Philip Bloom: I used to have a life. I gave it up 6 and a half years ago. What happened 6 and a half years ago? I went freelance. Do I regret this? Not at all. I am way more content in my work, I absolutely love my job, but it has come at a price. Is this price worth it though, to no longer have a balance in your life? That is what I want to discuss here. This is a quite different personal blog, quite emotional and very honest.
7 comments:
Wow, this is great article. Growing up, my father always would tell my brothers and me how he wished he didn't have to spend so much time at work, away from us. I look up to my father in many ways, and I think he has followed the advice that this reporter gave in his blog. Although I have not yet worked professionally in the theatre field, I know for a fact that it is definitely difficult to balance having "a life" and maintaining the love and passion you have for your work. This article really points out some important ways to achieve both personal happiness as well as professional fulfillment. I have noticed even as a student that it is really difficult to get any work done on days when I'm feeling down. It is important to live a healthy life in order to be successful both personally and professionally. This is way easier said than done, since living a healthy life takes time, and time is something that we have very little of in the theatre world. This article definitely inspired me to improve my own lifestyle, and I hope it does the same for others, too!
We all struggle with the balance of life and work even now in school - but Phillip Bloom brings up some concerns regarding freelancing that hit home.
Maybe it's because I haven't truly worked freelancing gigs as my main source of income quite yet, but I find the prospect of freelance to be unsettling, if not terrifying.
I already have a tendency to take on most projects that come my way. Bloom says that he supports one day gigs, but for most of us, working on a project immediately indicates months of footprint.
You can pick your own vacation, but vacation's seem like even more of hemorrhaging to me if you're missing income.
I think the most important aspect of success and having a life, is understanding what exactly success means to you. Does that mean having everything in your work life? Or sacrificing the big name in lights dream for kids. Understanding your priorities is the key to happiness. (also an positive disposition doesn't hurt)
I know I am probably fairly young to be worrying about this, but the work and life balance thing is a real concern for me. I want to grow up to be a stay at home mom just as much as I want to grow up to be a costume designer on films. I know for a fact I cannot do both at the same time and still do them to the best of my ability. Right now I feel like I do a pretty good job taking care of myself and my relationships while still devoting the needed time and effort into my work, but I know as I get older this will become even more of an issue. Just over Christmas break I realized that working in a city where my family doesn't live for most of my life might not be the best decision for me. I really like what Ariel said about figuring out what success means to you. Im sure this is a very common struggle and everyone just needs to find out what is best for them, even if they make a few mistakes along the way.
This is the most interesting article I have read in a while. I believe that life and work can come to a nice balance once a person learns how to pick and choose what they can and cannot take on. "Life" is definitely going to be a juggling act, but, its well worth it.
I don't think life would be as exciting if it was not a constant juggling act. This may because I love being busy, but I don't know that I would be who I am without a constantly busy schedule.
This is something that I find to be something very important in my life. Coming out of undergrad my first job through me for a loop. I worked a ton, plain and simple. It frustrated me and also frustrated my friend group. They wanted to see me more. You do learn to adjust to a heavy work load and you make do. Not something I would inspire to in the future. Well then there is grad school. When telling people about grad school the time commitment comes up and many people are blown away by the amount of time that is required. To me though this time I am putting in at Grad school is a little different. Idealy it is time now so less time later kind of idea. I am making this 3 year commitment to learn all I can and then head to the "real" world. So currently I move forward and commitment to my education. The best way for me to have this balance is to not find extra work during the little bit of time I have off and TAKE IT. RUN away from school, turn off the technology and take the break. That is what I shall try to do!!!
This blog definitely make me think about the balance between life and work. Refreshing my memory, my father always wanted to be a good father as well as a good business man. Reading this made me think how hard he tried to balance both in his life and I could once again thank his effort because he was able to spend time with family as much as he worked for his job. Now, when I think of myself, this struggle will definitely be part of my life as I grow enough to have a job. I believe that each person does have different opinions on successful balance. However for me, I definitely want to be a good mother and wife and also a good designer at a same time. I wish I can put my best effort for both with best results while enjoying them. I understand that doing both successful will be very effort-demand and even hard. So, like how Ariel mentioned, throughout my course of life, I should figure out my priorities and the key to happiness.
This article is one of the most relevant to everyone posts I've seen on here. As students, we work long hours for no pay, and use the incentive of a degree and prestige within the school to get where we want to be. It's acceptable to gain 15lbs from stress, and it's okay to not sleep, and it's okay to "be a college kid" and eat unhealthy, and it's expected that you spend all of your free time working. This is the same as free-lancing, except the incentive is money. As theatre students, we are living a college life in unhealthy conditions, and we are prepared to enter a world of free-lancing where we continue to live under these unhealthy and poor conditions. The fact of the matter is, that it DOESN'T have to be this way. Being a college student and being a free-lancer doesn't mean that you sacrifice yourself for what you love, but instead it means that you come to an agreement with what you love. For me, that agreement is that no matter what, I need to sit down and listen to music and drink my favorite tea. It also means that I take long, brisk walks for the sake of doing them. Granted. I might lose a few hours of time I could be working. But, you find quite soon that you enjoy life better when you take an hour or two off, and then when you do go back to working, you enjoy it more because you feel refreshed and invigorated. One would be surprised at how little time it takes to take a deep breath or make yourself a cup of tea. The people who choose to keep working beyond their sleep and health limits, and who choose to immerse themselves in their homework or in their free-lance work instead of immersing themselves in their family and friends, are the ones who burn out and change careers. I'm proud of the author of this article for choosing to still do what he loves, but trying to find some more jobs closer to home, and still having the desire to see his family. That's not a sacrifice by any means, just an agreement for the better. The world will be a much better place when people stop calling taking care of yourself a sacrifice to work and success.
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