Hudson Valley Astrologer

“The reward of a thing well done is having done it.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The main difficulty I have had finding a work-life balance has always been my insistence of “putting one foot in two canoes.” A good friend puts it this way, “dude you have so many pieces plates spinning.” People who are able to concentrate their work efforts single mindedly, establishing a livelihood but also able to monetize those efforts sufficiently to fund the home part of the work-life equation perplexes me.

It isn’t necessarily always true, but more often than not the level of education is more deterministic in terms of vocational potential than almost any other factor. However, even a high powered profession doesn’t mean the work-life balance is made easier. Doctors, especially early in their career, work insane hours. The level of concentration gets magnified like sunlight through glass, generating a burning desire and purpose, or else burnout. The home part of the work-life balance will be cosmetically intact, perhaps pristine, but surface appearances can also mask other issues, like relationship issues for example. Money doesn’t solve all our problems and ironically can make us sick.

Without a successful academic career in a highly sought after field people will be relegated to the other end of the spectrum of the workforce; during Covid these workers were dubbed the essential workers. For whatever reason these folks are forced into the bowels of the labor market to serve others. Wages are less, sometimes minimal, and many are dependent on tips. The work-life balance is more of a battle, and a struggle for survival. Just the notion of a more meaningful work-life balance is so remote that it would be something of an insult to ask. Yet, most of us concerned about work-life balance can’t even comprehend living in such survival mode.

A college education isn’t the panacea it was promised to be, and may not always be required or possible. I personally know people who never went to college, and some who barely graduated high school, but who have also built very successful careers in sales, Real-estate sales and insurance sales for example. The Birth of a Salesman has always intrigued me, one because I have been in the sales profession most of my life, and two because I have never been very good at it. I read Walter Friedman’s book to learn more about the unique sales culture that grew out of the Antebellum period here in the United States and has flourished since like nowhere else in the world. This book is less a how-to than it a how-come we even have a sales profession.

My work-life balance has been off kilter for most of my adult work life. Most of us do what we do to pay the bills, and so the work day is more about drudgery than it is about pursuing our passion. A Life at Work by Thomas Moore explores this idea and suggests that issues related to our emotional health and well-being would be less problematic if we could better align our work with a life purpose we find a more meaningful expression of our true selves.

The Midheaven Extension Process is a brilliant solution to answering all of questions about discovering one’s vocation, which in my opinion is invariably linked to work-life balance. If we are not aligned with work that brings us the potential of finding personal and professional fulfillment, we will never find balance.

It’s why I’ve chosen to marry astrology with counseling and guide clients through some of the same questions I’ve wrestled throughout my career.

HVA

💚🍀