noun: segue; plural noun: segues
- an uninterrupted transition from one piece of music or film scene to another.
2. a transition from one role, state, or condition to another.
- "that's actually a perfect segue into my next question"
If a student bursts a cracker in class or does something quite serious like vandalize the college, the parents are summoned.
Why?
What if the parents were to say ‘what happens in college isn’t our responsibility. During that time our child is under your care, you figure it out.’
It sounds ludicrous.
The premise is that the parents are responsible for the upbringing of the child, even if the child spends more time in school or college than with their parents as they grow old.
If the atmosphere at home isn’t a good one, this sometimes reflects on a student’s performance.
In the same vein, if a student is being bullied or treated badly by an immature teacher, this will reflect on their behavior at home.
In short, one affects the other and making a distinction between home and college is near impossible.
But isn’t that what we stupidly try to accomplish by constantly seeking the myth of work-life balance? Separate two entities that really can’t be separated?
The broad contours of work-life balance are this — there has to a be a point where work ends and life begins. It’s some sort of an imaginary line. While work not seeping into all aspects of life is a worthwhile objective, it doesn’t take into account a critical aspect — the emotions and feelings we carry with us when we go to work or reach home.
This revelation occurred to me recently when I reached home and excitedly told my wife about a compliment I received and an idea I was working on. I didn’t bother to pause and ask her if she was getting bored with my over-excitement but I continued anyway. I was carrying work home, but I was also carrying the positive feelings that the work had generated.
There have also been times when I carried the feelings of negativity and worthlessness home. And at times when it happened for an extended period of time, I knew something had to give.
You may not always take work home with you. But if you work in a hostile environment where you are undermined and disrespected, you will carry that feeling home with you. Doesn’t matter if you leave work at 4 P.M. It’s tough to tell your head — ‘hey, I’m home, cheer up.’
After she became CEO, she visited her mother in India. Most of the people who came to visit complimented her mother on doing such a good job with her daughter.
That was a penny drop moment for her, one where she realized that she was what she was because of the ecosystem that helped her and this inspired her to write to the parents of her executives.
I found this utterly fascinating and yet, it is something very commonsensical.
If you are leaving home happy, realize that there are so many people who are making it possible for you.
If you’re leaving work happy, realize that it’s not just your doing.
In his hall of fame speech, Michael Jordan said:
“The game of basketball has been everything to me. My refuge. My place I’ve always gone when I needed to find comfort and peace. It’s been a source of intense pain, and a source of most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction.”
Jordan isn’t looking at his life and his career seperately.
And what holds good for Jordan holds good for all of us, albeit at different levels.
Life doesn’t begin where work ends.
Creating a happy life, not by society’s standards but by our own, requires a lot of hard work.
Balance is a mirage that we will constantly seek but never find.
