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Work-life balance in the spotlight
Work-life balance is something that is often on my mind, though I have not blogged about it much. Maybe that is because there many blogs totally devoted to that topic. But with Sarah Palin recently chosen as John McCain’s vice presidential candidate, and making a big splash in the media, this seems a good time to bring it up. There has been a lot of focus on if it is “right” for her to be a vice presidential candidate with five children, and one a newborn with special needs. I don’t mean for this blog to be a forum to debate whether those arguments are valid or not (click here for a lively discussion). However, I will be the first to tell you that being a working mom always has its share of challenges.
Being a working physician mom is challenging because many physicians choose to — or need to (hello, student loans) — work full time. Many of my friends are quite conflicted about being a working mom. Somewhat surprisingly, I am not. I feel that my work is extremely rewarding, and provides great balance for me and my family life. I hope that by having a rewarding career, I will not resent my children for what they “took away” from my life (not to imply that all stay-at-home moms who left careers to stay at home feel this way, but a few do). Being a physician, I never wake up and wonder, “why am I going to work today?” And every day is different for me, which is one of the best parts of academic medicine. The less-than-good parts: waking up at 4:45 a.m. every weekday. Never feeling like I ticked off everything on my “to do” list at the end of the day. Always feeling like you are missing some part of your kids’ life. Figuring out when to do the mundane life tasks that don’t happen after work hours, like dental appointments and cable TV repair. But, in balance, it works out for me, and it’s a good life.
What’s your story about work-life balance?
