Work-Life Balance is Nonsense!

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I always want a balance type of living, but in the end of the day, I don’t know what balance is. 

When I started working, 3 years back, I stayed in Kepong. I used to wake up before Subuh, take bath, prepare myself and rushed to the komuter station, or sometimes I drove to my office at Jalan Ampang. I had to take 2 trains, komuter and LRT Putra to reach the office. You know how public transport here, especially KTM… Spending 2-3 hours commuting is normal.

As my Wan said “Pegi keje tak kena cahaya matahari, balik pun tak kena cahaya matahari”.

I sacrifice most of my time, for my job.

Worth? Of course, cos at the end of the day, I have some amount of money banked into my account.

But, sedar atau tidak, for ages, we trade our time for money, and for middle to lower class, it is directly and inversely proportional, respectably. More work, more money. More work, less time. More money, less time. Simple example, you’re working 8-5 with certain amount of salary. You need to make more money for certain event, so you do overtime. You give your time for that money, ain’t it? You maybe lose a nice soap opera slot.

For makan gaji like us, what some people call ‘rat race’. We’re running in the same circle. We make money, and make more money from our job, by trading our time, to buy things that deplete their values over time. Do you see the equilibrium? I don’t think so.

But I think half of our 24 hours is dedicated to work alone. Let alone overtime or shift works or on-call and part time jobs, or even ‘take-home works’. Especially in KL, I used to get out from home at 6.15am (to avoid traffic jam & sardined commuter) and reach home at 6.30pm. Now the same thing happens to Abiy. 6.30am goes out, 6.30pm comes home. Usually the whole night is sleeping time after a long, exhausting day.

But we have no choice. We have to work for a living. Like myself, when I take unpaid leave, I have no money! But sure ample time to spend with the kids. Let alone Abiy’s salary that just enough to make ends meet.

Let’s forget about ourselves. How about our children? What do we want them to be? An engineer? A doctor? A lawyer? A professor? An Einstein? Whatever it is, they’ll still be one of the ‘rats’ and keep on playing the same game like us.

We are happy having little time to spend with our love ones.

I have a friend who has a job on travelling basis, so does her husband. Sometimes they meet at the airport or KL Sentral before both of them make another business travel to different places.

Yeah, we can’t pull ourselves off from having job. Many of my friends furthering their studies to have a better job or better position in the organisation. Because from it we can create our life. Someone with no job will be looked down. For now I am safe cos taking unpaid leave, if I told my parents that I’m gonna quit, for sure the first thing they’ll do is kick my ass on the face. Cos why? They sent me to study until I get my B Eng. Staying at home? What a loser.

Sedar atau tidak we’re always preparing ourselves to be rats. We were sent to school, to learn, get good grades and get good jobs. This will be inherited to our kids and the next generation. Day by day, working world becomes competitive and hectic. Especially during recession. Retrenchment and fully utilisation of the small number of workers, making most of us lost the ‘makan gaji life equilibrium’.

Usually our life’s triumph measured by our achievement in life, most of the time relating to JOB we’re doing. What people will look at you is what position you’re holding, make sense? People will astonish upon you when you’re an engineer but will look down on you if you don’t have a job.

So I rather say, we are work-oriented people, as long as we makan gaji. Even if you say you’re not, but your daily life proves it.

Do you think we still can have a balance life this way?

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28 responses to “Work-Life Balance is Nonsense!”

  1. Azura Avatar
    Azura

    kak a.k.a mommy lyna,
    i came across ur msg kat blog kak yana.
    leh share ngan saya gak tak mcm mana nak dapat maid tu.
    saya pun ASAP nak carik maid but tak mampu nak go thru agent yg mahal tu.
    thank u so much in advanced for ur sharing.really appreciate it.

  2. m-i-o Avatar

    rat race is leading you to no where. tp kita telah dipaksa utk berlumba sedemikian rupa utk meneruskan kesinambungan hidup ini. do or die. as simple as that.

    cukuplah agama sebagai panduan hidup ini. kalau kita tak sempat berhenti sejenak dan berfikir, “bekerjalah kamu seolah2 kamu akan hidup 1000 tahun lagi, dan beribadatlah kamu seolah2 kamu akan mati esok hari”, mungkin kita juga akan hanyut dalam perlumbaan ini sebagaimana orang lain.

    bekerja juga adalah ibadah:) bila islam menjadi the way of life, kita akan terasa lapang di dada. blogging pun boleh jadi satu ibadah juga dan medium utk berdakwah. tak gitu? 😛

    ooopsss…off topic 😛

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      Indeed. Cuma jgn sampai terlalu ashek bekerja menambah gajis sampai lupa nak semayang kan?

