Finding Work/Life Balance

How do you balance work and life at a time when the various sections of our own lives collide like never before? How do you “clock off” and “go home” when you’re already there? The nice tidy categories that band together to make a whole life have been emptied into the floor, much like I used to do with all my Lego. And now we’re just trying to step around the sharp bits and navigate our way through.

How I am personally trying to find this balance is primarily by being kinder to myself. I know we’ve all been saying this for months now, but I feel that this third lockdown has required it more than ever. Can’t focus? Don’t worry, no one can. Forgot about a meeting? So did the person you were supposed to meet. Everyone is in need of slack.

So that’s step one. Now you’ve done that; you’ve done some yoga or some deep breathing or I don’t know, maybe you’ve blasted scream metal. But there’s still work. Abs there’s still life. There’s bills and groceries and deadlines and everything.

Step two, and this is the one I struggle with the most. Stop focusing on every problem at once. It’s a surefire way to create anxiety or hesitation or more likely both. The problems seem insurmountable because they are if you try to tackle them all at the same time.

It sounds so simple. Everyone repeats the same advice. One thing at a time. Baby steps. Etc. But knowing that and making your anxiety believe it are two so totally different things. This is where a support system comes in. Maybe a partner, maybe a friend, maybe a stranger on the internet (I’ve found support myself on places like 7 cups of tea, sometimes the internet comes through, but as always please use caution), the point is you need someone who’s going to calmly listen to your anxiety and probably irrationality and then discuss with you why that makes no sense without any sense of judgment.

Then we begin to focus on the things one at a time and as one thing gets crossed off the list, it’s easier and easier and it feels great just to be accomplishing something that who cares if it’s just sweeping the floor.

That’s my approach. It’s constantly evolving as I learn and grow. How are you balancing work and life right now?