Work/Life Balance
When I was in college, taking numerous classes and having no idea what I wanted to be “when I grew up”, I remember hearing it said that I couldn’t use my passion as my career. If I did, my passion would become my career and eventually I’d stop enjoying it, and I would have no passion to go to for escape.
I fully believed whatever I was told when it came to things like career, and so I didn’t really think twice about this. After all, it’s logical, right? Of course, that’s the way it must be.
So here I am, after 23 years in a career as an engineer in the tech world, now on my second career, and wondering… how many others were told this same kind of line growing up, and what do I want to say to them and my “younger self” now?
There’s this black-and-white mentality that often shows up around career. We can see it in the case of conversations about “work/life balance”. Work and Life are on opposite sides of the “slash”. They are in opposition. They must be brought into “balance” to be fulfilled in life. “Life” is always a counter to, a fix, an opposition to “work”. “Work” is segregated from life, something you must leave to exist.
Which means, living your “life” is what happens when you are not working.
This belief leaves work as something that can’t be integrated into life, and therefore is always on the outside. It’s always something seen as “taking away” or “depleting” from which we have to recharge, refresh, get away from.
How many went into careers because it was an interesting field, perhaps being good at it? Or that you learned to be good at, and have developed yourself to be an expert? Perhaps you know yourself as someone that is a contribution at work. Perhaps you enjoy mentoring others, or digging into a problem and absorbing yourself in it.
But no, doing those things is not acceptable in this model.
Work is something to get away from, so we must find ways to cram in as much work as we can to get it “done” so we can leave it. We work countless hours because for many of us, there is no end to work. Ironically, we work harder and harder to the point of burnout so we can get to that place where we can imagine “no work” and a break, when the reality is that by the time we have worked ourselves into that vacation, that break, we are too exhausted and just want to sleep or catch up on the other mundane tasks in our “life”.
What if we integrated our life to include our work? What if the balance is not work vs. life, but a balanced life that includes work – the good and bad, the satisfying and enjoyable and exhausting and all of it?
And then, when we feel the need to look at our lives and restore balance or bring more passion and joy, work can be part of that equation. It can be a change to work circumstances, or taking on additional responsibilities at work, or a change in career – but it’s no longer an escape. We have a whole new set of options that we had previously cut out by saying it’s “this OR that”.
When we live one life, we become that much more powerful.
What would a life of living your passion and purpose look like for you?
Where are you waiting to make time for the passion you know you want but can’t balance in your busy life?
Where are you living glimpses of your passion and want to enjoy more of it?
Where are you not even sure what your purpose and passion could be, and you are ready to discover what living a full, joyous life could feel like?
Reach out, you don’t have to be on the path alone!