Blah Blah from The TeaBreak Team.

I have always wondered how people are able to manage their life – work, home, friends, family, etc. I think its just impossible. Those who say they have a balance are lying, or at least that is what I believe. Just imagine working in an office (or in university) and you’re stuck at some point. How can you go back home and not think about work while watching TV, or while having dinner, or maybe while sitting in the toilet or taking a shower? How can you even manage to go out and just not think about your earlier problems?

Personally, I have never managed to do it. I almost envy people who have this ability to swing their thoughts (if they really do) like they have some switch in their brains which they can control and turn off while leaving work. Its almost unbelievable. Even since my childhood, academia has remained on top of my priority list and nothing else got enough attention. I come across as a good manager to people, but I think I suck in this game of balancing when non-academic things come up. This is one reason my social life sucks, the other being my love for loneliness. The love for loneliness is another consequence of the mind being stuck on some work and these lonely sessions are needed to find the solutions.

An incident that I fondly remember that occured in 2002 probably when I was doing A-levels pretty much summarises what I’m trying to say. I was stuck on some calculus question and then just had to leave it there to go and attend the Isha congregational prayer. On the way I kept thinking about that particular problem and the way of solving it. The thought never left me during the prayers and I came up with something in the middle of prayers (sadly, the concentration on prayer was very low). I couldn’t wait for the imam to end it and go back home and try out my new idea. It did turn out to be the solution, but the point of interest here is the lack of ability to come out of that domain.

In Pakistan, the four years that I spent, being the only man in house and also the only driver I was responsible for many things apart from my own studies. That, in hindsight, did help me to understand this art of balancing to an extent but as soon as I left that phase, I immediately returned to the old routine of being stuck at something.

Obviously, I’m normal when there is no such problem

So can someone explain how exactly do people with problems manage to maintain a nice balance in their lives?