A high paying job with long hours that would give you little time with family and friends or
It is always a dilemma to choose between salary and personal leisure time. Everyone would like to strike a balance between payment and free time; however, if I am forced to choose only one, I would like to choose the latter.
To me, relationship with my family and friends is essential. When depressed by heavy work, I turn to my parents or friends for help. After a long-talk with them, I feel a sense of relief, and then I get ready to accept challenge in the next day of next week. Without this connection, I might have become an isolated person; therefore, I will definitely not give up the precious time at any price.
I have experienced both types of jobs. I served in R&D department in a famous semiconductor company, earning probably the highest income all over my country. But, high income usually comes along with long working hour, and my job has no exception. I had to work overnight, even on weekends. The only time I could really put my work aside was New Year‘s Day, and I had no time to have a talk with my friends because every hour I was immersed in endless meetings. In the end of the second year, I found out that all I have was useless money—I could by all kinds of luxury, but nobody could share with me—so I decided to quit the job and changed to one with more free time. Although the payment of my new job is lower than the half of the former one, I feel two times as happy as before.
Some young people might argue that they have a smart method to make a compromise between salary and personal time. They can sacrifice several years to make a large amount of money, and then enjoy the rest life with a free job. In my opinion, this is an unwise and risk move. No one can be sure the sacrifice pays off in the future, and regretful events always happen: one of my co-workers could not make it to see his father in hospital, and another died after stay overnight for a week. Both of them lost the chance to enjoy the “coming up” spare time. If they had a second chance, they might not choose the risk road.
In the last, I will have to highlight again that money cannot buy everything. Things like happiness, health and relationship are priceless. Therefore, I would rather choose low-paying job with more free time.
底線