  3. knv Avatar
    knv

    mungkinkah jugak rat-race ini antara yang tertulis diazali?

    i still think i’m not work-oriented. i’m a ‘better-life’ oriented, and to achieve that, i think i need to work. but there will be so many definations on ‘work’.

    kerja atau tidak, we still can chose to be the best in whatever we do. don’t be average, or life will lose its meaning. islam pun syorkan kita agar bersungguh2.

    ada pendakwah2 juga yang tinggalkan anak isteri berbulan2 untuk menegakkan syiar islam. not so much time with family and all. work-oriented? i’m not so sure. fardu ain? fardu kifayah?

    apa2pun, destiny akhir kita still:
    akhirat.

    semoga mudahlah jalan kita kesana. 🙂

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      for people like us, work-life balance is just a myth kan. & terpulang how we enjoy it. kalau orang tu tak suka, kerja sejam sehari pun dah rasa tak seronok. hahahaha.

  4. fid Avatar

    saya kalau boleh tak mau kerja kat mana2 syarikat hahaaaaaaa

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      kerja dengan saya la. jadi bibik. hehe.

      1. aidie Avatar
        aidie

        salary leh nego tak? hahahhaa

  5. Lana Avatar
    Lana

    hmm actually Lyna my work-life is kinda balanced. Tapi nak explain to everyone wat i do is a long story. But yeah you can choose to work the kind of work yg would get u some life actually. thats y im loving shift work 🙂

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      yes, indeed we can choose!

  6. Mommy Lyna Avatar
    Mommy Lyna

    Azura, nt akak emel awak ye. Skg AFK.. 🙂

  7. Mommy Lyna Avatar
    Mommy Lyna

    Indeed. Jgn sampai terlalu ashek bekerja menambah gajis sampai lupa nak semayang kan?

  8. nasuha Avatar
    nasuha

    salam lyna…

    quote “ambik bc.Eng. tp tak kerja so loser?”saya bc.Eng,tp tak kerja sbb tak dpat2.so skarang SAHM.saya tak rasa saya loser pun syukur saya dpat besarkan anak dan brestfeed dia sendiri..kan itu dah satu kejayaan juga?

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      salam nasuha,

      yeeess betul! saya pun macam tu juga 🙂 memang satu kejayaan besar, belajar tinggi bukan untuk dapat kerja semata2 kan. & i never see such people as losers.

      i’m talking from the ‘mouth’ of society. u know la kan.

      (so sorry if your community tak pernah look down on you)

  9. suealeen Avatar

    segala rezeki telah ditetapkan.. bezanya ada orang tak cari, tapi ada orang cari lebih. ada orang yang nak kerja sangat tapi sangkut atas sebab yang takleh nak elak (such as having an extra super baby). in the middle must be ‘sacrifice’. at the end of the day yang paling penting sama ada berkat atau tidak sesuatu usaha. jika sikit tapi berkat, rasa lapang je.. kalo kerja beso tapi tak mendatangkan kesejahteraan pada ummah pun tak guna juga… tak gitu? tambah lagi kalo kerja tu tak ikhlas…

    dulu akak tak pandai nak slow down my steps… tapi sekarang ni dah matang.. dah tahu apa itu slow down.. that’s why i dun care much what others might say about what i’m doing today.. i.e. SAHM..

  10. farah Avatar

    saya hanya engineer cabuk saja…saya rase jadi org sales untung kot..sbb komisen mereka dapat..tp nak jadi org sales yg bagus mmg kena carik sales dgn bersungguh2 sepert husband saya…anyway still bersyukur that i have job ….

    parents saya pon parents mommy lyna..mesti mengamuk sakan kalau sy ckp nak berhenti keje hahaha..

  11. Hanz Avatar

    How u measure success & achievement? Very subjective, isn’t it?
    As for myself I go with this saying in mind, “Strive not to be a success but rather to be of value” So, whatever I’m into, how tights my hands are, how headache & heartache that I got myself into, I’ll attempt it the best that I could…not easy, not easy living in the rat race…it is tempting to get away from this & I’ve tried other option, for example MLM, went their motivational talk & what u’ve posted in this topic is the same thing being highlighted, but not people are cut to that u know same also not all moms are cut to be SAHM or WAHM either…but if you have the willingness & wants to make a change, prepare yourself for whatever the consequences & always seek help from Allah & fullfill our obligations.

