”The Work/Life Balance”
Some measure success on other worthwhile factors -
but forget to address their work-life balance.
The first time that I realised this tip in the scales
was seeing a fisherman’s sailboat hauled in by a male.
He’d finished his daily disentanglement and looked at me vacant.
I watched the fish at it flailed and asked how long it had taken.
Removing the hook from its waiting mouth “Not long,” the piscador paused
gutting the gaping galjoen. “Then why aren’t you fishing for more?”
“This critter I’ve caught,” he smiled with a gleam in his eye
“This will be all my family needs to survive,”
He reels in his line. My mind whirrs fast as the spool letting it fly
feeling obliged I ask “So what d’you do with the rest of your time?”
“Then I live life!” he chortled. “I get up late, sleep well, play with my kids,
have a siesta, some wine - oh, and occasionally fish!”
I gazed at the glint he had and could see his dream was still afloat.
“But say if you fished more, you could sell it, and buy an even bigger boat,”
He eased his wrinkled nose. “And then what?” dismissed the dawdler.
“You keep the business growing until you’ve a fleet of fishing trawlers!”
He gives an awkward laugh. “And then what?” he poses me back
“You bring things forward, start selling direct to processing plants.”
The old ocean angler was unmoved. “How long would it take?”
I was hoping he’d ask. “10-15 years if you’re lucky, I’d say,”
He shook out his mane. “And then what?” came his reply.
“You sell stocks in a company making millions!” I exclaimed with delight.
There’s no changing his mind. “And then what?” he takes me to task quick.
“One day you retire to the coast, sleep in, play with your grandkids...”
Maybe on balance he had it right after all. He was happy to shore fish
and wouldn’t change it for the world. He shrugged and carried on walking.