(A Personal Essay)

What happens when much of the work I choose to do has become part of the life I enjoy living?

We often talk about work-life balance as though work and life naturally belong on opposite sides of a scale. Work is what we have to do; life is what we get to enjoy when the work is finished. We work during the week so we can enjoy the weekend. We endure the months of labor so we can enjoy the vacation. We finish our responsibilities so we can finally have time for ourselves.

I understand the logic. I simply wonder whether it describes everyone.

I have often been told, directly or indirectly, that I spend too much time working.

Years ago, some of my brothers-in-law would ask my wife why I seemed to be incarcerating myself inside the house. While they enjoyed themselves outside, often drinking and socializing, I was somewhere inside reading, writing, preparing lessons, or doing something they associated with work.

Perhaps from where they stood, I was depriving myself of my free time.

But from where I sat, I was already enjoying it.

I wasn’t staying inside wishing I could be somewhere else. I wasn’t staring longingly through the window while everybody else was having fun. Given the choice, I simply found greater pleasure in what I was doing.

That realization has followed me through much of my adult life.

Even now, when I have the means to travel during my breaks or spend weekends enjoying the nightlife of Seoul, I often find myself perfectly content staying in my apartment. Give me something interesting to read. Give me an idea to write about. Give me a research question to explore. Give me an hour to exercise. Give me something new to create for my website.

Some people may call that depriving myself of life’s simple joys.

I call those things my simple joys.

PART 2

PART 3