I am accused by many (and by "many," I mean primarily, Angie), that I don't manage my work/life balance very well. The conversation hasn't gone so far as to conjecture a correlation between my MM and my alleged out-of-balance work/life balance (my condition was not caused by any external factors like smoking or diet soda/pop, rather from an unfortunate fluke during the daily regeneration of some 330 billion cells in my body, with one critical misfire), but there is the occasional suggestion that working too hard is bad for my cancer. I'll acknowledge that working "too hard" can be taxing, and the rate of that tax seems to be increasing proportionally with my chronological advancement, but I am one of those people that seems to have been built for work.
Is it a by-product of my midwestern upbringing? Perhaps a soupcon of my Judeo-Christian roots are at the base of my predilection? Or maybe I'm motivated by the "Perfect Attendance" award that is inevitably waiting for me at the Pearly Gates? Whatever the reason, I know who I am and what I'm about, and I just happen to be one of those people who doesn't mind a good day's work. As a matter of fact, that perspective has been somewhat therapeutic for me during my cancer journey, as I have used the old 9-5 (it never has been just 9-5) as a welcomed distraction from the slings and arrows of Multiple Myeloma - with a fairly high degree of success.
So when it comes time to idle the engine and enjoy some time off, it takes my particular motor a bit longer than most to wind down and relax. I get there, and then I do enjoy the respite, but I know this about myself (the working part and the ramping down part) such that I truly believe that I do have my work/life balance in balance with what works for my life. To each their own, to thine own self be true, different strokes for different folks, and all of those other platitudes that seek to summarize that you should look deep within to truly determine what is best for you, and then do that.
All in all, I think I do have a pretty good handle on my work/life balance and I think it's helping me, more than exacerbating my MM - but then wouldn't a person who doesn't have their work/life balance in balance say that?!?
