I Had 6 Weeks Off Work… And Wasted All of It

A while after my marriage ended, I took six weeks off work. At the time, I thought the freedom would help me reset. I thought I would finally have time to think properly, work out what I wanted to do next and start moving towards the life I'd spent years imagining. Instead, I did almost nothing. I wasn't earning, I started drifting into debt and the weeks passed without me really moving forward. Later, I went back to working four 12-hour shifts a week. On paper, I had far less time. But somehow I started doing more. I was exercising again, taking cold showers, going for long walks through the forest, making videos for YouTube, writing scripts, spending time with my boys, seeing family and slowly beginning to build parts of the life I'd kept imagining. That contradiction became one of the most useful things I learned. It wasn't really about having more time. It was about what I was doing with the hours I already had. Around then I came across the 8-8-8 principle — eight hours of meaningful work, eight hours of rest and eight hours for everything else. My own life obviously didn't fit neatly into that. Four days of my week were already taken up by 12-hour shifts, and I wasn't interested in pretending I could force my life into three perfect blocks. What interested me was the principle underneath it. Which parts of my week were already spoken for? Which parts could I genuinely influence? And what was I choosing to put inside those hours? That connected back to the exercise from the previous video, where I wrote down 25 things I wanted to do and enjoy over the next three to five years. The list gave me direction. This gave those things somewhere to live. A Thursday morning could become time to work on a script before picking up my boys. A Friday could hold a few hours of writing or filming and still leave space to see family. An evening after a 12-hour shift could be for rest if I genuinely needed it — or it could contain exercise, a walk, dinner, writing or one of the other things I was trying to bring back into my life. The point wasn't to fill every hour. It was to stop allowing one part of life to swallow everything around it. For years I'd imagined how different I would be when the funding arrived, when I could leave truck driving, when I had more freedom and when my circumstances finally changed. But some of the life I wanted didn't need to wait for any of that. I didn't have enough time for everything. I had enough time to begin. Slàinte Mhath. INSIDE THIS VIDEO • Why I took six weeks off work and did almost nothing with it • How I started doing more while working 12-hour shifts • What heartbreak had to do with changing my routine • Why forest walks and exercise helped me get out of my head • How YouTube became part of rebuilding my life • The 8-8-8 principle and why I didn't follow it literally • Robert Owen, New Lanark and the idea of work-life balance • How that connected to the communities I want to build • The difference between paid work and meaningful work • Why my days off stopped being only recovery from my job • How the 25 Things exercise became part of my weekly life • Why waiting for more freedom kept me stuck • How small blocks of time became enough to start • Why rest, family and enjoyment still matter • What I really mean when I say: I have enough time to begin SUBSCRIBE Subscribe:    / @slaintemhath-atit   ──────────────────────── A Scottish channel about consciously designing your life through health, fitness, fatherhood, meaningful work, personal growth, daily structure and understanding what helps you become the person you want to be. 🔍 SEO KEYWORDS 12 hour shifts, working long hours, work life balance, 8 8 8 rule, 8 8 8 principle, how to manage your time, finding time, time management, productivity, working full time, changing your life, rebuilding your life, starting over at 40, personal growth, meaningful work, finding purpose, changing habits, building better habits, procrastination, stop procrastinating, life goals, 25 things exercise, daily routine, cold showers, forest walks, exercise motivation, healing journey, heartbreak, relationship breakdown, marriage breakdown, life after divorce, fatherhood, YouTube journey, writing a book, truck driver, Scotland, Scottish YouTuber, New Lanark, Robert Owen, work life balance UK, designing your life, Celine Resorts, John Wright