“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
― Albert Einstein
One of the things about “the real world” that is freeing (yet anxiety inducing at times) is control over my own schedule. I’m not just talking about a day-to-day, free time schedule or routine or weekend plans. I’m talking about the greater lengths of time, how I structure goals and milestones without the schedule of semesters and ensure seasonal breaks. I’m talking about how the question “what am I doing with my life” can keep me up at night because moving jobs or cities, nurturing new friendships or remaining connected with old ones, is entirely, 100% up to me and how I choose to plan and spend my time.
While my job is still dictated by an internal schedule and the industry’s own ebb and flow, I am lucky that I have creative latitude to define my role and shape it. I am also lucky that there is a great culture of work-life balance at my company. Outside of work, it’s been really great rediscovering old hobbies, nurturing new ones, planning trips (and not having homework).
It’s taken me awhile to set up a type of creative, hobby schedule for myself. Between adjusting to a city and simply not knowing where to start, I’ve found and made time for activities I love. I am also realizing that creating a short and long-term schedule will be tried, tested, and tweaked through life.
Here are some of the ways I’ve found new balance between work, creativity, and life.
Stay active. Once I started my current job, my daily average step count definitely took a hit. I realized that even though I thought I spent a lot of time sitting in classes during college, I was also walking a lot around campus (hitting that 10,000+ step count daily!) in addition to exercise. Now, I plan my workouts in the morning so I can get them out of the way. I am fortunate to have a gym in my apartment building and running trails right nearby, but when I didn’t, I used no-equipment body-weight exercises to work up a sweat in a tiny space. I also try to do small things break up my seated time, like taking the stairs in my apartment and at work. Still wondering if I can get a standing desk, but until then, I literally just stand up at my desk every hour for at least 2 minutes. I have my own office with a door, so when I’m really antsy I do sets of squats, elevated push ups, or forearm planks. As for the bigger picture, setting goals have helped me stay consistent and gain confidence in an active lifestyle (i.e. run a half-marathon every 6-months, run local DC events, be able to do a pull up — I have not yet completed the last one).
Read for fun. One of my new year’s resolutions was to read one book a month. I’ll be honest, I haven’t kept up with it as consistently as I planned to, but it has definitely gotten me to read more and discover new works. I’ve set up a “reading nook” in my apartment, which is literally just a side table with books lined up on it (haven’t leveled up to a bookshelf yet). I found that I am more likely to read a book when they are out and visible. After spending so much time staring at a computer screen at work or mindlessly scrolling through my phone, reading ink on paper is very refreshing and makes me feel like I am taking an active role in continuing my own learning. I also love reading whenever I travel, nothing makes a flight go by faster for me than a good book!
Plan vacations & trips. Speaking of traveling, take your vacation days! You won’t get a break unless you give yourself one. Recently, most of my long-term vacations have been back to my family in California or my significant other’s in Minnesota. When asking for time off from work, just always be respectful and ask far enough in advance. If needed, delegate any tasks or projects to co-workers, letting them know at which stage its at. Get ahead in your work if possible so that the catch up won’t be so overwhelming when you get back. Aside from taking vacation days at work, weekend trips can be a great getaway. Whether by train, bus, or car, road trips are super feasible during the weekend, they just take a bit of planning. During the warmer months, I also love hiking as a weekend trip to get out of the city and in nature. Make sure you give yourself a break to refresh and rejuvenate!
Be Creative. In addition writing, photography, and playing viola, I’ve found myself developing my cooking skills as a creative outlet (google once again prevails as a great resource for recipes and tips, don’t forget the binge watching Chopped and the Great British Bake Off). Preparing my meals on Sunday really helps with efficiency during the week, but also balancing that with making something fresh can relax me after a day of work and commuting. Living with seasons has also made me appreciate another recent hobby of mine, gardening. I’ve started growing basil, rosemary, and thyme to cook with as well as tending other brightly colored plants a few succulents that remind me of home.
But being creative doesn’t have to mean these things. Your role at work my be your creative outlet, whether it’s explicitly in some type of design capacity or maybe a new way to utilize a certain process in the business, creativity can serve as the connection between work and life.
Readers, how do you balance work, creativity, and life? Whatever it is, I hope you feel balanced yet in a productive momentum towards achieving what you want in life!