Surreality by Carissa Villacorta

Author:Carissa Villacorta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: travel, new york, philippines, reflections, filipino
Publisher: Mina V. Esguerra

How has it become easier to tell our friends 'I have a business meeting,' than to tell our co-workers, 'I have a Broadway date at eight?'

Our 5-to-9 lives

IT'S ALWAYS EITHER your personal life gets in the way of your work, or your work gets in the way of your personal life.

I used to be the first one to arrive at and the last one to leave work. I didn't mind staying late to finish things up, or doing work at home. But lately it's been a whirlwind. So many things are happening all at the same time, and they're all good. So many after-work drinks and lunches with friends or professional networks have been set that I sometimes need to step out at 12nn or 5pm on the dot. While that used to make me feel guilty, the clock is a guide that tells you where and on what you should be spending your thoughts and time on.

It is so easy for us to feel guilty about leaving our desks for home or for friends at exactly 5:01. But the many times that we spent it well beyond 5, or when even our children witness how we still work at home, does the office or our bosses feel guilty? How has it become easier to tell our friends 'I have a business meeting,' than to tell our co-workers 'I have a Broadway date at eight?' Which pang of guilt the morning after tinges harder?

Whether the reason for being late or not being there at all is "I have a meeting," or "I have a baptism," or "I have a date," some commitments override others. Especially when work events require your weekend presence. But sometimes the little boy needs your weekend presence too.

One of the things I never like hearing is "I'm too busy" or 'I'm too tired." Contrary to M. Scott Peck's mantra, I don't believe that "Love is an effort." Because if you love something or someone, you can never be too busy or too tired - it just means that you have other priorities, and you choose to put your time and energy on those. I remember the surprise question my Theology teacher asked me in my junior year in high school. I was looking out the window at that moment when he asked "What is love?" I casually blurted out, "Love is when you care about the other more than you care about yourself." My classmate Alvin's head turned and his lips curled up.

Despite modern mantras to love yourself first or to leave some love for yourself, at its core, I think love is all about selflessness. No matter what you're doing, if your job or the person you love asks of you, even if you have to spend cash or time on it, you would make it a priority. Thy will be done.

We just have to be aware enough to realize when those shifts between our inclinations for work and for play (i.e. all the other aspects in our lives that we re ally want to do) happen, and why.

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