I'm a Dad! (again)
My second child was born about a month ago.
One lesson I relearned: Time is limited. And you can't create more of it.
My ideal 24 hours were made of the following blocks:
- Work: 8 hours
- Personal development (reading, side projects): 2 hours
- Exercise and personal care: 2 hours
- Family time: 4 hours
- Sleep: 8 hours
I subconsciously thought caring for a newborn would squeeze somewhere into this list. But that breaks laws of physics. With a finite 24 hours, something must be removed before a new activity can be added to the stack.
- I still have to work (gotta get that paper 💸).
- I don't want my physical or mental health to deteriorate, so exercise and personal care can't go.
- I can't control sleep because that's a slave to my baby's desire.
- I don't want to give up family time because being a present husband and father is top priority.
So what did I (unintentionally) remove? Personal development and leisure.
I haven't read as much as I used to. I haven't worked on personal coding projects. No new blogs or videos since the baby arrived.
There aren't enough hours in the day. For the few hours I do have to myself, I'm sluggish from sleep deprivation. 🥱
At times, I'm bummed I'm not doing everything I used to do. But that's okay. Everything has a season.
- Kids need extra attention for their first 5 years.
- They're more independent for the next 5.
- And then they want nothing to do with you in their teenage years.
I'm not reading or creating right now. But the time to pursue personal projects will come again.
I don't know what your life is like. But I hope this encourages you to pause and think. There's more to life than work.
As engineers, it's important to keep data pipelines running. But really, does it make that big a difference if one fails? A few years from now, will it matter that you gave it 150% to keep the warehouse operational, putting in extra hours? The only ones who remember you worked late are your loved ones.
Best,
KP
In Case You Missed It
Just kidding... I'm sleep deprived and buried in diapers. There's no new content you missed.
I have some things in the works and will be back with more blogs and videos later. 😉
Dad Joke
I'm thinking I should do lunges to stay in shape.
That would be a big step forward.
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