As I have been working long (for me) hours since returning from vacation, the thoughts of time vs money come into my head. I know this is a personal topic on many levels so please respect that this is my current take on this topic. 

It always seems that you can either have time or money, but never both at the same time. For the last few months, I finally felt like I had my balance. Of course I would love more time to go places, but for what I had, I made the best of it. I would go to the gym in the morning 3 days a week. After work, I would make dinner, eat, write, do some stretching or yoga and browse online. I had the balance where I worked but I also relaxed and had my “me time.” My “me time” is crucial for my sanity. I know that I am more of an introvert and I really enjoy having that down time in the evening to eat and write and relax. That is part of the reason I moved my workouts to be at 5am so I could have evenings where I didn’t have to go anywhere. I could wind down and then go to sleep easily. 

Now, I’ll work a straight 10 hours (last week there was a 12 hr and 13.5 hour day). No lunch break, I take bites and walk around to my next task around the office. I am also just sitting and sitting. I try to find a reason to get up, like to scan something, just to move a bit, but sometimes that is also hard. In turn, my sleep has also been suffering. When I sit all day, I have energy in the evening. I may be drained from work, but when I am home, I am more excited and need to get out my energy or have some time to stretch and calm down. Getting home at 9 or 10pm does not allow for that wind down time.

I will say I am lucky that I am paid for my overtime, but there was still the debate of time and money. On my timesheet I had a vacation day since I came back on a Tuesday but since I was already up to 12 hours of overtime in a week, I wanted to put some of those overtime hours towards that vacation day so that I would have an extra vacation day left. I know there are people who never use their vacation, but I am young and I want to travel and see the world. 

I want to make the most of my 20s, the most of my time before settling down and having kids. Now is the time to go places.

I work hard to stay fit and healthy not only because it makes me feel my best but also because it will help me for traveling.

Some people asked me was going on vacation worth it because I have to do all this overtime. Firstly, the overtime is largely due to a project we are launching next week so whether I went on vacation or not, there would have been overtime. Short answer: yes. Yes the vacation was worth it. I would take another and suffer the 12 hour work days for vacation time. I couldn’t put a price on my recent vacation. As far as vacations go, it was cheap as it was a roadtrip and stayed with relatives. It was worth it to unplug for 5 days, take in the beautiful scenery and see friends that I hadn’t seen in a year or longer. 

Lately when I think of time vs money, I am of course grateful I get paid for the overtime but I also value my time at home a lot more. I would really prefer an evening at home to read a book and brainstorm blog ideas than spending my time at work. 

For all those people that work 12 hour shifts multiple days a week or people who have more than 1 job, props to you. You are inspiring!!

Yesterday I just felt like I couldn’t take it anymore at work. I really am drained. At home, I feel like a different person. I have freedom. I have time to be creative. I have time to feel more like myself. I think this is why right now I value that time I have more than the money. I know I won’t have this “freedom” forever. I know I want a family and eventually I want to stay in a place for longer than 2 years. But for now, I have the travel itch. I want to explore and I want all the vacation time I can get. I believe I will find a way to come up with the funds. My dream right now is to travel and enjoy the life I have, not living behind a desk. I keep having to remind myself these days at work are temporary. I will have a bit of extra money and next week I am treating myself to a much needed massage with some of that money. 

Whether you choose time or money is personal. I took a Facebook survey and answers were 50/50. You may have things going on that require the extra money and that is completely understandable. I do not judge. I just felt like expressing my opinion of the topic as it has been on my mind these past 2 weeks.

Thanks Amanda for letting me think out loud.

No Questions. Just thoughts. Thank you for reading.