    Just my 2 cents of thoughts.

  12. fid Avatar

    i jadi bibik u????
    berapa mau bayar???
    13k?
    hahahahahahaha

  13. aidie Avatar
    aidie

    IMHO, if u wanna work n life balance, u have to love what u r doing (work). kalau ari2 gi keje, malas la boring la.. then u will be disappointed and later on lead to unhappiness. yelah we spend at least quarter of a day to work. kalau tak happy pun tk best la kan. lagi satu what i normally do, make sure by 5pm or the most 6 p.m dah kena balik. need to spend time on anak2 plak. kalau jadi hamba kerja pun nnt tak happy. work will never ends..insyaAllah there will always be tomorrow to finish up the work.

  14. k ina Avatar

    lyna…
    the best worklife is where you work in a place with high paying salary but more time for family or does not require you to dedicate you whole LIFE into it…that would be nice…there are jobs like that, it’s a matter of rezeki to come across such jobs … insya-Allah…
    * I’ve read about the rat race…it is a syndrome in our everyday life, but maybe there’s a way to beat the rat before the race ends ehh…? ;-D

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      k ina,
      am not thinking of getting better job (good salary & good life) mana-mana mkn gaji pun lg byk gaji sure lg byk kerja. kalo x, xdele company tu nk byk juta2. tak pnh lg nmpk CEO saya balek sharp pukul 4.30/5.00 ptg.

      mybe building business or invest in something is much realistic idea. hav u consider this?

  15. Rai Avatar

    Lina,
    my work is not hard at all tapi the travelling memang sangat sangat exhausted..Like you i need to take 2 trains daily..when i reached home..i’m too exhausted dengan nak taking care of house chores, masak, anak..sungguh meletihkan..tapi still cannot pujuk myself untuk tido awal tiap mlm…hehe..cannot wait until the day i can do my work from home or when money work for me..hihi..berangan..

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      Rai,
      apa berangan pulak. keep on working on that dream. it’s no longer need money to make money world nowadays. It’s all about how u turn ur idea to money instead! So keep on dreaming (strategically)!

  16. Mommy Lyna Avatar
    Mommy Lyna

    thanks atas semua pendapat & pandangan 🙂

    u r superb!

    mungkin tulisan saya agak ambiguous, malas pulak nak tulis kat sini, natila saya tulis kat entry lain. hehehe.

    (kena improve cara penulisan supaya lebih jelas & mudah difahami).

  17. bAiTi Avatar
    bAiTi

    U know what..?

    Previously, my hubby keluar kerja before subuh then, terpaksa balik jam awal pagi kul 12/1am. Only Allah knows what we’re facing through that time. And, I’m glad to be SAHM even with a Master degree [perhaps one day with PhD].

    Sometimes keadaan menjadikan kita terpaksa obses kepada kerja. But the options are always in your hands not the others. So, you choose. You decide, what’s the best ;).

  18. aisu Avatar
    aisu

    slm, i like ur blog, stumbled upon it from mana2 ntah x ingat. anyway nk comment on work-life balance, it is true most of us don’t get any balance at all. my previous job was good, but very far from my home causing long hours on the road, pays just fine but due to the distance (travel expenses etc) in the end doesn’t give me much left. i decided it is too much in the end, accepted a different job which job scope is not as interesting as previous one but pays higher and much2 closer(like 15 min) to home. get to spend more time with my kid now. but u are right, imagine our kid’s future is kinda worrying, we should prepare them financially as much as we can.

    1. Mommy Lyna Avatar
      Mommy Lyna

      aisu,
      thnx for ur time, am glad u find this blog. keep on visiting cos i want to know more of your insights. sounds interesting to me. 😉

  19. liyana Avatar
    liyana

    good one..
    hehe, sekarang saya SAHM (and you can imagine the reastion from my mom, haha).. I love it, true, it’s about choices, and what your heart desires.
    Buat pilihan atas diri sendiri, bukan atas kehendak org, mmg syok, tp kena ada sokongan hubby la..
    lepas saya benti kerja, DH kena kerja extra utk tampung yg saya earn dulu, tp, being a teacher, the extra work pun bleh sampai umah sebelum kul 8. which is fine for me, sbb masa saya kerja dulu, that much pay memerlukan saya keluar sebelum matahari terbit, sampai dekat2 matahari nak terbenam..
    we save a lot, (babysitter, my expenses for travel, my hidden expenses eg: new cloth, new shoes, etc)

    uhh, dorang dah bangun dah, chiow

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