Inherent in the phrase ‘work life balance’ is the implication that they are somehow at odds, that one comes at the cost of another, that one consumes energy while the other creates and restores energy. This is a mis-framing. Work has the potential to enrich lives by adding meaning, purpose, and structure as well as providing a sense of community and a significant portion of our identity.
Work and life are all part of one indivisible whole; more of one realm does not automatically diminish the other. It does not have to be a zero-sum game, it is possible to view life and work in ways that complement and enrich each other, a fluid whole, not compartmentalized, adversarial opposites. Energy is not a fixed pie.
Yes, boundaries are important and yes, there is a limit to the hours in the day. However, when you change your mindset from the somewhat rigid frame of having to ‘balance’ work and life to the more flexible concept of integration and management, it liberates and frees your approach and that alone in turn frees up energy and mind space.
Closing Quotes:
“There is no such thing as work-life balance… it is all life. The balance has to be within you.” – Sadhguru
“That’s a debilitating phrase because it implies there’s a strict trade-off. It actually is a circle. It’s not a balance.” – Jeff Bezos, on ‘work–life balance’
“Do not separate your life into what you do for a living and what you do for living. Your work is simply an expression of the energy you bring to the world and your personal life is the soil that nourishes it.” – Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
