I have been reading personal finance blogs for a while. I love the breadth of subjects: frugality, meal planning, travel hacking planning, geeky number posts comparing traditional and Roth IRAs.
One of my issues is that they all, every one of them (it seems), glorifies the side hustle.
You know, the other job, the one you do after your regular one is done. It doesn’t pay as much, yet, but helps you diversify your income sources.
Even doctors are supposed to have a side hustle, I hear.
As I’ve been blogging over the last year or so, I realize that one of my money’s most important functions is allowing me to buy back some of my time. Cutting my hours by 10% has made my life so much better, and has left me time to pursue activities that fill my heart rather than my wallet.
I realize that I am in a place very different from a newly minted attending: no student loans, no mortgage, some money in my retirement accounts. Before I got to this point, I too needed to think about maximizing my income–for me, I just decided to work harder at my day job.
Still, I think it is important for people (and doctors) to spend some of their time concentrating on themselves. By this I mean doing things that make them happy/fulfilled/refreshed.
I have been happy to find articles by other writers advocating limits on our pursuit of money.
Last month Laurie at The Three Year Experiment wrote a lovely piece on the real cost of hustling. She goes through reasons why we might have a second job (or side-gig, or hustle), but this is the part that speaks to me the most at my current stage of life.
We cannot ignore the cost of adding on more work. We pay for it physically, with a lack of energy after working more. We pay for it mentally, with a decreased bandwidth. We pay for it emotionally, with a higher stress level, and lower levels of well-being and relationship satisfaction.
Laurie at The Three Year Experiment
Those costs sure sound like burnout to me.
I first read this post a year or so ago. It seems to make the rounds periodically, but the message is worth repeating. Life is not all about money. Joy–unfettered by dollar signs–should have a place in your life. Here is to Avoiding the Modern Trap of Turning Hobbies into Hustles.
More recently, Bob at Tawcan made a similar argument, asking us to stop monetizing everything you do. For all that he writes a lot about money, he seems to have a good handle on having fun without putting a (Canadian) dollar on it. And advocates for us to do the same.
If this is all new to you, you might be wondering how to make a change. For you, I would recommend this article on How to have a true hobby.
And with that, I’m off to lounge on my sofa, to re-read one of my favorite books.
How about you? Do you live to work? Or are you able to step back and enjoy a pursuit just for the joy of it?