Work Travel Balance
This Monday I completed my internship at SBI. The very next day I travelled back to Estonia. I have tried to mostly switch off, but it has not been as easy as I thought. I still need to finish my internship report which will be a bigger task than I expected. I want to delve into great detail about all my projects and conduct extensive research to support my work.
Something that is also keeping me occupied is the student council. I have had 3 calls during the past week to organise next year and be on top of everything. I have noticed that I have difficulties setting boundaries with this specific work. The difficulty in this context is that everyone is on summer break, so finding a common schedule is difficult and usually does not suit my schedule.
The way I perceive it is that if I deal with something right away, then it will not need dealing with later on, which in a way is a good strategy, but sometimes it gets in the way of other events and that is when it bothers me. The way I will try to go about it is to consciously reflect before I take on a call or some work – do I have time to do this task with the given deadline?
Similarly, during my internship, even when my day was done, I was still constantly thinking about the next day and how I would tackle each task. Work crept into my personal life. During the weekends I managed to disconnect, especially since I often left Lille for the weekend.
The month of June was truly a blissful experience. The first weekend, I travelled to Maastricht. The next weekend, I went to Berlin. Then I travelled to Tartu to see the graduation of my best friend, and finally, I went to Paris last weekend to catch up with my old classmates.
The fact that I could do all that is something I am so grateful for. It is something I thrive on; it gives meaning. Seeing friends, making memories and changing environments. All of this is refreshing, even though the travelling can be tiring.
The boundaries with work are something that I am only getting started with, so it is good to get this relationship right as soon as possible. One of the boundaries that I will try to install is that I need some time off to travel and see friends. It is important to me, especially in this chapter of my life.
This Week's Suggestions:
🎶 "Sunscreen (Live Mix)" by Spriitzz:
This is a new release from Spray. Well, actually released under his alias Spriitzz. I looked it up the way he put it himself is "Spray for the club, Sprittzz for the sunset." This song is a lovely sunset song that perfectly encapsulates the travel side of this post. Have a listen!
Have a lovely Monday!
