by: Yvette Valdenegro
Work-life balance is a reoccurring trendy play on words we hear repeatedly. What does it mean? We know what work means: any activity involving mental or physical effort to achieve a purpose or result. In other words, any action toward your goals. These goals can be broad answers for everyone, but for the sake of our topic, let's stick to work as describing the work we set out to accomplish each day: work that provides a lifestyle, shelter, food, and essentials to live. The definition of life means your existence as a living being. As a living being, you grow, reproduce, do functional activities, continually change, and then encounter death. It seems such doom and gloom and depressively to the point. The progression through life will occur whether you want it or not. If you are alive, then life is happening. Others have tried to stop life or slow it down, but none have been successful. Since we know life will happen and we have accepted this to be accurate, the best option is to embrace it yet make choices to make it what we want.
Most of the job force community uses the term work-life balance when describing the time spent between work/career and our personal lives. We envision hours, numbers, calendars, and a clown (us) walking the tight rope of life, swaying back and forth, gripping on for dear life, balancing every move, hoping not to fall again and again. Trying to balance life & work can be stressful, continuous, and lead to health complications and resentment. For some reason, we train ourselves to equalize the work-life balance like this tight rope. We use all our strength not falling to one side or the other, doing all we can to stay precisely in the middle, wearing ourselves out—such a vicious cycle.
We think managing our time better, controlling time, and making time is the answer to all our problems revolving around work-life balance. Let me be bold and say that we don't have the 'godly' capacity to manage, control, or make time because time already exists. Time has occurred, is occurring, and will continue to occur whether we do anything about time. Interestingly, we try to control time when it already will exist and happen no matter how we try to change it. We choose what we do with our time; therefore, we have control over the outcome of our time used, but we will never control time's existence. We can organize our actions every minute of the day, but how do you determine how much time to spend on work vs. life? First, we would like to point out we prefer to say Life-Work Balance vs. Work-Life because life is YOU, the human soul living and existing, while work is something you have chosen to do within this life. Your life came before your work. Unfortunately, as adults, we lose sight of this and place work above all else. We place a higher value on work and the time spent on work. We understand the importance of work providing a lifestyle, shelter, food, and life essentials. We also know the hours in a day spent on our work will exceed the hours spent on so-called life, but you can't manage your life-work balance perfectly. The goal is to work toward a life-work balance lifestyle. You can let go of the tight rope act, the stress, and anxiety and walk toward a balancing act of a lifestyle worth LIVING.
So many plays on words, but the reality is understanding your thoughts around time, life, and work. Do you have any thoughts you notice that refrain or hold you back from success, growth, and change? Are you constantly stressed about how much time you spend working while your life continually suffers? Are your friends and family resentful of your time spent away working, not being at home, consumed, and interrupted with work?
Where do you begin the process, how do you unravel those years of thoughts, and what do you do when the same thoughts hinder you no matter what you do? Understanding the use of time as a choice and acknowledging some thought processes mandated undeservedly in your mind is a great place to start. You may have years of mindsets and thoughts you need to uncover and change. Secondly, make yourself your priority in the grand scheme of life. Your life is your own and no one else's. Every choice you make surrounding your quality of life will affect you first, then those around you will be affected. Both of these suggestions are easier said than done. Untangling deep-seated mindsets and thoughts is no easy task and will require motivation, goals, and a clear vision. The vitality (life) and energy (work) required to balance your chosen lifestyle can and will happen. Take the first step! Please make an appointment today for our complimentary connection call. We will help you unravel undeserving thoughts and balance your life-work lifestyle.
YGC Relationship Coaches:
Yvette Valdenegro
Geovanna Burgess White
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