Work-Life Balance

Do you have a special place you LOVE to be – a place to go where you can become whole again? The majority of people in young adulthood (ages 19 – 40) would say they have busy and chaotic lives. Why wouldn’t they have all this chaos and busyness in their lives? Society has established this pattern of chaos and we have joined right in. We most definitely need a place to go and unplug from the craziness we get wrapped up in. It’s so, so important to remember, we are human beings, not human doings. Take a moment to imagine where that special place to go would be for you. What would it look like, feel like, sound like, and smell like? Immerse yourself in the visualization of your special place.

Ordinarily, as we go about our day, we are slowly drained of our life energy. Coworkers and acquaintances ask us questions, require tasks of us, and inundate us with information. We listen to them and try to fulfill a need they have. Family and friends visit with us and check in with us, just as we check in with them.They support us and we support them.  While all of this is not negative, it does cost us energy. Every personal or professional exchange we have is an exchange of energy – good and bad!

If we don’t take the time to heal and regenerate our life energy, we will, without a doubt, burnout. I often hear from my clients, “I just don’t have any time for myself”, and I have come to learn through my own personal journey that the statement is an excuse is a limiting belief! I just want to take a moment to encourage each of you to set a bold intention to create a list of everything you do in a day, week, month. It’s a scary sight for most people. We don’t realize how overcommitted we are. We don’t realize how thin we are truly spread out across our human existence. I like to periodically do an activity called “On My Plate”. It really helps me see and realize there is only so much space on my plate and it’s a visual/tactile representation of changes I need to make to ensure I am living a balanced life. I will share a general idea of how you can do this activity as well.

1. Make a list of everything you do or are responsible for in a day, week, month. This may take a while. Add to it as you think about things. I usually start my list days ahead of doing this project.
   1. I use the following categories of life
      1. CREATIVE LIFE
         1. Fun/Relaxation AND Health/Fitness
      2. LIFE PURPOSE
         1. Spirituality AND Growth/Learning
      3. LOVE LIFE
         1. Family/Friends AND Partner/Love
      4. BUSINESS LIFE
         1. Money/Finance AND Career/Work
      5. SOCIAL LIFE
         1. Environment AND Community

1. Gather supplies
   1. Paper plate, markers, colored paper, scissors, glue
2. Cut out a color-coded strip of paper for each area of your life (I used circles.). The plate represents the time you have in your life. Write on each strip of paper the things you do in those areas. 
3. Place the labeled papers on the plate and see if your life is congruent to what you perceive it to be. I always have way more than what my plate can hold!
4. The next phase of this activity is diving deeply into each item and analyzing which ones to save and which ones to let go of. Pare down your overcommitted, chaotic, auto-pilot life. When we decrease the stuff on our plate we have to consider the amount of time the tasks take.

This is a good starting point to assess needs, so you can intentionally and wholeheartedly make choices that will balance your life. Take your time. It may take a week or so, but DON’T leave it incomplete. You have the power to change your life!

Growing one word at a time,

Jackie