Have you ever felt your work life balance is totally out of whack? It is critical to find this balance if you really want to live well. You may feel great about one aspect of your life, but terrible about another. You may be one of the lucky ones who actually have it all, but unfortunately still feel something is missing.
You may feel like the balls are all up in the air, between your spouse, kids, job, health, etc. If you are not careful, some balls are going to drop. Our society focuses heavily on success in some areas, while neglecting the importance of others. It is common for your career to become your identity. Regardless of how financially successful this culture is, it doesn't seem to be a very happy one in general. It is commonplace to see people turning to medication, therapy, and even rehabs to deal with life.
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:
--The financial means to give you what you really want (time with family, ability to travel, retirement, etc.),
--It can provide a sense of purpose, especially if you are doing something you feel makes an impact.
Work must stay in perspective. You cannot allow it to take over your entire life, unless you are a nun. It is easy to get into the mindset of constantly working, with the promise to really start living once you reach a certain goal. Unfortunately, you will always find another goal to reach.
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.
You will have to have some awareness of your inner needs in order to develop life balance. Use your internal compass to tell you when to bond with your spouse, kids, or yourself. It is easy in our society to be disconnected. It is critical, but often uncomfortable, to connect with others. This connection is a fundamental part of happiness.
It is important that you also truly connect to yourself. Even if you are alone most of the time, you are probably pretty disconnected to your inner world. When your inner compass is telling you it needs rest, your brain overrides it because you "should" go to the gym. Even if you end up relaxing, you are filled with guilt and cannot really enjoy yourself.
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 http://www.healthylifestylebalance.com/personal-development-plan.html Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
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