Finding A Work/Life Balance (or Preparing to Not Be Unemployed)

When I was hired at my current day job, I was informed that it was seasonal. The job went from May until October, had October and the beginning of November off, came back before Thanksgiving, and ended just after New Years. I was a little concerned on what my financial situation would be like from January to May, but once I understood how much I’d receive in unemployment benefits I calmed down a bit.

Working 6 days a week every week leaves very little social time. When you get out of work at 9pm (8:30pm now) and sometimes have to be at work at 9am the next day, you just want to go home and sleep. I couldn’t attend anything at The Actors’ Network since everything there pretty much happened during my work hours. I had the same problem with Women in Film events. But I was ok with that because I would have all the time I needed to attend these events during my (f)unemployment (as my friends referred to it).

But now, it seems pretty sure that the job is going to be year round and not seasonal anymore. There is a chance that this could change because they’ve never kept my office open year round in the history of the company. They might decide that we aren’t work the cost.

But if we are year round, I need to find a way to have a life and work too. I pay for my memberships at The Actors’ Network and Women in Film and want to enjoy those benefits. I want to have time to see my friends and go on dates.

We’ve been told at my job that on the nights we work until 8:30pm, we aren’t supposed to ask for the evenings off. Those evenings are the best times to work on those days. But I think I need to start asking for a couple of evenings off a month so I can at least go to some industry events.

I want to be able to focus on my career and not just my job. But I also don’t want to risk losing my job because it pays well and let’s me go to all my auditions.

I am starting to look at other job opportunities out there. I’m not leaving my job, not anytime soon. But if I can start trying out another job (maybe freelancing) and see if it’s something that I can survive on, then I’ll see what I should do.

I have no idea how everyone else has a work/life balance. Maybe I’m only comparing myself to those trying to balance work and life. I’m trying to balance work, life, and career. But of those three, I’m not willing to give up any of them (well, maybe work if I won the lottery or something).

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