lizzard at webworldinc.com (lizzard) wrote:
Sorry about the garbage I just sent! I'm learning about posting to
newsgroups. What I meant to say was ................
This is the first time I've logged into this newsgroup and I was
pleasantly suprised to see this discussion about "working too hard".
I completed my graduate education at one University where "keeping up
appearances" was not an issue. We were encouraged to write at home or
spend a day or two catching up on the literature. Our lab was very
busy with many undergraduates and it was not a good environment to
write or read in.
Since about August, I've started a postdoc in a new place. I was
briefed about my supervisor's expectations. Writing at home is
strongly discouraged. This was good as far as I was concerned because
I was hoping to bring my work home less frequently. But I was finally
faced with the 50-60 hours/week deal as well. I've found that working
this many hours is pretty easy....I love the work I'm doing here.
Problem is, and maybe others have this perception, sometimes I just
stop and look around and think my life is passing too quickly! I live
in California now and have not seen many of the sights (the only one I
can manage is the beach with some articles to read).
While I can easily immerse myself in my work and lose track of time,
it certainly has a negative effect on other levels. Work never leaves
my mind (in fact I've worked all night in my dreams). I think my
husband suffers for it - I'm sure some of our conversations bore him
to tears. I have trouble keeping up with current events. We don't
have children yet but would like to have a family. I have the utmost
respect for women in science who manage both a career and a family.
Sometimes I'm just plain baffled by how some of my friends cope.
Well - I'm not sure if this is the forum for expressing these kinds of
feelings but it would be nice to know that others share the same.
Liz Head
