I recently switched jobs. Mostly, to avoid a 2-hour daily commute and 6-day workweek that just never seemed to end. Now that I'm working just 40 hours, I must admit our quality of life has improved drastically. :) Tonight we were watching some TV show that was talking about how many hours Americans work as compared to other countries. I discovered that in France, the work week is just 35 hours. Paid overtime is not allowed. You are guaranteed a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation each year. When I annouced on Facebook that I will be selling all of our belongings and moving to France, different comments also informed me that maternity leave in France is 4-6 months, paid, and that you may retire at 60. If you have seen anything in my house that you'd like to have, make me an offer...I'm relocating!!
In all seriousness, it is crazy how much priority we place on the job. When Rich and I first moved here, he was working around 100 hours a week to get his station under control. Then I started working to fill time, and my job morphed into six 10-12 hour days a week. He was literally coming home just to sleep a few hours and going right back to work. Between his schedule and mine we didn't see much of each other for awhile! Now that he has the station under control he has been able to back off on his work schedule. He still works about 50-60 hours a week but that is the norm in the US...in fact many people are working 60-80 hours a week nowadays. One of the reasons I decided to switch jobs was simply to place a higher priority on our home life. It is great to actually have time to do simple things....straighten up the house on a daily basis, get dinner on the table each night, take the dog for a walk, go grocery shopping weekly and fold clean laundry!! Sometimes we get to a point where work consumes our lives so much, that we don't have any time or energy to enjoy what should be most important. When we don't have time to enjoy the things we are supposedly working for, it's time to reconsider our priorities.
I thought I'd miss the pay for those extra 20 hours+ a week, but actually it hasn't made a noticeable difference and the sanity we have BOTH gained has been worth every penny. Little challenge for my readers today...keep your priorities straight!! In today's work culture you probably won't have the same job in 20 years--but the goal is to have your family, and a life full of good success! It is easy to convince ourselves that we are working a lot for the right reasons, but in reality most of us could afford to spend more time at home if we are honest with ourselves!
