Work/Life balance

[hunterknox]

I somehow landed a job where I can work from home most of the time. Highly recommended. I can stay up late on a week night, get a good night's sleep and be up for work on time. Get the PST out at lunch time, see what the sun's doing.... bliss.

[MarkF]

Tried in 1995 with two young children but work got busier and it slipped into the back ground, back again now, time and money is a bit more on my side, building up for an early retirement next year everyone tells me I will get bored, boy have I got news for them.

[ollypenrice]

I'm in an odd position as an astronomy 'provider.' (On the quiet, the stars would be there without me but don't tell!) However, Olly-the-cyclist hs taken a bit of a bashing since the all nighters set in. I hardly think the Tour de France will notice, though...

Olly

[tobot]

i'm just about to launch into this hobby and was wondering how my work/life balance will work out.

i cant see myself getting out much in the summer, probably limited to clear weekend evenings or a couple of nights in the week if its clear.

during the winter i will most likely be out every clear night, but with a 1 year old sleep is at a premium:-)

however i totally agree with those posters above who say that doing any kind of activity you enjoy seems to draw on a different energy reserve.

[Llamanaut]

im a paramedic so shifts are always different, nights one week and days the next, i find the job brill but the nhs and its ridiculous management get right up my nose... i need astronomy because it keeps me sane and I try to get out and observe as often as i can, its the only hobby ive tried that truly engrosses me and takes my mind off my life...

[Beulah]

I work part time in a college (publicity & admin), but also am a home tutor and parent (with lots of hobbies to boot) I do have the sensation of burning the candle at both ends when I stay up for the stars...

The worst feeling is when it is clear outside and I am way too exhausted to go out. It's not a feeling of guilt per se, it's the fact I'm missing out on something very important.

[lukebl]

... it's the fact I'm missing out on something very important.

I find that is the worst thing too.

Clear skies are so relatively infrequent in the UK, that I feel a huge sense of missed opportunity if I'm too tired to stay up. Also, when you wake up in the morning, thinking it's been a cloudy night, and it turns out to be crystal clear.

[nicnac]

i work lates most of the time and i am at work most often, i have to book a holiday just to get some decent time at home with the wife and kid.

however, when at work, doing a late, i can sneak off with the mak 90 up to the roof. if it wasnt for that my observations would be down to maybe once a month.

this might change in the future, i have my tickets for wednesday's and saturday's

[LukeSkywatcher]

i find it impossible this time of year but in the winter much easier i have always liked the cold weather as well so that doesn't bother me.

Same here.

[Demonperformer]

Thanks to everyone for making me feel a lot better about having been unemployed since the beginning of the year:D

[ashworthacca]

I'm a partner in a small accountancy practice and generally work pretty long hours. I'm lucky that I only need 3-4 hours of sleep a night and I'm totally refreshed the next day. Never plan for an observing/imaging session but my kit is pretty portable and ready to go in minutes so if it's clear I'm out under the stars.

[Dalglish]

Busy job and two children but a good wife who understands the need and thanks the heavens that I only buy scopes and not motorbikes.

[Macavity]

My workplace used to run courses re. this very issue. One always felt that the FEW who had the time to attend them had the technique pretty well sussed already!

[LukeSkywatcher]

Thanks to everyone for making me feel a lot better about having been unemployed since the beginning of the year:D

No worries. I am a freelance web designer. That's pretty much just a posh term for almost unemployed.

[S.A.M]

Lucky Martin, normally I find when I have free evenings during the week, the weather is cloudy or even worst raining!!! When the skies are clear like they have been for the last three evenings I have been doing something else. Cannot seem to win. Free this Saturday, hope the skies are clear as I have still not seen comet Hartley after four nights looking at the sky. Weather conditions around Swindon can be diffcult at times.

[oldfruit]

I work in an office, have a wife, 3 sons, 1 daughter, but am fortunate enough to be able to observe most of the time when i choose. My daughter is only 2 1/2 and can already identify Jupiter and the moon in the sky. Budding young astronomer in the making me thinks. So i am able to combine observing and quality time sometimes.

