One of my good friends was recently throwing himself a “pity party” (his own words).
Here’s the situation he was in:
- Working long hours. Easily 80+.
- Had only taken 5 days off in the past 2 years.
- Tried to ask for more. His company told him he was out of line.
Unsurprisingly, he works in finance.
As somebody who previously started their career in finance, I know that the above is what is expected.
You get a large paycheck, but in turn you sacrifice ALL of your free time. It’s a career path that I specifically left because I was not willing to make that sacrifice (among other reasons).
Just because finance was not a fit for me though, doesn’t mean it’s a bad path to take. Overall he enjoys what he does, just not the long hours. Having been there myself, I had one piece of advice for him:
“You’ll never regret working hard, except if you miss an important life event.”
Thinking through this caused me to revisit an article I read a while back: Top five regrets in life.:
In summary, the top five regrets that people have when they die:
- I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not a life others expected of me.
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
- I wish that I had let myself be happier
Many of us are running towards, or away, from something in life.
It’s difficult to know whether you are on the right path in life.
We are not alone though, and there are many who came before us.
We can learn from their experiences, and hopefully avoid the same mistakes they did.
Life is long and it will change over time. Just keep it all in perspective.