Headline August 09, 2019/ '' 'WORK TO WEAR' ''

'' 'WORK TO WEAR' ''

HOW MANY ORGANIZATIONS IN THE WORLD, can offer you freedom, equality, dignity, pride, peace, opportunities, equanimity, grace, 'a global voice', and a chance to build a great world?

Which organization's views and publishing are read and considered by every global leader in the world? And someday, in the very near future, it will be read by the entire world.

''The World Students Society'', - for every subject in the world, is the exclusive and eternal ownership of every student in the world. One Share-Piece-Peace, and prepare to register for ''Great Global Elections''

Scientists and Philosophers are trying to solve the mystery, and even the ailment! It turns out that  PLAY is a great bulwark against WORK and more.

I was an hour into my surf session when I looked at my watch. I had 15 minutes to catch a wave in, find my phone buried in a Ziploc bag on the beach and dial into a conference call to my office in New York City.

As I was getting out of the warm Pacific to squat on the hot sand for a meeting, a koan-like question bubbled up:

Is this a proof of work-life balance or of workaholism? Had I found a way to do what I love most while keeping my professional obligations, or had work completely invaded the sanctity of my hard-won time in the waves.

My life as a subpar surfer has brought me many gifts. Sometimes that gifts comes in the form of wave. More often, it's in the freedom from having to surf well or meet any expectations or goals. The very opposite of our work lives.

WORK - even if we find it fulfilling - is mainly about goals and performance. It's transactional. For some it may be about making the rent and keeping the lights on; for others, the next promotion or accomplishment.

In any case, we seem to be working more than ever, but where has it gotten us? Our work-life balance has us tipping in the wrong direction.

One of the most eye-opening things anyone has ever asked me was posited years ago by my then 10-year old son, Gio.

''Mama why do they make you work so much?''

I paused before answering, because in that innocent question was the shameful answer. ''They? There is no 'they,' I told him, instantly aware of my dysfunctional time management skills.

''Then why do you work so much and complain about it?''

This was a great question. Clearly, I was failing to create work-life balance.

Not much has changed with me in the eight years since then, but I have achieved a little perspective, a courtesy of thousands of hour I've spent paddling, thrashing and crashing in the ocean trying to catch a wave.

Work, like the water I spend so much of my time in [or wishing I were in], quickly spreads and flows to fill spaces.

Without the proper barriers to keep it in its place, water's special qualities help it to find a path of least resistance, and before you know it has traveled into unwanted and unexpected spaces where it can erode and destabilize otherwise sound environments or structures.

The properties of fluid dynamics make water difficult to control or predict.

All surfers are confronted with this each time we paddle out. With the relatively recent we can work from anywhere mind-set that modern technology encourages, work is becoming more like water :

Harder to protect and manage against.

Before we notice it, work's demands have permeated time we should have for our families, our communities and ourselves. Like water, it is stealthy and powerful.

It can crack or wear away the strongest foundations.

When work is like water, it can erode and destabilize our lives.

Around the same time as my son's pointed question, I admitted to my husband my fear that I kept working without respite or release, I would become seriously ill.

I was recovering from a bout of pneumonia that I'd ignored too long and felt vulnerable to the ills that stress can cause.

Less than a year later, I learned I had cancer.

My desire to get back to the water was what kept me pushing through treatments and surgeries and to fight to regain my strength.

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research and Writing on ''Life-Work -Balance'' continues. The World Students Society thanks author Karen Rinaldi and wishes her very well.

With respectful dedication to the Students, professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for  Great Global Elections on : The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com  and............. Twitter !E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Work & Play '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless