Work-life balance, slow living, meaningful life – all of these terms are popping up more then ever, because of one simple fact – we are all overwhelmed.
Modern way of living and technology powered life, makes us more in touch, more available and more involved then ever. Resulting in, all of us, feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, always running and wanting more and more and more.
‘Stop and smell the roses‘ has become a common phrase which none of us can afford to do. At least, we think that way. But, if we want to be happy, we need to incorporate it in our life. Some more than others.
And we have to understand that there is no magic formula for well balanced life. What’s well-balanced for some doesn’t have to be fulfilling for others.
Fiting more exercise or more family time in your life, doesn’t make you more well-balanced, it makes you more fit or more family oriented.
Different people will be happy with differently balanced life.
At this point, we can recognize a few different types of well balanced lives:
People who work to live and not live to work.
They are perfectly happy to work their 9-5 shift and then go home and enjoy their family. For them, family comes first and their job is just something that they need to do in order to earn enough money to then spent it with their family. Well balanced life for them is spending those 40 hours (or less) per week on their work and not a minute more. As soon as that clock hits 5pm, they are out. They unplug. Physically and mentally. Their mind is with their friends, family or a hobby.
Freelancers who follow their passion
And work with something they love so the line between their business life an private life is actually almost non-existent. They can work while travelling. They can easily sit at the bar on a beach while surfing the web and answering business e-mails. Their work-life balance is about living their life on their own terms with their mind in their business and their feet on a completely different continent.
Entrepreneurs who manage their time
And can easily restrict and differentiate time for work and time for family and friends. They can focus and be productive at their work and they can organize their work schedule to fit their private life. And while enjoying their private life, they can easily switch their focus on friends/family/hobby/themselves.
Do you see your life in any of these groups?
Probably not.
Because all three of these groups are perfect examples of the life that we would love to lead.
Some of you wants to be that enterpreanuer, some of you would prefer that freelancer life, and a some portion of you reading this blog would be perfectly happy with that 9-5.
But no matter which life you would like to lead, can you actually achieve it?
I think you do.
First step being is to choose what kind of life YOU want to live. What kind of life would suit YOU?
Stop looking at other peoples lives. Stop being influenced by media or your surrounding. You don’t have to be entrepreneur if you would feel better working 9-5. You don’t have to OWN a business and work for yourself just because it seems everyone else is doing it right now.
You are not less-worthy for choosing to work for someone.
However, if you do feel the urge to be your own boss or to travel the world while working, do it. Don’t let fear of failure stop you.
If you don’t have problem traveling and working, being on the move all the time, do it. Embrace the lifestyle that YOU want to live.
On 42stripes, our mission is to encourage you to live your life the way YOU want to live it, but at the same time remind you to not forget about things that actually makes you happy.
It’s easy to feel obligated to work all day and all night thinking that you’ll be able to work a lot for a few years and then afterwards enjoy ‘the fruit of your labor’. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
And if you overwhelm yourself with work load, the only thing you will definitely achieve is a burn-out and that’s why well-balanced life is important, but the balance itself is up to you.
I love what Anna Lundbreg wrote on Quora about work-life balance, so be sure to check it out.
Also, keep in mind that the future of work is changing more then ever before. The workflow that our parents lived by will never ever be the same again. Therefore, we have to learn new ways of implementing work-life balance that works for us.
Take control of your life. It’s yours to live it.
So, take that first step and choose the lifestyle you want to live. Embrace it and you will get on the right track to achieving that work-life balance which will make YOU happy.
