• Question: Did you have to sacrifice anything for your career, eg hobbies, time with family etc. How did you cope with that?

    Asked by 10jlam to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 7 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Maedeh Borhani

      Maedeh Borhani answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      Sometimes, you need to sacrifice to get to where you want. I also sacrificed many things but the important one was leaving my parents and brother behind and moving to a new country.

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      I moved from London to Glasgow when I decided to do my doctorate so that was quite a big sacrifice but I actually love Glasgow more now!

      There are times when I have to work late and that means sacrificing something fun in the evening like going out for dinner or seeing a film. If that happens, I always try to make up for it another day. A good work/life balance is important.

    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 7 Mar 2016:

      I’m lucky because my job has normal office hours. I don’t have to work at night, for example. There are often weeks where I work a lot of hours though. That makes keeping up with hobbies difficult except at the weekend. I miss playing music during the week. But I can still enjoy sport at the weekend and go to the cinema and meet friends for dinner during the week.

      I don’t feel like I’ve had to sacrifice much in my career so far.

    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 8 Mar 2016:

      Sacrifice no, compromise, yes. Family comes first, but I am required to travel and also spend a fair bit of time outside of work doing work in the evenings (sometimes accompanied by a beer or glass of wine). The working at home is of my own making since I love what I do, but I try to ensure it doesn’t impact on family time (so I work when the kids are in bed). The danger comes if you start to let work dominate and feel you have to work way beyond your hours just to maintain output. It’s happens occasionally, but I’ve consciously tried to prevent it sacrificing more valuable things in life.

      My main hobby is mountain biking, but work/family means I’m not at the pointy end of being competitive anymore. That’s more a natural slip as priorities have changed. I still get out twice a week on the bike (In all weathers) and commute by bike, so I’m still happy 🙂

    • Photo: Matthew Round

      Matthew Round answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      I agree with Dominic life is very often about compromise. My partner and children are quite understanding and know the work done at the hospital is important.

      There can be some late night and weekend working and we just have to crack on with it.

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