Balance. We all crave it, but is it really achievable?
I personally have to come to dismiss the concept of work/life balance. I invested years fruitlessly buying into this modern idea of constructing harmony between ones work life and ones home life. I strived and I was perpetually crushed under the weight of how ‘unbalanced’ my home to work life was. When I was at work I was riddled with guilt about being away from my baby and not having home life under control. When I was not at work, I was crippled with fear about not being in top of it all. The fear constantly badgered me, and I never felt like I was committed to either one whilst engaged in it. It was all due to being told that we could have it all, and that balance was imperative.
I now understand that the essence to success is to have your work life integrated seamlessly into your home life, for when you are so engaged and passionate about what you do ‘for work’ there is no division. It is one harmonious flow. That there is no need for an exterior ‘balance’ when you have an interior balance. There is no ‘grind’ and TGIF and hump days, as every day you align who you are with what you do.
When work is not something you do for money, it is something you do for love and the money is a bonus you receive it’s an incredible way to enjoy life. The love and joy from this is the main meal and the income is the side salad. Usually a hearty salad when one is very good and experienced in their love of what they do. Achieving this love for what you do, or realigning what we love with what we do for money, is something that can be investigated through short periods of solitude and connection to self. If that is 5 minutes in the morning lying in bed, or contemplation after a meditation, when the mind has been allowed to come into contact with ones true nature, then so be it.
If you have no idea about what you love or what brings you joy, or you feel so crippled with the weight of responsibility that you can’t even see the forest for the trees, and this whole idea sounds like some harsh joke, then learn to meditate. Once you begin to access your true being, your inner self through a short daily practice everything starts to make sense. Once you eliminate all the cortisol and adrenalin in your system out through meditation, then you can actually begin to see the forest for the trees. Click HERE to learn more.