Work-life balance

“The balance is needed because it seems that there is too much work, and not enough of the pleasure of life,” writes Subhan

I’ve heard people say, and write about, the notion that we need to have a “work-life balance.”

My understanding is that this is based on the belief that the two are different; that there is our work, and then outside of work, there is our life. And this is based upon our experiences at work and “outside” of it. And the balance is needed because it seems that there is too much work, and not enough of the pleasure of life.

For most of us, when we leave work, we find that there is our life – which includes friends, entertainment, vacations, and a long list of other activities and what can be called diversions that seem to temporarily take us away from the unsatisfying experiences of work.

This, many of us tell ourselves, is the reward we get for working.

I’ve called this making “work” a “4-letter word!”

And then it becomes something that we have to do, rather than what we want to do!

This happens because what we do as “work” often does not touch us in meaningful, satisfying ways, and has little to do with play and adventure, or stimulating challenges and enjoyment.

And it goes even deeper! The problem is that many of us not only don’t enjoy work, but cannot imagine that it could be something… expansive and alive and fulfilling!

If we could find such wonderful work, then we would understand that life and work need not be isolated from one another. And when that boundary blurs and even disappears, we can discover that not only do we enjoy what we call “work,” but our enjoyment of work supports and enhances everything else in our life.

There’s a lot of habitual thinking that keeps us from exploring new possibilities for our “work life.” But unless we begin this kind of exploration, we’ll always want to escape from what we perceive of as burdensome work. And we’ll find that any attempt to balance our work and our life will ultimately fail. That’s because: trying to balance work we don’t enjoy – but still have to do – with a life outside of work that is fulfilling, can never really happen in the nature of things. Just see the point! The negative will always hang over any “fulfillment” we may think we experience!

It boils down to this: the more “want-tos” and the less “have-tos” in our life, the more we can truly enjoy our life!

And isn’t that what we really want?

Featured illustration by RosZie