I'm just curious: Living the life of a person with diabetes, how does that influence your work-life balance?
Where I'm coming from: Type 1, getting better dealing with highs/lows (dx'd almost 2 years ago after doctor missing it for 1.5 yrs), white collar job (exempt), in my 30s, single (but wanting to meet someone). My manager has been giving me a hard time about only working on avg. ~40 hrs/week. Everyone else works that (or less) in my group.
I want to do well in my career, but especially after a diabetes diagnosis I want to have a more balanced, healthy life. I want to have time for exercise, friends, and other ways that reduce my stress level (working for a very stressful company).
In this crazy, high paced country it is hard sometimes to know how much to push yourself. Any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated!
I was 57 when I was diagnosed with T1 and had my own accounting practice so my situation is somewhat different than yours but I know that I had to cut back on work within a year. I now work "full time" rather than crazy hours. I have quite a bit of control over my time and I find that essential for taking care of myself.
You have a long life ahead of you and I would encourage you to find a job that you allows you to take care of yourself, meet someone and live a life that feels right for you. A manager who is constantly pushing you to work more hours is a health hazzard. Putting in the extra work to meet an important deadline is one thing. Putting in extra hours so your manager gets a bonus or brownie points is quite another.
40 hour...if I do a minimum of 50 a week, its a slow week. I've been type 1 for close to 30 years...work in health care, exempt status, and you just do...whatever it takes to get the job done. I don't want any special favors, not looking for any special favors. I put in just as many hours as the rest of the girls on my team do, and we don't stop till the jobs done. I've learned to eat and work...etc. My control is excellent A1c between 5.5 and 6. I'm taking online classed starting in another week to get my BSN, and I still manage in what little free time I do have to go out and enjoy life on the weekends. Not going to let this drag me down. If you want it bad enough you find a way to make it happen.
But I'm also very much a Type A personality. Driven is a bit of an understatement, if I had a week off I wouldn't know what to do with myself.
Personally I think your average American works way too many hours and has completely lost sight of balance in their life - it's part of our culture. Before I retired (and before I had D) I fought a battle with my agency because they wanted us all to work on-call for Crisis in addition to our 40 hour week and I know myself that I don't do well with unexpected demands on my free time. I commend you for taking care of yourself and balancing your D and your other commitments in life.
I don't have a job, but the life of a pre-med college student is more than full-time (volunteering, classes, extra work for the classes, meeting with professors, travel time, family...and you have to sleep sometime, right?).
I have multiple chronic conditions, and it's definitely not easy. I have exercise built in to my day (walking to and from school) and I also make sure to leave some time away from school for friends. It does take away from schoolwork sometimes, and I don't know if that's a bad thing or not.
I feel like I constantly have a balance going, where the scale tips in one direction or the other. I don't know that, for me, it's possible to have it both ways. Then again, maybe it'll be a little different when my Mondays don't start at 5 AM and end at 7:45 PM (and that's just class, dinner not included).
My rule is that when I feel myself slipping, I take the time off of schoolwork and do the bare minimum. Sometimes that means cramming for the Physics test in four days. Sometimes it doesn't. But if your job is pushing you to do more than you can reasonably do, then maybe it's time to have a talk with them or find another place to work.
I've been T1 since childhood (as well as legally blind) and just do not let those things stop me from achieving my goals. But, there is also such a thing as working too much, in my opinion ... I'm currently in my early 30s and single, so it sounds like we are in similar life stages.
I'm currently working full-time (35 hour week here in Canada, plus some overtime and business travel), am a full-time graduate student (working on my thesis, so not attending classes), and am working part-time as a graduate research assistant. I'm also doing a bit of volunteer work; I was doing more, but had to cut back. I feel like I'm working too much and not relaxing and socializing as much as I should.
