For the past few weeks it feels like I've been working two jobs; I have spent most of the evenings and weekends outside of my day job on my freelance project. I'm not happy working sixty to seventy hours a week; humans were not created to be machines. What I've learned from this is that working all the time is a stupid choice. We only get one life to live; this makes time so much more valuable than money.

What can you do with the time that you are given? Chase a career that brings high income and/or status, for the purpose of boosting your ego? Or choose to do something that you enjoy, reducing your level of stress and leaving you time to nurture relationships and give something of yourself back to the world?

It may simply be the stress I'm currently under that is forcing me to rationalize my choices. When you get in an uncomfortable situation, you'll be more inclined to take action to eliminate the discomfort. However, I've been looking at how my relationship with my folks (an emotionally distant father and a cruel, hot-tempered mother) has shaped me into who I am today. I've been separating my emotions from past events, which has been very helpful. That leads me to to the understanding that I don't need to compete to prove that I am worth something. Not that competition isn't fun, it's just that winning isn't everything, and I'll always be grateful for having the ability to compete.

I'm thinking about making some shifts, but the big ship takes a while to turn around. And I don't have a compass. Make the plan first, then act on the plan.