I’m busy preparing for a Management Workshop I’m delivering in a few days on one of my most popular Lighten Up for Good speaking topics - How to Stop Stressing and Start Living. One of the many issues I'll be sharing is about our societal values around Work/Life Balance. We'll be looking at how these values are impacting our increasing levels of unhealthy stress. These are the kinds of stress that can lead to many serious health problems whether physical, mental or emotional that can threaten our performance, satisfaction and results in both our work and personal lives.
We are a
society that values hard work, putting in long hours to show our commitment to
the company or to our own businesses. We value the achievement of our goals and dreams, striving to get ahead, make more money and
have more stuff. We’re so busy working and striving to achieve that many of us
forget to enjoy the process. We often neglect the simple joys of living. That’s
why so many people with lots of wealth and success are still not truly happy or
as happy as you think they should be with all that they have.
An effective
work life balance is not about a 50/50 split in time and energy. The world is
just not perfect that way. It is not a realistic goal. We all have different
roles, priorities and lifestyles which also influence our work life balance. A
single person may have a different sense of work life balance than someone who
is married with children, for example.
Feeling overwhelmed by
our multiple roles as worker, parent, spouse, caregiver to an aging or ill
relative, family member, friend, work colleague, volunteer, etc… while trying
to balance our work and personal lives is just one source of stress that
prevents us from living fully. And on top of all that, here I am suggesting
that you also need to make time to look after your own health and well-being?
Perhaps you’re saying, ‘yeah, right, Roslyn’. Yes, it is exactly what I’m
saying. There are ways and that is what this workshop is all about.
On another note, with the
increasing prevalence of communication technologies with computers, cell phones,
emailing, texting, video conferencing, etc…the work to life conflict is even greater.
The boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred with people checking work-related
emails, texting and answering phone calls during their personal time. The worst
is when you see people constantly connected to work while on vacation or family
time. This is not a life.
There are many
other factors that contribute to our day-to-day stress. Striving for a healthy work
life balance is just one of them. In preparing for this workshop, it gives me good reminders as well to practice what I preach as
it is far too easy to get sucked in by the currents of the world outside of us.
At the end of the day, we still do have choices to make.
