Can you really have it all?

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Can you really have it all - family or career?

  • Yes. I am a man and I think it is possible

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Yes. I am a woman and I think it is possible

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • No. I am a man and I think sacrifices have to be made

    Votes: 6 31.6%
  • No I am a woman and I think sacrifices have to be made

    Votes: 5 26.3%
  • I am a man who thinks women should stay at home. Men should achieve it all

    Votes: 2 10.5%
  • I am a woman who thinks women should stay at home. Men should achieve it all

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don't want kids or a family.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19
A

Abster

Guest
#21
View attachment 88623

The secret to having it all, is knowing you already do...
EXACTLY. I dont have to choose. My career feeds my family and my family feeds my heart and God supplies our needs in every way. He touches EVERY area of my life. I have it ALL.
 

JesusLives

Senior Member
Oct 11, 2013
14,551
2,172
113
#22
Grace, I want to disagree here a bit.


I don't think parenthood ends when a child turns 18 or an adult. I think parenthood is for life. You can't ever stop being a mom :) ( :p Realizing that with my own mother haha)


Also unless a woman has her own business or a creative venture of her own, it's hard for her to just get back into a corporate setting after 18 years...

However I feel when it comes to choices, I believe family should always come first.
A mother and her presence can be crucial for a child.

You are very right. I think raising your children up to be God-fearing, prayerful people who support and love you back, has to be one of the most rewarding things in the world.

It probably is one of the greatest treasures :)


However, that just makes me feel that we can't really have it all - the glamorous high flying, travel jet setting job and the comfortable and happy children. It's too exhausting. It's too tough. Somewhere down the road , choices have to be made.
Being a mom is a life time commitment that I love with all my heart I can't imagine my life without my Melisa - I don't care how hard it was when she was younger it was worth every effort to get her to adulthood and besides being mother/daughter we are also lifelong friends.
 

Roh_Chris

Senior Member
Jun 15, 2014
4,728
58
48
#23
For me, I am very focused on my career. However, God has given me the ability to switch OFF after I leave work. The moment I am home, I rarely think about work. I prefer a spouse who can play different roles throughout the day. But the big question is kids. While I would like to have kids, I think it will be a a question of when and how. Anyway, marriage is a far away question for me. I am only 26 and I have the next few years of my life to settle down in my career. I will think of this question when I meet the one who would be my spouse. :D

On another note, I think my boss "has it all". She should be in her late-30s, has 3 daughters, is the global director of marketing and from what she has told me, has a successful work-life balance. Heck, she is even part of a choir and plays the clarinet. And the best thing is that she is the hardest worker of the entire team! So, I think it is possible to be a woman and have it all. You just need to know your priorities, have the right job and meet the right other-half. :)
 
A

AHealingPen

Guest
#24
I think that the issue here is not "Can you have it all?" its more important to know when you do have in your life the things that are truly valuable and priceless - meaning you they cannot be replace in this world by man.

Such as your your health, family, mind and consciousness, wisdom, understanding, laughter, patience, gift of listening, and some. People today, have forgotten, or may have never been told that the things in this life that are "pricesless" are the things that are our blessings and should therefore be considered "having it all" as if these things were taken from you - your life - your heart - would be as though someone reached in and took a part of your heart and breath away - never to be replaced again. You would live in despair.
 

Jimbone

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2014
2,737
838
113
44
#25
If you have Christ you already have it all. I feel getting too caught up and focused on worldly things is a not good idea, for me personally. All this "career stuff" and worrying about what the world tells us is success, doesn't really line up with what the bible says being a Christian is. Don't get me wrong we do live in this world and have to survive, and can be saved once we already have all this stuff, but if you are being lead by the Holy Spirit you can't go wrong. This is just how the Spirit leads me to personally look at the situation. I understand God uses us for all kinds of things and what He leads me to do may not be the exact thing He leads someone else to do, but following Him and not our own selfish ambitions first are two very different things. "Having it all" to any Christian should mean having Jesus though, God first and foremost.
 
Last edited:

JimJimmers

Senior Member
Apr 26, 2012
2,589
74
48
#26
I was thinking of this subject two or three days ago, as it relates to the third world vs. the first world.

