Life Balance… That Elusive Unicorn
What is life balance really, and why the hell can’t I seem to find it?
A balanced life doesn’t mean rainbows and butterflies 🌈🦋 all the time.
Often, life balance is the unicorn 🦄 we strive for. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Some days work requires overtime which means either personal or family time comes up short. Other times we are on vacation and work gets zero time, family gets 95%, and personal time might be 5%. Some days you need time away for lunch with friends in which case work and family get 0 and you get it all for that bit of time.
⚖️ If you look at a balance scale, it tips one way, then the other. It’s only truly balanced when both sides are equal… stagnant. But our lives aren’t stagnant, they are fluid, dynamic, always changing. And there are more than just two sides to balance.
What often happens is that we let work and family have all the time, battling it out day to day, and personal time gets shut out… it can wait. “I can wait.” This is how stress, overwhelm, and resentment build. Life is out of balance, consistently.
We need to reframe what Life Balance really is… it is UNBALANCED!
❌ If everything in life had equal time it might look like this:
Work 4.8 hours, sleep 4.8 hours, family time 4.8 hours, personal time 4.8 hours, chores and other tasks* 4.8 hours… every single day.
*includes: shower, dress, cook, eat, clean, laundry, dishes, lawn, shopping
✅ In reality, one version of balance might look like this:
Work 9 hours, sleep 7 hours, family time 2 hours, personal time 1 hour, chores and other tasks* 5 hours
✅ Or on weekends it might look like this:
Work 0 hours, sleep 8 hours, family time 4 hours, personal time 2 hours, chores and other tasks* 10 hours
This “balance” changes each day as needed. The key is making sure each category gets what it needs when needed. Finding your personal “formula” is how you keep life in balance, and being flexible to adjust the formula as needed is how you keep the stress and overwhelm to a minimum.
✨If you know someone who might benefit from exploring their “unbalanced balance” and putting an end to the stress and overwhelm of not-enough-time, join me on a complimentary discovery call ✨
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