I currently don't put as much time into my diabetes as I know I should, although I am managing to maintain the same control I usually have. The biggest thing that has slipped for me has been exercise, as it's the most time-consuming. My top goal as soon as I'm done my degree this summer is to start really setting exercise and weight loss as my top goal (rather than school/career as it has been for years).
before and after D diagnosis i have strived for a good work-life balance. i refuse to live to work, no matter what. i have pursued more education while working full time before D and and contemplating doing another qualification to further my career. D will not stop me from that. ever.
i left the usa when i was 22 to live and work in europe so i cant speak first hand about comparisons country-wise, but i know my brothers and sister (and everyone else i know, pretty much) work long and hard in the states. i feel privileged to live in a place where people value a good work life balance. people, even other spaniards, stereotype andalucians as lazy, but we know how to live over here.
i am a teacher, so there are certain times of the year when im busy with exams and parent-teacher meetings and the conference season(goodbye weekends), but they even out with all of my july off, where i have much needed down time to spend with friends and family, and myself.
Try to find something you enjoy, I spent 35 years doing a job that I loved doing and love getting up every day and going to work. Working is a very important part of my life and working hard has given me a good life, my job will be part of my legacy.
im with you on this D or no, i think reevaluating america's crazy work obsession and making more and more money esp. to put in the hands of those at the top of the corporate chain is a sin! i think social/governmental reform should address this greed and work on making us all better humans starting with the formative years this would serve humanity better than working for more MBA degrees ect. ok this opinion weighs heavy on my heart as my husband works the typical low to mid level corporate job! so stick to your guns, work is work yes you should enjoy it but your job is certainly not who you are it is just part of you, keep making decisions that support your physical and spiritual development!
I have a similar deal, my job (very large company...) has reduced staff for a while, which is not to be discussed. It's pleasing to have survived but the conditions can be like working in a blender. Raises are aneimic, even for 'top performers' and, given the older demographic of the people who seem to be continued to be weeded out, it seems very likely that there is little intent to spread the still enormous profits around to the lower levels of the food chain. I've had times where I worked more, and went in last weekend to help stay caught up. I probably could have this weekend too but just didn't get it in gear yesterday but I biked downtown, bought new running shoes and went for my first run in a month after getting injured 04/06/13 so I felt great. On the plus side, I don't deal with 'emergency' situations per se but I do have quite a bit of stress/ competition/ etc.
If anyone asks me my goals, they are stuff like running without injuries, maybe a sub 23:00 5K and one-handed pushups (I've moved from diamond pushups to basketball pushups while I was not running so I couldn't do anything else...). Cholesterol was "made" last year too, w/ HDL of 77 and LDL of 74. All of that is probably gunked up with not running for a month but it appears I'm ready to get started on that.
My whole working life (from age 14 to retiring at 60) I had Type 1. I never pulled any punches about it--it is what it is. If I need time to deal with health, I took it. It was more about me setting parameters for myself and the job.
I was also willing to pitch in, help with anything and made myself vital to the team in my professional life--that helped a lot, earned respect, and accommodation when needed.
I am also with Zoe--there is too much attention paid to the number of hours Americans work, in lieu of the quality of the work done in those hours.
I had a union job for the last 25 years of my career so I was able to control the length of my work-week. While my minimum work week was 40 hours, I went through extended periods when I worked a lot of overtime. Sometimes I worked both weekend days and 4 hours extra 3 days a week. I often attended college classes after work and earned a college degree over a 14 year period.
I also had extended periods when I limited my work week to strictly 40 hours. Fortunately, my job allowed me to control how much I worked. I agree that the typical American worker works too many hours. I think the workers in Europe have a better sense of work/life balance. Family time often takes a back seat to the work demands. For many men, that often leaves them with a failed marriage and a role as a weekend dad.
I retired two years ago. One year ago I received a diabetes complication diagnosis. Faced with that daunting reality, I decided to take on my diabetes management as if it were a full time job. I tested more, weighed all my food, and did careful calculations for insulin dosing. I also spent a lot of time on the Internet researching BG control techniques such as a low carb diet.
All that effort paid off as I was able to lose over 20 pounds, cut my total daily insulin doses in half, and greatly reduce the number of hypos I experienced. I could have done that during my working career but the competing demands of work, family, and just plain down-time made it very difficult. Diabetes, done right, is a full-time job.
From my perspective as a retiree, I recommend to younger people managing their diabetes that they not short-change their diabetes career. Your body does keep track of all those high BG excursions and it’s only the lucky that escape some consequence. It reminds me of that old commercial for changing automotive oil, “Pay me now or pay me later!” Don’t let your diabetes management suffer from low expectations.
