Eye Opener: Job v. Life

I'm realizing on vacation the toll my new job has taken on me, mentally and physically. I'm not taking care of myself the way I want.

One key insight was realizing how much my legs ached after running only two miles. It's been months since I've been able to do any regular cross training, such as running or sprinting, or working on the elliptical machines at the gym. I've even had to cut back on the number of martial arts classes I take. My legs are aching because of that lack of training.

It's not just aches. I have seen during free sparring how quickly I get tired; and my weight, while not a huge problem, has been creeping up.

For work, I've been getting up at 5:45 AM, and I'm so busy I'm eating lunch at my desk. I haven't had time to do any cross training at the gym--my membership is on hold at the moment. I can't see getting up any earlier to run, since I need 8 hours of sleep to function well, and I have difficulty making it to bed before 10 as it is; I can't see running at lunch, in part because running on pavement isn't good for my feet or legs.

Complicating matters is that I've got some increased financial commitments, and it's been helpful not spending the money on the gym.

I think it's time to push back at the job a little, to see if I can do this job and still do what I need for myself.

My wife, bless her, said she would make inquiries about putting in more hours at her part-time job, which would let me feel less constrained by money spent on the gym. Since I often don't leave work until 5:30 anyway, I could head to the gym at 4 PM, or at lunch on days that aren't busy. The benefit of going to the gym during work hours, as opposed to going to more martial arts classes at night, is gym time won't come out of family time. With my long commute, family time already feels so limited.

Early next year, my office is moving to a new location, which will afford me a shorter commute, and I hear there's an inexpensive gym at the new location. So that move could definitely help the picture. But I need to start taking care of things now.