It must be love

A few weeks ago in a moment of madness / clarity I applied for a non law related job. I had become frustrated with what I was doing and the hustle and bustle of busy city life. I was tired of working all day and then coming home to work some more. I was fed up of there always being something to do and never being able to switch off. I was envious of my non law friends who worked Monday to Friday 9 - 5 and for most of them when they left the office they did not need to think about work again until 9am the next morning. Evenings, weekends and even their dinner hours are free for them to do whatever the hell they like.
Some of them had the luxury of work being a ten minute walk from their luxurious and reasonably priced houses. They never miss a family event or a friend's wedding because they have a job where holidays do not need to be booked 4 years in advance with the prospect of a last minute cancellation because something in work has cropped up.
Admittedly the work may not be exciting and it may be a hamster wheel of boredom and routine and let's be honest, these people rarely do the job that they always wanted to do. It tends to be the case that they have a job that they ended up doing and some believe desperately that one day they will still do the job they always wanted to do.
Luckily or unluckily I did not get the job. A kind of Sliding Doors moment. I was told during the feedback that they did not believe my heart was in it. They were, without a shadow of a doubt, correct.
As perhaps, as important it is to achieve a work life balance I think there can be nothing more destructive than working at a job that you are not passionate about. To go to bed dreading the next day, living for the days off from work and counting down to retirement is no way to exist.
Perhaps the answer is to work smarter and try to manage my time to ensure something resembling an adequate work life balance. We'll see how it goes.