Work/Life Balance

I sat down the other day and got to thinking about my life and where it has taken me so far. I've had the chance to live in a lot of interesting places, out of which I have spent by far the most amount of time in Japan. It's definitely time for a change... but where, why and how?

Since I joined my current company my life has been much more about work than actually living, and the sad thing is I haven't minded so much. That is until lately...

I have lots of friends who work in different industries to me, and whilst the money is not as good, their quality of life outside of work is much better. Makes me wonder, at 26, what should I be focusing on?? Is it time to work as hard as I can to build for a better life later, or should I be taking a more relaxed approach to life - still work hard but leave a lot more time for things that aren't centered on work? I have no idea... and get lost whenever I think about this.

I love my job in some respects... I feel challenged, I have great colleagues (mostly), an awesome boss and lots of opportunities for travel and career progression... but is that enough? Lately most of my social interaction has been through work... movies, drinks, clubbing, shopping, weekends away... all with colleagues. It's fun, but we inevitably end up talking about work at least a little... so in a sense I am never actually getting away from work. I am happy with this level of interaction, but it needs to be for a job that I really care about and feel I am making a contribution with (and not just to my own bottom line and that of shareholders!!).

So it's definitely time for a change. I'm aiming to leave Japan by the end of February 2008... not sure where I will go or for what reason, but I know I have a few concrete options. With my current job I can move to the UK or NY, but lately more and more I am thinking that instead of moving for work I should move for life... just determine where I want to go and what I want to do and focus on the 'work' part after I have the wheres and whys sorted out. Aargh... I so thought I had this all sorted just a couple of months or so ago... and then something came up to change everything... not happening again at the next opportunity.

Anyway... watch this space if you want to see where I end up... and more importantly, this should be a subtle hint that if you are planning on coming to Japan to visit then you had better get it over and done with in the next 10 months!!!