I used to view the question “work to live, or live to work?” as largely rhetorical. The answer was obvious, after all; work should accommodate a better lifestyle, otherwise, what is the point?

This question recently came up as I was being shuttled back to camp by Dave, one of the helicopter pilots. I asked what his plans were when he finished his rotation here and he told me that he would go home and work with his Dad, adding that he hadn’t had a vacation in three years. Slightly horrified by the thought (one month of continuous work seems barely manageable to me), I pointed out our seemingly different philosophical bends – some live to work, others work to live.

In saying that, the subtler distinction between the two became apparent. Fundamentally the best I can strive for in life is a sense of fulfilment and happiness. In the past, I have often viewed working as the antithesis of these values and thus viewed living to work as settling for a life of unhappiness. But why not strive to achieve fulfilment and happiness in my work as well? While my career change can be largely viewed as a step toward finding greater joy in my work, I don’t feel I’m quite at the point where work is its own reward for me.

Now that I am gainfully employed, the paradox of working to live is apparent in my life. While I used to have all the time in the world to pursue my interests, I never had the money. Now that I finally have the money, I no longer have the time. The answer to this dilemma used to be obvious to me; one simply has to make the time. Nevertheless, the decision seems more complicated.

I very well could make the time. This job is sufficiently flexible that I can choose which work I wish to do; however, in declining work, I’m also declining experience and declining money and I cannot guarantee that work like this in an industry which is notoriously cyclical will always be readily available. For a person still developing the skills and experiences needed to be able to easily obtain work, turning down work seems foolish. For a person who recently went through the unpleasant task of searching for work, turning down work seems foolish. For a person on the cusp of some level of financial security, turning down work seems foolish.

And so, looking ahead to the fall and winter I am faced with a conundrum. On the one hand, I desperately want to be successful in my new career and show measurable progress. On the other hand, I know that the satisfaction I gain from that won’t be enough. Living to work won’t bring me happiness and fulfilment. I am therefore left with the struggle of trying to master the balancing-act of working to live.

There are a number of activities that I derive a great deal of happiness from. Rock climbing, canoeing, and camping are chief amongst these; however, some of the activities I miss most of all are seemingly more mundane – a pint of beer at Kick-Offs or eating a Vincenzo’s sandwich over an evening of Dungeons and Dragons, or having an impromptu barbecue on a Saturday afternoon. A lot of these activities necessarily involve regular time commitment whether it be maintaining and developing my climbing skills or engaging in weekly quests with friends in D&D; this makes balancing these activities with a career which necessarily draws me away from these activities for regular extended intervals difficult or impossible.

I am hopelessly optimistic though. While this fall is looking like it will be busy with work, I am hopeful that the winter will give me an opportunity to make up for some of that. I’ve been mulling over a winter climbing trip, though I’m not sure my climbing will be up to par by that time. I also hope to relocate to the Waterloo area again to be closer to friends and more easily available for impromptu gatherings when I’m not away on work. It will cost me more than living with my parents, but life is a balance and that is why I have a job in the first place, right?

In my continued commitment to always posting a picture with my posts, I have decided to share this photo I recently took from our new transmitter location. The day was an interesting mixture of sun and cloud and I feel the rain in the distance really does the landscape here justice and captures the brooding gloomy weather that has plagued us the past little while.

Rain does make the landscape more interesting

Although the rain has generally held out for the most part, we finally received precipitation today in the form of an unpleasant slushy snow. This ultimately turned into a weather day for us, but if it continues, we will just have to endure it; we are too close to the end of the project to delay any longer because of some unpleasant weather.

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