A lot of people have been asking me whether I'm stressed lately.
Er. I really have no idea how to answer.
On one hand I have huge pile of assignment work to do. On the other hand I love my work, it's artsy/tedious not difficult/memorise type of work. The former I sit there staring at the blank paper trying to imagine in 3D, the latter the words stare at me trying to embed into my photographic memory. So really my work doesn't fit the normal definition of work.

People here have a strong sense of work/life balance. To them, they must schedule in time for play. But there's a downside in that way of thinking. To see the play as positive and the work as negative, it us them dislike work even more. Sure a balanced life may seem good, but when its off balance (as it so often happens) then we feel unsatisfied/unhappy/unstable.

I remember feeling strongly about having a balance between work/life four years ago. Then this alumni came to speak in JC about how the work/life balance is not for us, that we could push the boundaries and push ourselves more. I thought that sacrilege to my philosophies then.

But now I wholeheartedly agree with him. There is no mutually exclusive division between work and life. Life is life. Life consists of work, play, cook, eat, sleep. I'll do what I have to do and I'll want to do it well. It doesn't matter whether I like it or not, usually emotions give way to practicality. I could do 'work' the whole day and not get 'out-of-balance'. I could also go out and play the whole day and enjoy it. As long as I do what I have to do when I have to do it.

For now, its my heavy work period. I have this guilt when I don't do what I'm supposed to do. I'm not stressed, stress happens when I put in effort and don't perform. Stress happens when I can't seem to get it right. Stress happens when I don't and can't seem to understand.

This isn't stress, this is just life. =)