Work Life Balance Tips
Posted by
patrick
Ever feel like something is off? Finding life balance is the key to living well. Many people feel that they are really triumphing in one area of life, while another is falling apart. Others feel like they have it all, but still do not feel truly happy.
You probably feel like you are juggling a dozen balls, with your job, kids, spouse, health, etc. It feels as if at any moment you will start to drop some of these balls. While our society emphasizes success in some areas, it neglects many others. Your identity can become the work you do. What good is it to be financially successful if you still feel unhappy. You may find yourself turning to medication, therapy, and rehab to simply survive in this world.
Work life balance tends to be the most obvious area in need of improvement. The work you do requires a huge chunk of your time and energy. It can feel like it really takes over your whole life. You cannot allow it to keep you from attending to other critical areas of your life. Work really only provides two things:
--Money to fund the life you really want (live well, be with your family, vacation, etc.),
--It can provide a sense of purpose, especially if you are doing something you feel makes an impact.
It is important to keep your work life in its place. Your work is not really your life...unless you're a nun. Many people fall into the trap of working hard and putting off living the good life until they have achieved enough or acquired enough money. The trap is: there is never enough.
The time to start living is now, in this very moment. Being present in the moment requires a high level of self awareness. Our culture is not good at this on a whole. You eat, drink, shop, work, etc. all to really avoid anything remotely close to introspection. You don't want to look in there--it is really dark and scary.
But being aware of your inner needs is critical to developing life balance. You must begin to use your internal compass to tell you when to play barbies with your child, take a nap, or pay attention to your spouse. It is easy for you to stay disconnected--isolation and independence are pillars of our society. Connecting requires a certain amount of vulnerability and openness. But bonding with others is a fundamental key to happiness.
The connection with yourself may be the most important of all. You are probably very disconnected to yourself even if most of the time you are alone. It is common for you to want to do one thing, but have your brain telling you that you 'should' do something more productive. If you don't do what you 'should' do, you will find yourself miserable with guilt.
When you take away all of the 'shoulds', you begin to see how effective your internal compass really is. You have to stop 'shoulding' all over yourself if you hope to ever really find work life balance.
You probably feel like you are juggling a dozen balls, with your job, kids, spouse, health, etc. It feels as if at any moment you will start to drop some of these balls. While our society emphasizes success in some areas, it neglects many others. Your identity can become the work you do. What good is it to be financially successful if you still feel unhappy. You may find yourself turning to medication, therapy, and rehab to simply survive in this world.
Work life balance tends to be the most obvious area in need of improvement. The work you do requires a huge chunk of your time and energy. It can feel like it really takes over your whole life. You cannot allow it to keep you from attending to other critical areas of your life. Work really only provides two things:
--Money to fund the life you really want (live well, be with your family, vacation, etc.),
--It can provide a sense of purpose, especially if you are doing something you feel makes an impact.
It is important to keep your work life in its place. Your work is not really your life...unless you're a nun. Many people fall into the trap of working hard and putting off living the good life until they have achieved enough or acquired enough money. The trap is: there is never enough.
The time to start living is now, in this very moment. Being present in the moment requires a high level of self awareness. Our culture is not good at this on a whole. You eat, drink, shop, work, etc. all to really avoid anything remotely close to introspection. You don't want to look in there--it is really dark and scary.
But being aware of your inner needs is critical to developing life balance. You must begin to use your internal compass to tell you when to play barbies with your child, take a nap, or pay attention to your spouse. It is easy for you to stay disconnected--isolation and independence are pillars of our society. Connecting requires a certain amount of vulnerability and openness. But bonding with others is a fundamental key to happiness.
The connection with yourself may be the most important of all. You are probably very disconnected to yourself even if most of the time you are alone. It is common for you to want to do one thing, but have your brain telling you that you 'should' do something more productive. If you don't do what you 'should' do, you will find yourself miserable with guilt.
When you take away all of the 'shoulds', you begin to see how effective your internal compass really is. You have to stop 'shoulding' all over yourself if you hope to ever really find work life balance.
About the Author:
Jennifer Pereira, RD, LD, CSCS is in private practice in Texas, where she focuses on helping clients create a healthy lifestyle. Additional resources are available on her site to create your own personal development plan.
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