“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
—Dolly Parton
The moment you begin to view both your work and your personal life as important domains of your wellbeing, your everyday choices regarding your routine begin to flow towards the one goal that is to engage in responsible, conscious and healthy living.
The notion of work-life balance, although very subjective to each individual, contends that to create a lifestyle where personal life gets as much attention as work does is to create a more sustainable, rewarding and fulfilling life.
The idea behind this concept of balance flows from the fact that us human beings have limited energy reserves, and they must be replenished everyday (through sleeping, eating, working out, engaging in relational activities with friends and family, in hobbies, and in doing meaningful work). So, it automatically becomes essential to mind where these resources are being spent and how they are being recharged.
Just like some individuals require more hours of sleep than others to feel invigorated, the degree of work-life balance differs from individual to individual. In simple terms, work-life balance is the degree to which an individual is involved in and is fulfilled with their work and personal life. It is the extent to which they are able to meaningfully engage with and balance their work-related and family-oriented or other social roles.
And for each individual, it is a highly personal degree. But the only way to determine whether this balance is being maintained has to do with one’s individual orientation towards well-being. While there is more to life than just one’s work, it is important to understand that one’s work is an integral part of one’s life. Both aspects, work and personal life, impact each other and fulfillment achieved in one aspect positively enhances the other.
It has been recognized that a feeling of balance has more to do with a sense of control and mastery instead of clear cut boundaries regarding working-hours and the amount of time spent with one’s family or with oneself. It is, thus, perception oriented.
A relatively universal way of measuring and assessing your level of work-life balance would be:
- Sleeping and eating well, along with other basic activities of daily living.
- Being able to meet work-related deadlines and still having time for activities centering your personal life.
- Not worrying about work-related issues when you get back home and being able to focus on tasks without work-stress.
So, ultimately, it has to do with staying in alignment with your self-care and well-being without experiencing prolonged distress due to work or personal life.
Here are some tips on how to maintain work-life balance:
- Practice assertiveness and set boundaries, in both personal and professional life. Learning to say no or postponing activities and events when they exceed your psychological and physical resources is always a good idea. Staying flexible while doing so is also beneficial but only when your wellness is not being harmed.
- Assess your emotional health by noticing how you feel, understanding why you feel a certain way and then making choices that cater to your emotional health. Regularly checking in with yourself will not only let you get to know yourself better but also how you respond to daily demands and expectations.
- Engage in mindful activities that help with stress management like working out, listening to music, journaling, gardening, cooking, painting, talking to a friend, etc.
- Organize your schedule for efficient time management by creating realistic goals for yourself. Try to stay consistent and flexible at the same time, depending upon the situation because not everything can be planned. Nevertheless, having a time table helps.
- Analyze your priorities and see how you are engaging with them– in terms of quantity and quality of time spent on them. Ask yourself if choosing your work over your family for a long time is having a detrimental impact on your mental health and that of your family’s, for instance. If yes, ask yourself what you are willing to compromise in order to build upon other areas.
In a nutshell, work-life balance is not a permanent state that once achieved will not need to be worked upon. It is a cycle of constant, flexible and responsible choices that you need to make from day to day in order to live on your own terms– without neglecting the areas of your life that make it worth living.
Always remember to analyze situations and evaluate your emotional responses to them from multiple angles. Taking a moment to pause and reflect is sometimes all it takes to gain a higher perspective over your life. It is perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed by or detached from your reality at times– but what matters is which actions you take to realign yourself with it.
All the answers you seek are within you. 🍀
“Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
—Carl Sandburg, Poet
