Work to do vs. beer to drink
Gaah. It's Friday night, but I'm stressed because I have a deadline and I want to work to remove that stress.
But my brain is fried.
And people with beer are waiting for me. Well, not waiting. I'm sure they will start drinking whether I'm there or not. Eventually they will call and nag me if I don't go.
But I know as soon as I'm sitting there with a beer in my hand, inane beer-induced conversation around me, I will be wishing I were working instead.
I'm stuck between a hard and a drunk place. #$%&. Where is that hand-held computer when I need to have a beer in one hand and productivity in the other???
posted by Ms.PhD @ 6:17 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I vote for the beer and no guilt.
When I do have an ale, it's in the quiet of my room, at my computer. It's great talking with one's self -- you can count on some intelligent conversation without the chit-chat!
Sometimes I actually get things done, and sometimes I just futz around teh internets. Either way it's good. Plus, no tobacco-smoke smell in the clothes, and bed is just a few steps away.
Seriously Ms. Ph.D, you need to learn how to relax. Its Friday night, you have a chance to be social, and you sit there and wish you could be working????? Life is about more than science, and work. Enjoy yourself, and stop feeling guilty about it.
I went for the beer, but today I'm a little hungover and a lot stressed. I did laundry, chores, the usual procrastination techniques. And went to lab for an hour to deal with some things that couldn't wait until Monday. Now I'm going to try to get some work done. We'll see how it goes.
To Anonymous:
I think most of us know that there is more to life than science and work. But finding time to relax is easier said than done when in the back of your mind, you know you'll be stressed later because you put something off.
Dadu, working on Friday night is sad and wrong. It is sad and wrong when I do it and sad and wrong when you do it. Friday night is for beer. (Or wine if you are observing Shabbos. With a beer chasers.)
It's like we need to get "permission" to relax by flagellating ourselves for ever not working. This is kind of neurotic.
Part of the problem with the modern science environment is the speed at which people are expected produce work, and that is in part fuelled by workers' willingness to sacrifice personal lives to meet those demands.
If more people said "No, its friday night, and I'm not going to work. Whatever you want will have to wait until monday", then the demands would come more in line with real people doing science for a living, rather than giving up your soul.
I think as young researchers we have a responsibility not to capitulate to the pressures, and stand up for our right to a life outside the lab.
Futhermore I think Science would be the ultimate benefactor, since a lot of the egoism in sience would be reduced if people actually had a life.
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