I was thinking of the tea pickers, who own their fields and sell their tea as they see fit, but labor long days at high altitudes, doing repetitive work. I believe women solely own and operate the tea field I saw, but I'm not positive about that. When I saw some of the women with babies tied to their waists, it seemed great to me in a way. She brings her newborn to the fields for her friends to admire, and she gets to be with him or her while she works. Even though few Western women would trade their life for that of a tea picker, there was something pure and awesome about it. No nursery school, hurried milk pumping in a restroom, etc.

Also, the women looked great. Fit, happy and content.

I'm not sure this totally relates to the thread, but that's my two cents.
 
Sep 6, 2013
4,430
117
63
#27
Grace, I want to disagree here a bit.

I don't think parenthood ends when a child turns 18 or an adult. I think parenthood is for life. You can't ever stop being a mom :) ( :p Realizing that with my own mother haha)
Yes, I agree that children need "raising" much past the age of 18! But they don't really need the constant care that young children do. They would by then be busy with their own schooling, work and goals, leaving parents with some time to devote to a career.

I do agree with you that it might be hard to jump back on the career wagon after having taken 18 years off.

However, that just makes me feel that we can't really have it all - the glamorous high flying, travel jet setting job and the comfortable and happy children. It's too exhausting. It's too tough. Somewhere down the road , choices have to be made.
Yep, I don't think time-consuming careers and devotion to raising comfortable happy children really mix well. If the schedule is flexible and the parents really really energetic and determined, it can definitely happen of course.

Well you can have both, but you have to pay for it... you'd have to find a nanny who would raise your kids the way you would raise them. That ain't cheap. Or easy to find.
But if your children were raised by nannies and rarely saw their parents, are they really "comfortable happy children"?
 

Rachel20

Senior Member
May 7, 2013
1,639
105
63
#28
I was thinking of this subject two or three days ago, as it relates to the third world vs. the first world.

I was thinking of the tea pickers, who own their fields and sell their tea as they see fit, but labor long days at high altitudes, doing repetitive work. I believe women solely own and operate the tea field I saw, but I'm not positive about that. When I saw some of the women with babies tied to their waists, it seemed great to me in a way. She brings her newborn to the fields for her friends to admire, and she gets to be with him or her while she works. Even though few Western women would trade their life for that of a tea picker, there was something pure and awesome about it. No nursery school, hurried milk pumping in a restroom, etc.

Also, the women looked great. Fit, happy and content.

I'm not sure this totally relates to the thread, but that's my two cents.

Jimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....


The picture isn't that rosy.

Most of the tea plantations are owned by large landowners and corporations. Tea picking is a very delicate and strenuous task, it cannot be machinized. The reason why women are employed is because of the need of delicacy.

Also the women don't really get paid well. :(

Many of them end up on contracts and bonds , being paid peanuts. It's long working hours and no benefits :(
 

Rachel20

Senior Member
May 7, 2013
1,639
105
63
#29
I think that the issue here is not "Can you have it all?" its more important to know when you do have in your life the things that are truly valuable and priceless - meaning you they cannot be replace in this world by man.

Such as your your health, family, mind and consciousness, wisdom, understanding, laughter, patience, gift of listening, and some. People today, have forgotten, or may have never been told that the things in this life that are "pricesless" are the things that are our blessings and should therefore be considered "having it all" as if these things were taken from you - your life - your heart - would be as though someone reached in and took a part of your heart and breath away - never to be replaced again. You would live in despair.
If you have Christ you already have it all. I feel getting too caught up and focused on worldly things is a not good idea, for me personally. All this "career stuff" and worrying about what the world tells us is success, doesn't really line up with what the bible says being a Christian is. Don't get me wrong we do live in this world and have to survive, and can be saved once we already have all this stuff, but if you are being lead by the Holy Spirit you can't go wrong. This is just how the Spirit leads me to personally look at the situation. I understand God uses us for all kinds of things and what He leads me to do may not be the exact thing He leads someone else to do, but following Him and not our own selfish ambitions first are two very different things. "Having it all" to any Christian should mean having Jesus though, God first and foremost.


Love this :)
 

Rachel20

Senior Member
May 7, 2013
1,639
105
63
#30
In fact, loved reading about your posts and experiences too.

Roh_Chris, Abster, JesusLives , Grace, Jim
Thank you so much for sharing :)
 

JimJimmers

Senior Member
Apr 26, 2012
2,589
74
48
#31
Jimmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....


