started to deepen my thoughts with what I actually want to achieve in life and use my freetime a lot to be progressive myself. I started to do some artstuff and such on.

Any of you sitting in the same boat? How do you keep being motivated to actually go to work? Do you have any back up plans out there that you are working on to move on, once you can finalize them?

I am usually surrounded by other skaters (90% of my circle of friends) and realized that (for me) the whole essence of skateboarding is quite the opposite of the real working world out there. Freedom and fun exchanges for money, not because I actually feel like I need to consume a lot ( I am not even having a car),but because I need the money to live.

My plans are to move out of my comfort zone once I spared enough money and invest in education. I can not see myself in any employment that requests myself to waste bigtime of my life on things that I, as a person, can not progress from.

What are your plans? Are you satisfied by your job? Or are you the kind of person that doesn't give a shit about work as long as the cash flows?

Feel free to share your thoughts.

[rmrodge]

That is great you are in tune with this at your age!  I'm 41 and keeping that work/life balance is so important, especially as you get older and take on more responsibilities with work, if you get married and/or have kids, etc...

At your age I wish someone told me to be more intentional as it sounds you are well on your way to be.  The earlier you learn to be intentional and disciplined the more freedom you will have when you are my age.  For me I try to balance out the 5 F's, Fitness, Family, Finances, Faith, Friends.  Some folks are 100% focused on finances and the rest suffer, but if you can find a good balance among all of them I think you will flourish. 

Sometimes with work you have to take what you get til you get what you want.  As long as you set boundaries and your intentional, there are a lot of hours in the day to do everything you want to do artistically and with skating or side projects until you figure out the right career. 

After too many years of not making time for things I love like skateboarding I decided to buy a new board and relearn old tricks.  I started skating in the parking lot at lunch (I work for a defense contractor so I feel ya with that suit environment) and found that there were a few other old guys at work that used to skate.  We now have a small group of old guys that get together to either skate for a few at lunch or on the weekends at the skatepark.  So much fun! 

You're going to be fine!  Once you figure it out how to make money off of your passion let me know, maybe I can follow your footprints! 

Have a good one bro!

[Clock3rs]

That is great you are in tune with this at your age!  I'm 41 and keeping that work/life balance is so important, especially as you get older and take on more responsibilities with work, if you get married and/or have kids, etc...

At your age I wish someone told me to be more intentional as it sounds you are well on your way to be.  The earlier you learn to be intentional and disciplined the more freedom you will have when you are my age.  For me I try to balance out the 5 F's, Fitness, Family, Finances, Faith, Friends.  Some folks are 100% focused on finances and the rest suffer, but if you can find a good balance among all of them I think you will flourish. 

Sometimes with work you have to take what you get til you get what you want.  As long as you set boundaries and your intentional, there are a lot of hours in the day to do everything you want to do artistically and with skating or side projects until you figure out the right career. 

After too many years of not making time for things I love like skateboarding I decided to buy a new board and relearn old tricks.  I started skating in the parking lot at lunch (I work for a defense contractor so I feel ya with that suit environment) and found that there were a few other old guys at work that used to skate.  We now have a small group of old guys that get together to either skate for a few at lunch or on the weekends at the skatepark.  So much fun! 

You're going to be fine!  Once you figure it out how to make money off of your passion let me know, maybe I can follow your footprints! 

Have a good one bro!

Hey there brother,

that was actually a quite motivational speech you have given me there, which i did not expect to happen on this board at all. Thank you for that, honestly!

I have always tried to set skateboarding and/or education before work, which might be reasoned to several family tragedies back then. By that I started to question our system pretty badly.

It sounds really good you're back to doing your thing now and trying to find time for stuff, besides your family, that actually make you the person who you are, in your case it may be skateboarding with a group of people you may not just skate with but you also feel related to.

I find it horrifying to look at some of my colleagues, who just lived for their work (sales job) the last centuries and never actually had anything in their life, except work, that they could identify with. Most of the people around here work from 9-5 or 6 or 7 to go home, watch some bullshit on tv, eat good and go sleep.

Will try to remember and let you know whenever I found my holy grail and make money of my passions.

I wish you good luck on your path too, my man!

[rmrodge]

Right on my man!  Have a good one!

[rocklobster]

Not sure if you checked out the documentary "Mind the Gap", it features some skateboarding and delves into the lives of a few guys from the crew facing growing up in middle America. While the movie is not centered around finding your identity in the corporate world, it does touch on how they have to move on from skateboarding to embrace regular adult life.

When you're in your teens to 20's skateboarding can seem like everything to you; I think that is a feeling everyone can identify with. As you grow up and take on additional responsibilities you realize there is a lot more to life than just time on the board, and these things can bring you a great amount of fulfillment and joy in life. I never thought I would love Muay Thai kickboxing but I put the same dedication I channeled into skateboarding and thoroughly enjoy both activities side by side.

