09/01/2021
WORKLIFE CRAFTING BECAUSE WORKLIFE CANNOT BE BALANCED
Once in a while, I get called to make contributions to LinkedIn conversations around work-life balance. And there was this LinkedIn post that goes like this, "I don’t believe in work-life balance. The word, balance, seems binary and implies taking from one in favor of another. I think of life as a puzzle. Time is limited, so I carefully choose the most important pieces to craft the kind of life I want to live, and everything else stays on the table." Guess what jumped at me, worklife crafting!
The post was by Irina Gerry. But it is what Ariel wrote that touched me further. It practically summed up for me, what it means to be doing worklife crafting because work-life cannot be balanced.
The Most Important Pieces To Craft
"I love the way you think Irina Gerry", Ariel started. "For a while now, I’ve felt the term “work-life balance” is outdated because it implies that there is a standard that applies equally to everyone. Before I had kids, I was shamed for investing so much time in passionately pursuing and giving everything to a career I loved. But I felt balanced, because I was inspired, and motivated by a sense of purpose," she said.
"Years later," she continued, "I realized that pace was weighing on me and I needed to reassess my priorities for the season I was in and pivot. I refocused my time on being a better leader and building a legacy I could be proud of. Once I had kids, I realized I couldn’t do it all. And that I needed to make tough choices about how I invested my time. I said no more. I set boundaries. My friendships changed."
At this point, I could feel the pain, re-echoed so quite often. The echo and tough choices that women always have to make.
Ariel thereafter took a six-month break to just BE with her newborn and she also volunteered at her church. Along the way, she learned that work-life balance is not as simple to achieve as the term may suggest. She concluded that "ultimately, achieving true “balance” was up to me to own."
Hopefully, someone will learn from her through this post. Ariel did not hide the pain she went through during the journey. "It’s hard," she said, "and I’m still figuring it out." And for the rainbow after the thunderous heavy downpour, she concludes that she, "love the mindset of carefully choosing the most important pieces to craft the kind of life you want to live."
The Hardest Is Deciding What Not To Be Involved In
Sunny also so much love the shared perspective. For her, she has learned that having the courage to say "no" to things and deciding what not to be involved in or spend time on has been the hardest. "There is a feeling of being judged or not feeling like you're doing enough. But, at the end of the day, I'm learning to focus on the things that truly matter to me and my family, and how we can all help contribute to a better society," she wrote.
Whatever we want to do, it is up to us as individuals to act. But not to go on naive, we need to know that there is going to be pain and joy to face. For example, some have chosen not to have children because they are afraid, not knowing how to reconcile parenting with professional life. This possibly is not a fantastic choice for some others, since "family" is a great part of life for them.
We all, therefore, have a great challenge, as those charting the narrative of this generation, to find a way to reconcile all the pieces of the puzzle in our lives. So that despite the odds loaded up so high against us, we can still ensure we have a prosperous and healthy life.
Find your own life puzzle
Go to the link below to complete reading the article ...
https://worklifefeed.com/2021/01/09/worklife-crafting-because-worklife-cannot-be-balanced/
I think of life as a puzzle. So I carefully choose the most important pieces to craft the kind of life I want to live." Yes, I just do worklife crafting
