Here’s another inverse relationship: let X be your work-life balance in young adulthood, while Y represents the same balance later in your life. Here, too, the more you have of the one, the less you’ll have of the other, and vice-versa.
Why’s that? Well, if you want to achieve professional success and financial security, you’re going to have to outcompete the numerous other young adults also striving for it. Otherwise, they’ll leave you in the dust and you’ll probably never catch up.
But that means devoting more time and energy to your career than to other areas of your life, which will likely suffer as a result. The point isn’t that you have to sacrifice your young adulthood for the sake of your later years. It’s simply that you must recognize the trade-off to be made between the two – and it’s up to you to decide whether, and how much, you want to trade one for the other.