The picture isn't that rosy.

Most of the tea plantations are owned by large landowners and corporations. Tea picking is a very delicate and strenuous task, it cannot be machinized. The reason why women are employed is because of the need of delicacy.

Also the women don't really get paid well. :(

Many of them end up on contracts and bonds , being paid peanuts. It's long working hours and no benefits :(

Oh, I didn't mean to suggest that tea pickers were not taken advantage of. It was this one field that was highlighted, that the women were in control of as a co-op. I have no doubt you are correct about corporate-owned fields.
 
S

sassylady

Guest
#32
Ideally women should stay home; huge sacrifices are made when a woman works and is also a mother. Not worth it but unfortunately it happens way more than most women/couples want. Women will always try to make it work somehow even if it means they do without themselves somewhere along the way.
 

Desdichado

Senior Member
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
838
113
#33
One can only have the best of both worlds if they see to make compromises between the two of them. Compromises needn't be concurrent.

The answer to the proposition "you can have it all!" is invariably "no" except for the rarest of circumstances.
 

Rachel20

Senior Member
May 7, 2013
1,639
105
63
#34
Found this interesting news, Mohammed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO Investment, one of the world's biggest bond business, quit his $100 million dollar job after his daughter wrote him a note showing him all the important events he had missed in her life.

:)



Excerpts from the news article :-

As the head of a $2 trillion global investment fund, Mohamed El-Erian had scaled the heights of the financial world and, in the process, garnered a reputation as a world-renowned economic thinker.
But it was a simple conversation with his 10-year-old daughter about brushing her teeth that prompted him to quit his coveted post.

Mr El-Erian, 56, sent shockwaves through the financial world when he announced his resignation as chief executive of global investment firm Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) in January.
He has since revealed the reason behind his decision: a handwritten note from his young daughter outlining 22 milestones in her life he had missed that year due to his gruelling work schedule.

Mr El-Erain said the list was a "wake-up call" which called into question his priorities as a father. Among the momentous occasions he had missed were her first day at school, her first soccer match, parent-teacher meetings and a Halloween parade.

His daughter handed him the list when he asked her why she had not brushed her teeth despite him asking her to do so multiple times.

"I reminded her that it was not so long ago that she would have immediately responded ... she would have known from my tone of voice that I was serious," Mr El-Erian wrote in an essay for Worth.

Although Mr El-Erian was quitting a job that reportedly netted him $100 million a year, he noted his reasons would resonate with all working parents.

Work-life imbalance, he wrote, is "one of our greatest challenges" and "particularly tough on the more vulnerable members of our population, including single parents and lower-income families".

His own work-life balance "had gotten way out of whack, and the imbalance was hurting my very special relationship with my daughter. I was not making nearly enough time for her."

At the height of his career, Mr El-Erian kept a punishing schedule where he would sleep from 9pm to 1am, then work on his op-ed columns for several hours, get to the office at 4.30am to work on the trading floor before taking up management duties at 9am.

Since resigning the post, Mr El-Erian has been making up for lost time. He now takes it in turns with his wife to drive his daughter to school and says they are planning a father-daughter holiday together.


Read more: Mohamed El-Erian: the man who quit his $100 million job to spend more time with his daughter



 

Lynx

Folksy yet erudite
Aug 13, 2014
25,042
8,234
113
#35
Well if he already has enough money to sustain him and his, I guess he can do that if he wants.
 

Jimbone

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2014
2,737
838
113
44
#36
Found this interesting news, Mohammed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO Investment, one of the world's biggest bond business, quit his $100 million dollar job after his daughter wrote him a note showing him all the important events he had missed in her life.

:)



Excerpts from the news article :-

As the head of a $2 trillion global investment fund, Mohamed El-Erian had scaled the heights of the financial world and, in the process, garnered a reputation as a world-renowned economic thinker.
But it was a simple conversation with his 10-year-old daughter about brushing her teeth that prompted him to quit his coveted post.

Mr El-Erian, 56, sent shockwaves through the financial world when he announced his resignation as chief executive of global investment firm Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) in January.
He has since revealed the reason behind his decision: a handwritten note from his young daughter outlining 22 milestones in her life he had missed that year due to his gruelling work schedule.

Mr El-Erain said the list was a "wake-up call" which called into question his priorities as a father. Among the momentous occasions he had missed were her first day at school, her first soccer match, parent-teacher meetings and a Halloween parade.

