Another awesome year begins

As the year slowly gets off to speed, some things are still at full speed, like work. Usually the start of the year, I've found from previous jobs are slower times of the year, work wise. And then, they give you time to sort of unravel and plan for the future, to finalize and lay the plans for those New Year resolutions. I mean, you may have said them to yourself on the 31st or the 1st (if you were sober enough) but it would need a plan to materialize, take form. But how can it when work just gets into full steam, like hit the ground running and act like the Christmas escapism never happened.

That's the thing about this job, there is hardly a dull moment. Even when I was in litigation, there were slow moments, but this one. I've been in it for 2 years now and usually I always have these other life plans that I work on while I work, but this one, I just haven't. The most I've done is plan vacations, hence taking a break from the job, of which when I come back, it's like the vacation never even happened. I spent all that money and I am tenser than before I even left. I would like to plan, forge a way forward, have side projects like - Anita is working on her book, or Anita is taking writing classes, or Anita is taking karate classes. How can I? I come home exhausted. I use my stay at home day to clean my house because the weekend was already chockful of chores.  My day is just filled that I am mentally exhausted, all I want to do is sit indoors and act like I didn't just spend the last 8 hours being insulted or just working my butt off for some ingrates. And I would gain some type of satisfaction or respite from this if I had some other side task to keep me occupied, but how can you? It's been like this for 2 years now. As this year started I said I wouldn't do this to myself anymore...I would lay some plans down and follow through but then today at work was so busy, that even though I was at home I couldn't spare a second to harbor some stray thought.

Who lives like this, and how, have they been able to achieve some type of work/life balance?