Work-Life Balance

The Author (Photo taken on June 9, 2017 at the Diamond Hotel)

I have encountered this terminology  of work-life balance five years ago when I started  working  with my current company as Head of Sales and Marketing  and working directly under  a Norwegian Sales Director. It was my first time to work in the shipping industry so I had to learn a lot of new things in the process. I found this job very interesting, intellectually engaging, socially fulfilling and financially rewarding that’s why I got hooked on the work itself. Later on,  I will be declaring to myself that  -  this is  my dream job as I am being paid for the work that I love doing!

Client visit at Cardiff  Filipinas Crewing.

As Head of Sales and Marketing,  I conduct client visits and meetings with our existing client companies, look for new ones and revive the inactive clients. After my meetings, I return to the office to check and sign   all the Confirmation of Bookings for each and every client that books with us, prepare the Letters of Invitations for all our foreign trainees  so they can apply for visa at the nearest Philippine Embassy or consular general’s office near their place. I also prepare quotations and Training Agreements for those clients that require these.

Due to the load of work that I have, I usually stay late  at the office every day,   sometimes up to 9:00pm just to catch up and finish the work load.  That’s why, one  Friday, I was still at the office at past eight in the evening, I sent an email to my Norwegian boss for approval of the budget that I have prepared  for our participation to an international exhibition in Manila and I was surprised that after five minutes, he replied, “ Approved!”

I was so amazed that he was still monitoring his emails even at night and that he read and gave his approval right away to my proposed budget. He was  so efficient that’s why  I saluted him for that. Thus, after learning about his approval, I closed my computer right away and left the office to go home.

On Monday morning,  when I opened my computer, I read an email from my boss which he sent after his approval last Friday night at almost 9:00pm which said: “ Hi Anne, you should go home now. It is Friday night. You should be with your family and friends. You should learn how to live a balanced life.” To this I replied: “ Thank  you very much for your kind concern. Yes, from here on,  I will learn how to live a balanced life.”

This was the first  time that  I heard about living a balanced life.   Looking back,  at  age 19, I was already working  with the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA),  a government  corporation and studying at night. I was given a full  scholarship grant by the PTA that’s why I was able to study at the De La Salle University, Manila.  I was a working student then.  After work and school then I go home right away.  Even after getting married and  had three  children, I still continued working so I can help provide for the schooling of my kids.  Later on my husband  worked as a Systems Engineer in one of the biggest banks in Jeddah, KSA, then we separated.  Thus,  I became both mother and father to my children. And so, hearing about  living a balanced life was new to me. I don’t know what it means.

In hindsight,  my Norwegian boss leaves the office at exactly 5:00pm. Sometimes he will leave early and inform us that he will be attending a birthday party of a friend together with his family or will be meeting with his Norwegian friends for  a drink after work.  He goes on a vacation leave for a month in July and goes to  Norway with his family  and another month long vacation in December for their Christmas family reunion. So I think that this is his way of creating a balanced life.

Christmas 2016 with my family.

As for me,  from the time that I read about it from my boss’ email,  I researched about it and learned that it is about having time for everything that’s important to you  i.e., you, your family, your  faith,  your  friends and your work.   Since then, I tried very hard to achieve a work-life balance. 

Currently, I’m pursuing  my Master of Business Administration  at De La Salle University while still working at our maritime training center.  My classes are every Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon.  

My family is my priority that’s why during weekends and on special occasions  I get together  for lunch or dinner with my eldest son (with wife and daughter) and youngest son  (with his girlfriend).  As a family, we travelled to the United States for two months,  and went to visit relatives and friends  in the East Coast and the West Coast.  We also went to Hong Kong and  Guangzhou  in China.  Sometimes I take a leave of absence from work and   visit my nurse daughter  in Singapore.  Last year, we visited  Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Visited my nurse  daughter in Singapore.

I also find time to meet with my two  high school best friends and have travelled with them locally to Puerto Galera, Boracay,  Batangas, Tagaytay,  Baguio and overseas to Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok. I was also invited by some colleagues to travel to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) and  Shenzen (China).

Lunch get together  with my  best friends at Italiani's

On my spare time and to  further sharpen the saw,  I do gardening, cooking,  reading  John Grisham’s  legal thriller books,   watching  and collecting  CDs of   English love stories (with happy endings), shopping and eating in new restaurants in malls. Likewise,  I  always pray and thank God for all his blessings.  With all of these activities on top of my family, work, school and faith,   I think I know now  how to live a balanced life.  Cheers!