I saw a Ted Talk recently, and read a book by the speaker, where he talked about taking a year off from his job. He said he learned a lot about work-life balance, mainly that it’s very easy to balance life and work when you don’t work.
Last night I missed a run because I had to work late. I wished a hundred times that I had taken the time for that run, at some point, because I was a big fist of stress through the work, the ride home, and my evening. Even as I write this post before bed, I’m tight-lipped and tired, and I want to eat food despite not being hungry. Stress.
Of course, I won’t really miss a workout; I’ll find another place this week to fit it in, and fitting in the run isn’t stressful at all. It makes me thing that I should keep an emergency running outfit at work (I already keep a dead pair of sneakers there, and a few miles in them wouldn’t kill me). Getting away for an hour before finishing my work in the evening would have made all the difference today.
Wisely and Slow 
The ability to exercise at will is perhaps the most awesome thing about my work from home assignment in India. It is neck and neck with getting to wear my running clothes to work. Close call on that one. 🙂
I vote in favor of keeping a set of old/crappy emergency running clothes at work. In my last job I would frequently go for a run/bike/swim at lunch when I would get stressed/frustrated. It really made a world of difference. I can’t endorse it enough 🙂
I so agree with this! When I had a desk job I used to sneak in lunch time runs when I could. Usually my extra clothes and shoes were in my car so they went with me wherever I might be. Now that I have a farm job, it seems like it’s actually harder to get away mid-day, but maybe that will change a bit when winter comes.
The positive responses definitely have me convinced. I am gonna pack up a pair of shorts and a long sleeve tech to keep in my desk drawer. Luckily, the desks are as old as I am, so they have massive space once intended for keeping paper files.
Who was the speaker?
Nigel Marsh, an ad executive from London living and working in Sydney. He wrote a book called “Fat, Forty and Fired” about his experience of taking a year off.