Creating Balance - however that looks for you

Balance implies an evenness of time - different sections of life distributed evenly all day every day. How is that even desirable, let alone achievable when we have constantly changing priorities?

I prefer to think of life as moving in ebbs and flows. Sometimes you will have more free time, and work won’t be as consuming and other times it will be the opposite. At times you will have great health which will allow you the freedom to live your life a certain way and at other times you won’t. The secret for me is to go with those times and flex in the moment as I need to.

Don’t try to aim for the elusive perfect balance all of the time. This simply is not achievable and this expectation will create internal stress and a sense of failure when you don’t achieve it. Instead ensure that you are intentionally present in the area of your life that you need to be at any given time. Be flexible with the ever changing demands of life.

I used to believe that the concept of work-life balance was achievable and I even changed my life and place of living, thinking I had achieved it. Some people may indeed look at my life and think I do have work-life balance. The reality is that yes I have a great life and am very happy with how I am living it. But, it is never fully in balance. Some weeks are very work heavy, which means other things suffer. Other weeks are less busy on the work front and I catch up on other things that are important to me. While I try to schedule time in each week for all of my priorities – personal and professional - the reality is that some weeks not everything will happen.

Don't worry about what you don't get done! Accept it and embrace it. Know you are in exactly the right place at any given time. If you have had a very busy week with work, you might need some self-care to balance that out. If you have had a very social week, maybe you'll need to spend some time at home.

You don’t need to aim for perfect balance all of the time. In fact it will be detrimental if you do. Recognise that it won’t always happen. Learn to accept the ebbs and flows of life, in whatever way that looks like, in any given moment. The secret to work life balance is to balance your thinking and prioritise what you need as you need it.