[George]

When I worked days astronomy was difficult and was usually a weekend sport but during the winter months I managed quite a bit of observing (when the weather cooperated). My work pattern changed to shifts about 18 months ago and this has given me greater opportunities especially for all nighters, I hate it when its clear tho and Im working nights......Ive thrown a sickie or two when I couldent resist

I'm being made redundant next year and with the recent cutbacks adding a significant number to the dole que I'm not expecting at the age of 52 to find it easy to get work, early retirement and switching roles with my wife is looking increasingly likely.

[Ben Ritchie]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but a grab'n'go 'scope is a great thing - I have the TV76 on a Porta II always to hand, and it's great for five minutes when even rolling the roof off the observatory seems like too much effort. And quite often that's enough to give the energy and enthusiasm to get started...

I also find visual astronomy a great stress relief, so time under the stars with a Dob and a couple of eyepieces is time to unwind from a hectic job and three small children. Also reminds me why I do professional astronomy in the first place

[CaptPaul]

I find it hard to, i only really get a chance of a weekend and you can bet it will be cloudy on the weekends. its not to bad now the nights are drawing in you can be out earlier get longer outside. getting up early for work is a pain! i feel like i have had my telescope for ages and just not got anyway at all in learning my new hobby but i like to look at it as the times i do manage to get out and see something makes it abit more enjoyable and special.

[Photosbykev]

I've always worked away from home leaving my better half to look after the kids and the domestic problems, the kids are now all over 18, two of them were at uni but the eldest is now working fulltime. At the moment I'm leasing a cottage on Anglesey which is my home from Sunday to Thursday and then travel to my real home in Gloucester Fri/Sat.

During my time on Anglesey I'm on my own, my free time is mine all mine and photography has always been my passion and stress relief from the work pressures. I tend to live on 3 or 4 hours sleep without a problem so I'm constantly out and about challenging myself to improve my photography.

I've found that to get the best out of photography you need to be on your own without a time pressure to finish so if it takes a year to get the image I want then it takes a year.

Astrophotography is just another challenge that I've always been curious about but other projects have taken priority, now it's time to play with the stars

If it's raining I've converted the kitchen in the cottage to a small studio and I'll be playing with water droplets or other loopy photographic projects.

There is always a challenge around the corner and I hate to compromise, good enough is never good enough in my book

[russ]

I find it very hard to find the time during the evenings. Just too hectic with family life. I find early starts easier to manage. Have to give the kids my time before they go to bed and then my wife likes to sit down in the evening together. So i can never get out before 10pm or later. I find it easier to go to bed early and get up early, then go to work.

[JamesM]

My difficulty is not so much getting out there but the coming back in bit. Having got all your kit set up, the seeing having improved and the old targets revisited and new targets found, you start to hear the sensible head start to moan, "Now c'mon, it's getting late now - you've got work tomorrow so you should start to thinking about packing up", whilst the 'real' head says, "Alright, alright but I'm not going just yet as there's 'one' more thing I need to look at" Meanwhile two hours later, "Now you did promise me you would be packing up, c'mon, this is getting silly!" to which real head replies, "I know what you're saying is right but at the end of the day, this is what its all for isn't it?" I just hope no one can hear these self mutterings otherwise I feel a visit from men in white coats very shortly, as I now start the car to drive home at 3:00 am in the morning, completely knackered but total fulfilled!

James

[ollypenrice]

I guess my own solution was rather radical but 100% effective....!!

Olly

[omneferuss]

work, life, balance.... ? 25yrs of clinical depression (the first decade undiagnosed), then permanent disability with ruptured lumbar-discs, mingled with increasing estrangement from preteen children (now adults) as consequence of marriage-from-hell, exploited and abused and abandoned at every juncture by all and sundry..... yes, I'd like a lil' "work life balance"... any one, or all three!

....and some clear skies, good seeing, ...but mostly health. you can survive and manage very well on very little of anything else, but health (lack of it) is the kill-all.

staring into (astronomical) space is much better than staring into the void that underlays the carpet of 'normal' prosaic existence.....

work... life... balance... be grateful if you have them in any measure.... 7 million Bangladeshi remain homeless 4 months after their floods....

[mijijim]

Hi,

I did not take up our hobby with any seriousness until I retired two years ago,

but I allways had my binoculars with me in my lorry. You get plenty early starts

and 10 minutes leaning on the bonnet looking up at the stars was a brill way to

start the day.

Being retired is even better.

Regards mijijim.