Work Life Balance

Many people are in dual-income households, since the prevailing “norm” has shifted from the “bread-winner” model to the dual-income model.  In such cases, many people have to work a full day at the office or job and then come home to another full-time or part-time job of raising a family.  And family responsibilities are not limited to raising children.  Many working parents also have care-giving responsibilities for their parents and/or parents-in-law.  All of these responsibilities can and often do lead to stress and lack of work-life balance, as well as the feeling of not meeting all responsibilities fully.

Additionally, the average American’s work-day now exceeds the eight-hour norm, with many people expected to work “mandatory” and continual overtime.  Because we glorify workaholics in our culture, many people feel pressured to work extra hours of overtime to impress their bosses or earn an extra bonus.  But the extra hours take a toll on your health and productivity.  They also leave less time to enjoy spending with family and friends.

The advent of new technology has helped push Americans into working longer hours.  Electricity allowed us to work early morning hours before dawn and longer hours after dark.  The widespread availability of mobile phones and pagers has made us to reachable by our employers outside the normal work hours and work locations.  When we would have traditionally been at home and spending uninterrupted time with our family, now many of us are taking calls and working on our laptops or other mobile devices.

All of these factors lead to less leisure time and less time to spend on our personal and family lives.  Reclaiming work-life balance is about taking the time to slow down and assess your priorities.  By taking the time to listen to yourself and reassess what is most important in your life, you will be able to make choices that reflect your values and priorities.  For many people, building healthy and fulfilling relationships with their families is a priority that they have neglected.  Refocusing on the importance of healthy family relationships is often a result when people reclaim their work-life balance and make choices that reflect their values. 

For people who didn’t have time to spend with their children, they find many unique ways to increase the quality and quantity of family time.  It can mean designating one night as “date night” with your spouse.  It can mean designating one night a week (or more!) as “family night” with no practices, games, or other outside activities that take away from their time together as a family.  It can mean making “family dinner” a priority and a nightly event, where parents and kids reconnect with each other and share stories of their day, as well as eating healthy and nourishing meals, instead of high-calorie, high-fat fast food meals on the go. 

By planning ahead and including your children in the preparations, whether it be having them choose activities for “family night” or setting the table and helping prepare the family dinner, these activities become a way to reclaim time with your family that enhances the quality of your life.  Rebalancing your career and your personal life is more than working less and spending more time on yourself and/or your family.  It is also about slowing down and listening to your self, understanding your values and what stresses you and what relaxes you, and making time for the things and people in your life that you value the most.