Work is a good thing and it can be a great thing if it is something you love, but don't let it be the number one thing. There is so much more that is of value, gives joy and brings you deep satisfaction. Besides you can always go back to work another day if you want to!
While it is true that your work can make it possible for you to find the money and the opportunities to be with your family or your partner or those who mean so much to you, it is not the same thing. Work in and of its own is simply a way for you to spend your time, raising invoices perhaps if you are self-employed, or pulling down a salary each month or a paycheck. There are obviously rewards and fees to be had from your work, but at what blend of results versus family or emotional losses?
Don't make your private life come second to a cold desk or a hard nosed diskdrive or that damned "meeting" or whatever other name the excuse takes. There is no need to avoid the important long-term values in your life for something that this time next month you will not be able to remember or even put a name to.
Get your priorities right and ensure that work is not at the top of them. You will always have a chance to catch up on your work. For years I mistakenly thought that if I did not get a piece of work done and emailed out, or a property sold on a certain day, that my day would have been wasted or my life less worthwhile. How wrong I was, but it took me several critical problems in my own life to see how unrealistic I was being.
You can never catch up on a missed birthday, a wedding that you must make excuses for not attending, a graduation that you cannot get to, or an anniversary that you forgot because you have been so distracted.
Where work is a true passion and an outlet for your spirit and your emotion then ignore some of what I have just said before! If the emotional pull of what you have designed your working life around, whether it is art or science or people or music scarcely matters, is creating such mental and emotional satisfaction for you then I know you have to follow it. But what does count though, is that you can apply yourself to the passion of your work with results that can be measured and not just as time spent without result. It is a difficult balancing act between work that is a passion and relationships that also mean the world to you, but you will be able to do it given the right support and encouragement.
First get a hold of your own priorities in terms of work and expression and then get them right. Identify what these priorities are and determine to protect them.