subject: Combining One's Scientific Career with Family Life [print this page] Combining One's Scientific Career with Family Life
Life challenges of most young scientists Dreaming of making a contribution to scientific knowledge young scientists devote most their time to their researches. Laboratory experiments and further analysis of the received results may take a lot of time. There is no time left for a good night rest not to mention personal life and leisure. Thomas Edison and the entire his team slept about four hours per day. Still, they were really genius, ordinary people would do serious harm to their health depriving themselves of night rest. Young scientists may be thrown into a dilemma choosing between personal life and their starting career. Certainly, it is preferable to balance different sides of one's life. Still, it is easier said than done. The first reason for scientists' marginalization is their lack of time. If they constantly refuse their friends' offers, giving preference to their work, people would abandon attempts of establishing the contact. Another problem is that being concentrated on their researches young scientists might have limited interests and views. They might lose common ground with other people. Useful hints for balancing different sides of life Scientific career does not require sacrificing one's personal happiness. It is advisable to allot enough time to one's family and rest. Moral support of one's dear and near people could be much more beneficial than one's fool's errand in the laboratory. Certainly, the concept of fixed working hours is unclear to scientists. They may work late at night or on weekends- whenever they have got inspiration for it. Scientists are so easily carried away that these are other people who have to take care of their health. It might be difficult to be on the same wavelength with young scientists. Still, trying to build bridges to them, relatives need to be patient; to take care about their health; remind them that life should not be limited to one's laboratory experiments.
