While I was at work today I got a message from my wife to say that she has graduated from the Bachelor degree she is doing which is great as it means she is one step closer to getting out of study. She still has a course and her thesis to do for her Master's degree to go so that hopefully she will graduate completely by May. When we met she said she had 2 years left of study, that was in 2011. Of course there have been a number of things that have come up along the way but I will be glad when she is done, as I am sure she will be too.
As I was saying the other day, I have been in Finland for 15 years and for about 13 of those I have been in relationships. All 13 of those years my partners have been students which has meant that for a large amount of time, it has been up to me to bring in enough of an income to cover two as the student support only goes so far, especially over the last years with a child as well.
What I am hoping is that once my wife fully graduates she will be able to find some decent employment (she has good contacts) and we will be a two income family. That in itself will feel like luxury in comparison and mean that for me, I can be a little more selective with the things that I have been doing and accepting as work. Over the last five years I have been running my business, no matter what condition I am in, I don't think I have had a day off due to illness as I don't get paid unless I work.
I definitely don't recommend it if one can possibly help it as it could quite quickly get out of hand and lead to various kinds of burnouts and issues if one is not prepared or suited for it. It was funny when my new boss told me the other day that if I have too many extra hours in lieu (flexi-time), she is going to force me to take days off so I don't burn out. I reminded her at the interview that whatever happens, she is going to have a tough time burning me out.
However, while I may not be forced into stress leave, it is very difficult to perform well consistently when there are so many things going on work-wise as well as constant family pressures. At times it is possible that a perfect storm of issues arrive that spreads resources and stretches them to their limits, I ma yet to reach the absolute though.
In the moments I allow myself to imagine the opposing scenario where instead of the storm, there is the perfect day it would be a point where my daughter is healthy, my wife has graduated and has a job she enjoys, my work volume is challenging but not unreasonable and of course, Steem prices have increased to the point that I am able to comfortably post and earn well from curation to keep growing my account and reward others.
Dreams.
Of course, none of that is so far out of the realms of possibility and in my view, we are heading toward it. The work we do for our daughter's health is slowly improving her allergies, my wife has the space to keep studying without having to work, I am learning more each day to improve my working fitness and Steem is well... one day Steem could do something.
For now though, it is keep grinding away and creeping along the path one step at a time toward a life that we want to live, one where there is possibility to do more of what we enjoy and less of what we are forced to do by circumstance. No one really knows what the future will hold for any one of us but I am one of those people that believes we can influence it and we all have the chance to create a better life for ourselves and others also. Regardless, I am not going to stop stepping.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