Same with the office job; when I was younger I told myself I would never work in an office. But I'm working in an IT company selling a boring as hell product (printers). The important thing is realizing that this job does not define me as a person. It is something I do to get paid and while I do sometime enjoy bits of it, I would hardly call printers my passion. It's just as much of the life you lead both inside and outside work that defines you.

One thing you will notice is drifting apart from the crew you grew up skateboarding with. People have different schedules, work, families and kids. It's important to meet up regularly or just step out of your comfort zone to make some friends at the park. You may come to realize that you may not have as much in common with your crew outside of skateboarding; that can suck, but you stay together for the friendship.

Skateboarding will always be there for you and us as the community at large. I came back after last skating seriously back in 2010. I have a much more rewarding time skateboarding now than I did when I was younger. I'm more analytical about my tricks and because I have way less time on the board I treasure each session (both good and bad) a lot more. Plus, having disposable income helps when you develop gear madness and decide to switch you shit around.

You'll be fine.

[S.]

So with the beginning of my full time work life (I am at the end of my 20s now), I myself recognized that I can not connect my actual life and interests with my working life. I am working in an office and usually have to dress something between casual and pretty stiff (suit). My work is quite boring, but money keeps me motivated right now.
I am trying to not identify with my actual work and started to deepen my thoughts with what I actually want to achieve in life and use my freetime a lot to be progressive myself. I started to do some artstuff and such on.

Any of you sitting in the same boat? How do you keep being motivated to actually go to work? Do you have any back up plans out there that you are working on to move on, once you can finalize them?

I am usually surrounded by other skaters (90% of my circle of friends) and realized that (for me) the whole essence of skateboarding is quite the opposite of the real working world out there. Freedom and fun exchanges for money, not because I actually feel like I need to consume a lot ( I am not even having a car),but because I need the money to live.

My plans are to move out of my comfort zone once I spared enough money and invest in education. I can not see myself in any employment that requests myself to waste bigtime of my life on things that I, as a person, can not progress from.

What are your plans? Are you satisfied by your job? Or are you the kind of person that doesn't give a shit about work as long as the cash flows?

Feel free to share your thoughts.

I feel you.

I am 34 and I am at a similar place. Alot of my friends are too. We talk about that situation alot. Some of them are dreaming of taking a year off of work, others have gotten kids or started to skate more.

Until my thirties I have done jobs I hated and did not identify with at all and I kind of liked it. I did not emotionally depend on that job. I only needed it for money so I would have enough to travel and skate. As I got older I wanted to do something I could also identify with and that I at least did not feel was completely useless. Also: The jobs I was doing did not pay for shit!

I have never been able to see myself in any sort of professional identity as long as I can remember. I tried to get into an academic career for awhile, but I got really burned out on academia and the past years I have transitioned to teaching at high-school. Currently I am getting an extra degree to be able to get a full position as a teacher. I am not completely convinced I want to be a teacher all my life, though. The job is so hypersocial and involves building and regulating all these relationships that I don't know if it will exhaust me over time. I am more introverted by nature so I have learned that to be able to do that job, I definitely need alone time and to be able to persue my own intersts after school.

I have always sought fulfillment in doing things rather than getting respect or love for having done something. This may sound cool, but it is actually a problem when trying to find a healthy place in society.
I think I will always need something to be into besides work. If you have something besides work that fullfills you, you also become less dependent on a job and therefore have a more powerful position there. Rarely have I ever seen more happily unemployed people than skateboarders...

So I play the trumpet everyday and once a week I make music with a friend. I also still skate every other day. My girlfriend and I are also thinking about starting a family, which eventually will probably take up a lot of time too. In the perfect world I would work 4 hours every day and have enough money to live and enough time to play music and skate as well.

[Spankthemonkey]

Never quit skating don't conform man don't end up 45 watching some kid push down the street and think to yourself fuck because when your 45 your gonna be just as mother fucking broke as you are now don't be thinking that you were never good. Don't sit here and watch the stars go by wishing you could kickflippee something bigger.im the only alumni from senior year grade school that has money and I'm the only motherfucker that still skateboards everyday

[Lorem_Ipsum]

My plans are to move out of my comfort zone

Hi Clock3rs, I was actually in a somewhat similar situation to you up until quite recently. I'll be 30 in 3 months, and I was struggling to keep the connection between what I do for fun (skate), and what I do to get by. I ended up getting a job in the skate industry after working various jobs in food service and jewelry production which actually brought skating and work into one place. I essentially became completely one-dimensional, a complete skate-nerd. Which was fine by me, as it was kind of my goal when I took the job. However, when the job started sucking and I began to resent skateboarding, I felt like an empty shell.

I left my comfort zone and began taking my career in a direction that I found to be personally fulfilling, and lucrative enough for me to get by. It took about a year, but I was able to get an internship, then a part time job, and currently a full time job in the field that I had set out to become a part of. None of it was comfortable, and I still feel like I'm "faking it until I make it". However, because I was out of my comfort zone, growth (professionally and personally) came rapidly. I wouldn't trade it for anything now.

