For many years, I freelanced as a proofreader at a national weekly magazine. My job was to pore over all the stories before they went to press, checking for typos, factual inconsistencies and anything else that caught my eye. The shifts were crazy: At times I worked from 10 a.m. on Saturday until 7 a.m. on Sunday.
There was a lot to love – the fast-paced environment, the good money and the unbeatable camaraderie of a bare-bones production crew who were always up for comedy at 4 a.m. Still, the long and unpredictable hours ruined family plans and created odd sleeping patterns that have never been righted.
Do you work irregular hours?
More and more Canadians can identify with these challenges. Studies by Statistics Canada and scholarly organizations estimate that between one-quarter and one-third of the employed – everyone from journalists, health-care workers and emergency responders to those in the manufacturing and hospitality industries – have jobs that are done outside the regular nine-to-five workweek. In fact, even nine-to-fivers now sometimes work on weekends, at night and on vacation, reports the Vanier Institute of the Family.
The good news is that working odd hours and making the most out of downtime is possible, especially with good planning and a sensible "me too" attitude. Greta Cummings, a registered nurse and nursing professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, strives to impart the idea of investing in yourself, no matter what hours you put in. "When I was young, so many people didn't understand that," she says. Now, "if a 27-year-old nurse says to me, 'I'm exhausted, what am I going to do?' I say, you need to be able to learn to lead yourself. That includes finding your own strengths, your own values and having a vision for your life.
Look at how much you can give professionally, how much you can give personally and how much time you need to spend looking after yourself. That is the beginning of being able to develop the balance you need."
Page 1 of 4 – Discover why it pays to eat well and keep fit when you work irregular hours on page 2.
