About three years ago, I had an uncle (I will call him Steve) that I knew very well that had a stroke. Since then, he decided to confine himself to his home even though he could be mobile with the aid of his wheelchair. His wife is now staying home taking care of him full-time.<\/p>\n
I could remember those days when he was one of the most active and the go to person in our Micronesian community. During those days, we just started a first \u2018Chuukese church\u2019 in Portland area called, Island Community Church (ICC). All of our leaders were part-timers in the church while working full-time in the industries. Most of them try to find jobs that would make them available for the weekends so they could be working at our church during the weekends while others would work a night-shift job. So, my uncle Steve was one of those that worked a night-shift job to be available on the weekends. Steve worked a, 10-7 Sunday to Thursday shift as a security guard, at a school. This freed up his time for church work on the weekends. However, as he was resting during his off time, other people from our community called him up and asking him to help them with miscellaneous tasks. The problem was that most of the time went and assist them. He did this for so many years thinking that it was part of his working for the church, even thought it was hard on himself.<\/p>\n
When Poole [1]<\/a> told the story about the \u2018The Happy Prince,<\/em>\u2019 unfortunately, it reminds of Steve. Especially when the mayor ordered the statue to be pulled down and thrown away because it too ugly for the town. This part (17. The Work-life balance<\/strong>) of the book really resonates with me because of Steve and others in our church that seem to be having this issue of Work-life balance. But how should a leader deal with this? I mean sometimes you would feel that you are obligated to help. How should one draw the line?<\/p>\n Personally, I felt that I am in in this situation every day during this doctoral journey. I work 9 to 5 from Monday to Friday; however, because of the nature of the work, I sometimes work from home on the weekends. Every week I have to struggle to allocate and prioritize time between family. work, schooling and even time for myself (for resting). Moreover, when something unplanned or emergency occurs, it has drastic effects.<\/p>\n In the \u2018Fables of Aesop about The Farmer and the Snake,\u2019 [2]<\/a> a farmer saw a frozen snake in the field, he felt that he had to help the snake, so he put the frozen snake in his shirt to thawed it out. But when the snake was thawed out and became conscious, it bit him. As leaders, we are to care for our people just as much as we are also to be careful that our caring doesn\u2019t bite us. The question here is, how do we find balance in what we do? Or how do you balance your work-life?<\/p>\n