A Brief History of Time

I have no clue how this post is going to turn out, so bare with me. Recently, work has been pervading my thoughts. From my nightly runs to my weekends at home, it's getting annoying! Work has not, and SHOULD not be something that invades my home life. This got me thinking about why I would let work get to me like that, which lead me to thinking as I often do, about what's really important to me, and where my priorities are. Finally, this lead to thoughts about how those priorities have changed over time and so I decided to actually put a list together in my head.

1994-1998: College Years
Top 5 Priorities during this time period:

1. Grades/School
2. Andrea
3. Drinking
4. Friends
5. Everything else (mostly Mario Kart)

Not much to say about college years, 'cept that there are times I miss many aspects of college. I tried to squeeze in as much self discovery as I could... When I was sober anyway.

1998-2004: Stagnation Years
Top 5 Priorities during this time period:

1. Work
2. Everquest
3. Andrea
4. Drinking
5. Everything else

98 started out with me living by myself and having nothing but work, and I poured everything I had into it. In the long term, it helped me be good at what I do. But I call these the stagnation years because, as hard as I worked, there was very little growth on a personal level. I drank every weekend to fight the monotony. With all my time spent on Everquest, and Andrea working mostly nights, I often wonder if I could have found more productive pursuits. But I try not to regret my decisions... I made some good friends and we had some good times. I'm actually heading back to Boise in October to visit people, and looking forward to that.

2004: Year of Shock
Top 5 Priorities during this time period:

1. Andrea
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Work
5. Everything else

Moving back to Minnesota in Nov 03 was a much bigger shock to my persona then I realized at the time. I look back now and realize that moving back was a major catalyst to all the change in my life. Being around my family again made me realize how important they were to me. Friendships found there way back into the top 3 as I did my best to reconnect with everyone. I took a solid 6 month break from work as it dropped far down my list of priorities.

2005-2006: Rediscovery Years
Top 5 Priorities during this time period:

1. Andrea/Megan
2. Family
3. Shawn
4. Friends
5. Everything else

2005 started off with the news of impending fatherhood. It was also the start of my year of sobriety. Two interesting things stand about my priorities during this period. First, it's the first time I actually showed up on my own list, and second, it's the first time work went off to the way side. I think that is why I ended up in a dead-end job for 2 years without realizing it. I refer to this period as a self discovery time, because I still see two distinct personalities between pre and post 2005.

2007+: Year of ???
Top 5 Priorities during this time period:

1. Andrea/Megan
2. Shawn
3. Work
4. Family
5. Everything else

Which brings us to today, where I find work is constantly struggling to move up to the #2 spot in my priority list. It's important to me to succeed, but only so far as it helps me achieve my personal goals. What I dislike is when the desire to succeed causes me to think/worry about work outside of work, and it can be a constant struggle. On the plus side, I'm very happy where I'm at and with my current priority list. I think I just need to keep the top 3 in balance (a.k.a. keep work in check) and the rest will just work out.