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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What makes it great for me is that it gives me just the right balance between my work-self and my home-self.  I am domestic by nature - I love the domestic arts such as sewing, knitting, cooking, housecleaning, decorating, etc. - and working part-time enables me to satisfy domesticity-cravings.  When I worked full-time, I always felt frustrated in that regard.  The other thing I love about working part-time is that my kids, ages 15 and 12, are at ages where they'll talk when it suits them, and not when it doesn't, and it generally suits them to talk right when they get home from school.  In the evenings, they tend to have moved past or forgotten whatever went on during the day, and they clam up.  My 15yo in particular is a very anxious kid, prone to social anxiety, and I am glad that I can be here for him when he needs to talk.

RE my schedule, I am a lawyer and work about 25-30 hours a week, spread over three days.  (Two days, I don't work at all.)  I am flexible about start and stop-times, and occasionally work in the evening or on an off-day during a crisis, but by and large my off-days are sacred.

I don't worry much about saving for retirement because DH and I both max out our contributions and we are on track to retiring at a reasonable age.  Ditto re: college savings.  Our financial planner tells us that if I never make more than I currently do, we will be fine.

Because we save so much in 401ks and 529s, our take-home pay isn't great, and we do live pretty frugally.  It doesn't bother me at all to live this way, however, because doing all those things to save money (cooking, freezing, thrifting) are part of the domestic arts I love so much.  :-)

Bottom-line, working part-time makes me feel human and whole in ways that I never felt when I worked full-time.  I may never work full-time again.[/quote]

This perfectly describes me.  I have so many interests and need outlets for creative expression, learning other new things , etc. that don't necessarily fit into what I do professionally. I felt so stifled after years of only having time to do my professional job.  I was overcompensating in unhealthful ways:  eating too much, drinking too much, not taking care of myself, battlign depression, anxiety, and mood swings.  By freeing up extra hours in my day when I do not have to be at my professional job, I am able to be a fuller, more realized person.  I always felt like I was squeezing myself into a tiny little box by forcing myself to only do one thing, my job, for almost all of my waking hours.  I had to go to therapy to realize that it was ok to NOT do it, even if I did it well.  My therapist gave me an expression to remember whenever I feel myself sliding back, which is:  "Just b/c you CAN do it, doens't mean you HAVE to do it."  My DH and I worked hard to get all our ducks in a row financially and I feel I am more the person I am supposed to be, now that I work half-days.  It is like sunlight has entered my life for the first time in about. . almost 18 years, when I started in the workfore.  Like I have room to breathe once more.  [/quote]

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