About five years ago I found myself in a quandary, I simply could not switch off.
I had several high profile projects at work, I was blogging on a weekly cadence, I was developing and supporting half a dozen apps in my spare time, and then I started partnering with a close friend on a promising start up concept. This was all fine at first … but then one day, no matter how hard I tried, I could not stop thinking about all the challenges I was trying to solve. It was like a splinter in my mind.
Imagine for a second that you have clenched your fist, after just a few minutes those muscles will feel fatigued and you will probably think about releasing your grip, but then every time you think about relaxing your hand it inexplicably tightens even more. You are essentially trapped because walking away from your own hand is not an option. For someone who prides themselves on solving problems by deliberate and accretive thought this situation is especially vexing because your best asset (a clear thinking mind) has transformed into a self sustaining trap, just like Sisyphus.
For me this represented a watershed moment, I had to reset and I had to regain balance.
The Art of Open Sourcing Your Life
I managed to escape this self imposed prison sentence when my wife recognized that I did not seem to be enjoying what I was doing anymore. Instead of deflecting her concerns I elected to explain everything and in just a few days she was helping me, and I was feeling better about everything.
Here is the really special thing about my wife, she always wanted to be involved with my work. She did not want to be a techie or a nerd. She was, however, fascinated by my passion in tech and just wanted to be a part of anything I was doing. She wanted to help me, and I needed it. Now everything related to this blog, its design, posts, pictures, metrics, social network posts, and app support, is work she helps me with. I love it!
I was reading a wonderful text Nerd Life Balance – The art of open sourcing your life by Nick Floyd and he brilliantly articulates the work traps we find ourselves constructing and how that can quite literally be hazardous to our spiritual, emotional and even physical well being. He goes on to promote a principle that I accidentally stumbled upon, that you can in fact “live out what you love to do in all aspects of your life”.
Nick refers to this as “work-life awesome”, and believe me it really is!
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