Separation of work and home

I have had this dream of wanting to be a Christian counselor someday. But there have always been hesitations and reasons for not pursuing this. For instance, one of them would be that I would have to go back to school again and get some kind of degree but I really don’t want to go back to school again. And a lot of these other reasons are probably more excuses rather than actual deterrents for me not pursuing this career.

But there is one thing that really makes me think twice about whether this is really something that I should/could pursue. M and I had discussed that one of my biggest problems would be having to separate my work from my home life. I worry that emotionally and mentally I would bring my work home with me and continue to be burdened by the people I counsel and their lives. That after my work day is over I still would not be able to completely let it go and be there wholly for my family.

I wasn’t very passionate about my past jobs. Heck, I didn’t even like most of them. So it was easy for me to leave my work at work and come home and just enjoy the rest of the day and the weekends not even thinking twice about my work. I don’t know if it is different when you do a job that you enjoy or even more, a job that you are passionate about.

I’ve seen how hard it is for M to fully separate himself from his work in the startup life. The work is neverending and so much is depending on getting things done and delivering for the company’s success and for my family’s livelihood. I can see how much he enjoys it but I can also see how much it is always on his mind even on the nights when he shuts down and goes offline. And I can sometimes see the ripple effects it has on our family. He works very hard in both his work and home life and he makes it work somehow. Maybe it is because of the passion he has for both.

I am not as big a risk taker as my husband and so for things like this that are challenging it excites him. For me, these challenges of a new career and balancing work and home just scare me. And so I just sit here and do nothing about it for now… but at least I blogged about it!