Enjoyment as a Junior Banker

I know that this gets discussed a lot, but I am a few weeks into my SA stint and am beginning to wonder if the average junior in IB is having any enjoyment in life. I don't want to sound coddled; I understand that such a high paying job comes at a cost of work/life balance and still plan to continue in IB and pay into the system. 

I am not working these long hours as a SA (relatively), but I always see the junior bankers at my firm logged in until like 3-4AM and back online around 9AM. In an intern AMA, when one of our analysts was asked about his hobbies, he half-joked, "Finance is my hobby. I don't have any time to dedicate to anything else." 

My question, although somewhat vague, is this: where is the average junior banker getting enjoyment in life (if any)? Just the pay and career ops. (not that I think that is necessarily a bad thing)? Is it possible to have any meaningful hobbies as a junior banker, or do you find your outside-work enjoyment being derived from going out for a few hours with friends on a Friday night or whatever can be squeezed into non-working Saturday hours? Even some simple hobbies like working out or going to restaurants seem seriously limited by the work. What non-professional things do you enjoy that are compatible with the lifestyle of a junior banker? 

Sorry if this post is annoying or repetitive. I guess I just want to realistically ground my expectations about what seems my likely career path next year. 

1 Comments
 

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