Hi, folks, Kristen here. Few quick words on how much I hate the phrase “work/life balance”. It’s so overused that it really means nothing anymore, and it’s kinda trite. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’m here to talk about how work-life balance is not a myth.
why i hate the phrase “work-life balance”
Now, I don’t hate the concept, but I do hate how it’s often presented.
Work/life balance is incredibly important, and achievable, but we need to be honest about a few things. The way it’s currently talked about amongst wellness folks is a problem because:
- It assumes you work a 9-5 job in an office and that you can leave work for only during that time
- It assumes that you don’t have any labor to do at home
- It assumes that you aren’t trying to do that already
- It assumes that if you arrange your schedules just right, and calibrate everything perfectly, you’ll never have to worry about burnout again.
*loud incorrect buzzer noise*
what actually is balance?
Balance is not something you can set and forget. We don’t have extra-hold hairspray for our balance. Instead, it’s a controlled wobble; an active engagement in all of the areas of your life to keep them prioritized or relaxed according to the needs at the moment.
Because the thing is that nearly all of us have labor at home. I don’t have kids, but I have laundry and yard work and errands and to me all of those are work. Nights and weekends have some life (reading, sports, video games, crocheting), but they also have work. So how could a time-based division of work and life help me?
Most of us are also trying to do something like this already and we’re exhausted as to why it’s not happening. It’s not happening because no one has given us permission to admit that it’s not a permanent achievement, it’s a fluid state of being.
It’s not a myth, I swear. It is when you think about it as divided time to achieve something permanently. If you shift to thinking about your life as a system of interconnected parts that all ebb and flow, you can focus your wobble differently as needed. Change your position, recalibrate, breathe, change again. The longer you get used to the wobble, the easier it is.
Think I’m nuts? Think it makes sense? Do you agree that work-life balance is not a myth. Sound off below!
