Finding the Balance

We live in a culture where the company we work for constantly demands more from us, at the expense of our own well-being and time spend with our families. We are also at a cross-section in our society where we need to find the balance.

While many companies are telling their employees to “get back to the office”, many employees are saying “no” and coming up with any excuse they can to not come back into the office. Why is that?

It makes sense that companies want their employees back, because that is how they were successful before. They know how to create whatever product at high rates and make a profit with that model. However, many in our society have learned, during this time, that they need to spend more time with their family, exercise to build a strong healthy body, take time to relax and slow down the mind, and cook a fresh warm meal instead of eating out all the time. No one wants to go back to the pre-COVID world of long hours at work to come home without sufficient energy to hold a conversation with your loved ones, do a workout, have a healthy meal, etc. There needs to be a true “work-life” balance. How do we get there?

1

We need to actively and intentionally realize what we value outside of work.

Is it your new garden? Playing with your puppy dog? Helping your children with their homework or a new sports skill? Is it cooking a healthy meal for yourself and loved ones? Is it taking a walk in the middle of the day to enjoy the sunshine and move around?

Whatever it is, write it down somewhere you can see it easily.

2

Be vocal about what you need.

You need to communicate to your work what you value outside of work, just as much as you need to communicate to your loved ones outside of work what you value about work. Letting both sides of your life know what you value will help you create real boundaries that they can respect.

Visualize how you might tell your loved ones or people at work what you value.

3

Set and keep your boundaries.

Did your boss ask if you could stay late, again, to work on an important project? Do you feel like you can’t say “no” because it is important to the company and you want to look good in your boss’s eyes? Ask yourself, what do I value more? Is it time at work? Or time spent wherever you had planned to spend it?

Or did your significant other stop by at work, again for the third time this week? Is it making it difficult for you to actually get your work done, while at work?

There will be times where it is ok to say “yes” to staying late, especially if it is already planned, or to having your significant other stop by work. However, if you become the one who always picks up the slack whether it is closing, opening, staying late to help with a difficult client, allowing your private life to constantly visit your work life and interrupting your work, then you are disrespecting your value of self-care and the work-life balance. Allowing either side to encroach on the boundaries that you set is going to allow for the continuation of an unbalance between work and life.

4

Reassess and reflect

Values can change. Boundaries can change. How you achieve happiness can change. Reassess if you are upholding the ways in which you value and create happiness for yourself. If you find that you are doing things outside of what brings you joy, peace, happiness, and value, then you need to start looking at the stepping stones you can take to get back to the balance.

Each of our ideas and needs will be different. Our balance will all be different and unique to us, like the rock formations in the top picture. They can all exist at the same time, moving and changing as we need them too, without all of the rocks falling like dominos. However, we do all, individually, need to start.

Let’s start finding, creating, and maintaining a true balance between work and life.