His daughter handed him the list when he asked her why she had not brushed her teeth despite him asking her to do so multiple times.

"I reminded her that it was not so long ago that she would have immediately responded ... she would have known from my tone of voice that I was serious," Mr El-Erian wrote in an essay for Worth.

Although Mr El-Erian was quitting a job that reportedly netted him $100 million a year, he noted his reasons would resonate with all working parents.

Work-life imbalance, he wrote, is "one of our greatest challenges" and "particularly tough on the more vulnerable members of our population, including single parents and lower-income families".

His own work-life balance "had gotten way out of whack, and the imbalance was hurting my very special relationship with my daughter. I was not making nearly enough time for her."

At the height of his career, Mr El-Erian kept a punishing schedule where he would sleep from 9pm to 1am, then work on his op-ed columns for several hours, get to the office at 4.30am to work on the trading floor before taking up management duties at 9am.

Since resigning the post, Mr El-Erian has been making up for lost time. He now takes it in turns with his wife to drive his daughter to school and says they are planning a father-daughter holiday together.


Read more: Mohamed El-Erian: the man who quit his $100 million job to spend more time with his daughter




It sounds to me like this guy just realized what is truly important in this world. I can relate even with my 27k a year job. Very cool story, thanks for sharing it.
 

Roh_Chris

Senior Member
Jun 15, 2014
4,728
58
48
#37
I think he has earned enough money to last for him and his daughter. So he can sit back and retire happily in his private yacht. That's just the top 5% of the outliers. The rest of us may not have this privilege. I hope I can earn enough to retire early but I don't know if that will happen.
 
Aug 2, 2009
24,581
4,269
113
#38
Found this interesting news, Mohammed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO Investment, one of the world's biggest bond business, quit his $100 million dollar job after his daughter wrote him a note showing him all the important events he had missed in her life.

:)



Excerpts from the news article :-

As the head of a $2 trillion global investment fund, Mohamed El-Erian had scaled the heights of the financial world and, in the process, garnered a reputation as a world-renowned economic thinker.
But it was a simple conversation with his 10-year-old daughter about brushing her teeth that prompted him to quit his coveted post.

Mr El-Erian, 56, sent shockwaves through the financial world when he announced his resignation as chief executive of global investment firm Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) in January.
He has since revealed the reason behind his decision: a handwritten note from his young daughter outlining 22 milestones in her life he had missed that year due to his gruelling work schedule.

Mr El-Erain said the list was a "wake-up call" which called into question his priorities as a father. Among the momentous occasions he had missed were her first day at school, her first soccer match, parent-teacher meetings and a Halloween parade.

His daughter handed him the list when he asked her why she had not brushed her teeth despite him asking her to do so multiple times.

"I reminded her that it was not so long ago that she would have immediately responded ... she would have known from my tone of voice that I was serious," Mr El-Erian wrote in an essay for Worth.

Although Mr El-Erian was quitting a job that reportedly netted him $100 million a year, he noted his reasons would resonate with all working parents.

Work-life imbalance, he wrote, is "one of our greatest challenges" and "particularly tough on the more vulnerable members of our population, including single parents and lower-income families".

His own work-life balance "had gotten way out of whack, and the imbalance was hurting my very special relationship with my daughter. I was not making nearly enough time for her."

At the height of his career, Mr El-Erian kept a punishing schedule where he would sleep from 9pm to 1am, then work on his op-ed columns for several hours, get to the office at 4.30am to work on the trading floor before taking up management duties at 9am.

Since resigning the post, Mr El-Erian has been making up for lost time. He now takes it in turns with his wife to drive his daughter to school and says they are planning a father-daughter holiday together.


Read more: Mohamed El-Erian: the man who quit his $100 million job to spend more time with his daughter



She won't be complaining when her trust fund becomes available.. :rolleyes: Ca-ching!

On a side note, I've actually met this man in person years ago when the company I worked for did some work in their office. He seemed like a nice guy. My boss had met Bill Gross on several occassions too (the CEO of PIMCO - actually he just quit last week too after running it for 30 years, he now heads the JANUS fund)
 

Addison

Senior Member
Jun 28, 2014
1,028
46
0
54
#40
What it's like to be Dan in this thread. :D