Someone once asked me what I thought life-work balance was. At that time I pretty much lived absorbed in my work. It defined me, and I have to admit I loved what I did and maybe that’s why I hadn’t realized that I had no balance in my life, just work.
My answer then was very different as I was very different from the girl that’s sitting here out on the lake today. My life has since pulled a 180 on me and in doing so allowed me to have some time to actually stop and enjoy life and most importantly change my perspective on many things.
If I were asked that same question again today I would have to say that work-life balance comes down to working enough to take care of what you need, while still having time and energy for the people and things you love, and ideally also a little “me” time leftover to take care of yourself. The latter is often sacrificed or ignored and it shouldn’t be because so many people burn out or walk around dissatisfied and feeling trapped because they lose so much of themselves while taking care of others.
In doing so they drift further away from that balance that is really very important to our overall well-being and sanity. The bottom line is that we are the powerhouse of our own cell, our life force, but if we deplete and deprive ourselves of things that fuel us in life then we are just a powerless mitochondria and that certainly won’t get us very far…
The biggest problem is that for some reason we often feel guilty about taking time for ourselves, for indulging in our guilty pleasures and as such we attribute negative connotations to the “selfish” part of taking care of ourselves. When in reality it simply means that we are taking a moment to put our own well-being front and center and address our needs as an individual and not as whatever role we play in society.
Remember that taking care of You isn’t a bad thing, because in the end if this “selfish” /”me-time” isn’t hurting anyone and leaves us refreshed and loving life again then all the positivity we get from it can only benefit those around us. So make time for yourself, don’t be afraid to be what my friend likes to call “selfishly authentic” because that might just be the missing ingredient to your work-life balance mix. Just brace yourself because this new balanced lifestyle approach might entail some happiness overload 😉
Until next time Smile & have an awesome day!
imacookiefiend 
I totally agree with you. I just got back from a very important family visit/trip and suddenly realized that I really need to work smarter rather than harder. “You” time is the time to reflect and to enjoy life. And you better have enough of these moments to remember later!
True. Sometimes the memory of those moments gets us through tougher times…