Chapter 13: The Juggling Act: Finding Work-Life Balance with a Little Help!

Life has always been a balancing act. My earliest recollections as a child were watching my parents balance work-life, for them it was family and work. Both of my parents worked in the public sector to maintain the household. This was during a time when women were supposed to stay at home to care for the children. In retrospect, watching that as a child left such an impact on me, it was the norm, for my siblings and me. Hence, I learned the juggling act model from my parents; working different shifts, being left with my grandparents, being dropped off and picked up from school, working in the home, cooking and cleaning, and attending mass. All of these experiences formed the intricate patterns of my life. As a child, I always sought more of everything, knowledge, family, friends, food, and love and not necessarily in this order. These things have always brought me joy and comfort. But it is the quest for knowledge that has inspired me to become more. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be where I am today, working on a PhD at the age of 46, with two children, Marcos (10 years) and Isabella (3 years). Most people my age are at the stage in life where they already have established careers, are seeing their kids off to college, or becoming grandparents. I, on the other hand, barely realized a few years ago what I wanted to be when I grew up. I guess you can say I am a late bloomer and a non-traditional student, but that is okay. I’m very comfortable with both of those titles. I have always been the type of person that had to be active and participate in many different things at the same time, whether it was family, work, school, church, or community. These self-imposed activities have driven my expectations of who I am and who I want to be, but I guess that is the way it was meant to be. Because of this I am often caught struggling to find a work life balance. The demands on my time have increased exponentially as my children have grown and as I seek a PhD.