Mon-Fri 9-5 sounds like a good work/life balance
I have a confession to make…I don’t work ridiculous hours. However, I did make the mistake of inferring that, because most evenings and weekends were not at work, I had a great work/life balance. I did not. It turns out that the work/life balance split is not about hours worked, but about working on work and working on life…
To my cost, I was spending all my energy on work – the biggest drain being all my creative energy. I love to create. I’ve always enjoyed making things: theatre, models, music, blogs, etc. I lost all of that when I allowed my work/life balance to get skewed. I invested my creative (life) energy into work too, and as a result, I got unwell. Sure, I produced some great bits of work – some of my best – but in the process, I completely forgot who I was or what my life was about.
Unsurprisingly, I crashed. I ran out of steam. Then, following a period of time for rest, a course of antidepressants, counselling and the love and support of my family, friends and colleagues, I started to remember who I was, or what my life balance was about.
During my time off, I started to re-discover what kind of things I enjoyed doing which made me feel like me. So now I’ve created a list on Evernote called ‘Remember: you like doing these things!‘. One of the things is this blog. I enjoy jotting down thoughts and ideas and I get a real buzz knowing that a few people out there read them! Thank you!
Some of the things on my list include:
- Playing piano
- Going for a walk
- Going into town and wandering around
- Listen to music
- Have a bath and listen to a radio play
I’m currently taking a phased return to work – so that I’m doing work for work and I’m taking time to work on my life so that I make it part of my routine and balance things out again. Earlier on in the year, before I ran out of steam, I found that some of my best ideas and insights came during periods of ‘life’ time (out with the dog, in the shower, etc) and even they dried up when I was all about work – so it perpetuated the situation…I didn’t feel like I could create at work or have energy outside of work to create either. I’m so glad that I’m taking the time to get it right and put things in their place. I really enjoy many aspects of my job, but I also want to enjoy many aspects of my life outside of work too…
It feels good.
What do you do to keep your work/life balance in check?
Sam Grayston 
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