I am reading “This is How” by Augusten Burroughs of “Running with Scissors” fame. This is both a self-help book and a parody of traditional self-help, and pretty funny, too. One chapter focuses on limits and how it’s a good thing that we all have limits, whether it’s of time, money, ability or something else. That got me thinking in many ways including how this relates to the work/life balance discussions that are all the rage in the web-sphere and media via blogs, forums and articles. What made his take most interesting to me is that he is not writing from the perspective of someone married with children. Basically his argument is that limits force us to be creative. If life had no limits, our life would feel stagnant and valueless. And the line that struck me the most: “Not having it all is good.”
You should read the book for that chapter alone. While he really wasn’t talking about women juggling career/work/chores/life, it seemed applicable to that situation. Time limits can definitely lead to exhaustion but it also forces you to make better use of time, at work and at home.
Sometimes it’s good to get a male perspective on a topic dominated and discussed mostly by women.
Oh, there’s also a very good chapter about how to be fat.
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