Now, I am able to bike commute to work, get my creative rocks off in my office (where fortunately there is no dress code), and skate before and/or after work. My skating has slowed down a bit partly due to weather, but I've found a new hobby in biking that is filling the void for the time being. At the same time, it is addressing the Fitness "F" that another poster laid out.

I would say getting out of your comfort zone is the best possible thing you can do at your point in life/career. Nothing grows within the comfort zone, and you fill your head with innumerable "what if's" that you may or may not ever take action on.

[Clock3rs]

Expand Quote

My plans are to move out of my comfort zone

[close]

Hi Clock3rs, I was actually in a somewhat similar situation to you up until quite recently. I'll be 30 in 3 months, and I was struggling to keep the connection between what I do for fun (skate), and what I do to get by. I ended up getting a job in the skate industry after working various jobs in food service and jewelry production which actually brought skating and work into one place. I essentially became completely one-dimensional, a complete skate-nerd. Which was fine by me, as it was kind of my goal when I took the job. However, when the job started sucking and I began to resent skateboarding, I felt like an empty shell.

I left my comfort zone and began taking my career in a direction that I found to be personally fulfilling, and lucrative enough for me to get by. It took about a year, but I was able to get an internship, then a part time job, and currently a full time job in the field that I had set out to become a part of. None of it was comfortable, and I still feel like I'm "faking it until I make it". However, because I was out of my comfort zone, growth (professionally and personally) came rapidly. I wouldn't trade it for anything now.

Now, I am able to bike commute to work, get my creative rocks off in my office (where fortunately there is no dress code), and skate before and/or after work. My skating has slowed down a bit partly due to weather, but I've found a new hobby in biking that is filling the void for the time being. At the same time, it is addressing the Fitness "F" that another poster laid out.

I would say getting out of your comfort zone is the best possible thing you can do at your point in life/career. Nothing grows within the comfort zone, and you fill your head with innumerable "what if's" that you may or may not ever take action on.

Fucking 100% with you.

I planned to quit my job since a while and tomorrow is the day. 2 months left then until i am completely out here. Will take about a year off afterwards thanks to a handful of german safety systems concerning unemployment and make my plans.

I feel like a lot of people here sitting in the same boat / have had the same thoughts as me and i honestly hope, after seeing all these emotionless faces in my office, that everyone will be alright and settle at a point in life with which he/she can fuck with.

Will keep shit updated here, if anybody is interested

[50mm]

I work 9 hour days but have weekends off. I have worked in a boring as fuck repetitive office job for nearly 9 years and I’ve kept my sanity by not giving in and turning into one of these weirdos who make their job their life. I have a bunch of shit put up in my cubicle related to the stuff I like but I don’t put up any recognition awards or shit like that that everyone else does. I don’t like my job but I make good money without any degree. My current motivations are school and building a life with my girlfriend. I hate my job but I have a couple like minded friends here who help me feel like I’m not alone.

I’m really at my wits end burn out wise. I used to be a great worker but it’s like Groundhog Day, every day is the same and my work is slipping. Yesterday I found out that I’ll have an interview for a different position with less stress so I look forward to that. The one thing I always say though is this job is not my life. I am going to school and even if it’s just one class this semester that is more important to me. It helps that my gf is similar. Work is work it’s not her life.

When I first started this job though it was also my first time working full time legit. I was having panic attacks because I was like this is the rest of my life right here. But now I’m branching out and should be in a better department soon.

I hate my fucking job but my work homies are pretty cool. It’s a high stress job so that doesn’t help.

[Quilt]

I feel you I'm 21 and I work in a corporate environment and it makes me feel like such a sell out at times. Things in my life are getting much more serious and its difficult for me to be able to process it/ find a balance. I wish I still was the skate rat that I used to be when I was 14-18 but as i get older its harder to make time for skateboarding. I've been getting back into it even if its one morning out of the week its nice being able to make that time for what I love.

[Weekend96]

I hear you. Work sucks man, i think the majority of people will agree with that. I’ve been working my first real job that i got fresh out of college for a year now and i am already burnt out. Working in the financial industry is far from my passion. However, its something that i have to live with due to student loans.

I definitely think you have the right idea on not letting your work define you. Hell, i have been telling myself that since my freshman year of college.

Its good that you are exploring other passions outside of skateboarding. I recently have discovered my love of going to the gym and working out which seems to be a good supplement for skating. Of course, i still try to skate every weekend... sometimes twice in one day.

If work is good for anything other than money, its definitely for making you appreciate your free time. Since skate sessions aren’t as frequent anymore , i find myself enjoying skateboarding almost more than i ever have before.

Once i pay off my loans and also make a little more money i’m gonna look into moving somewhere down south i think (currently living in pennsylvania.) So i’m looking forward to a fresh start somewhere