„Work-Life-Balance“ – this term alone makes one wonder, and includes a massively flawed way of thinking. It suggests we only need to throw enough meaningful ‘life time’ onto the scale to balance out the burdensome ‘work time’, thereby creating balance. All’s well then, and there’s only three days until the weekend anyway. The fatal error seems to run deep. Precisely this separation between work and life, which many people carry around in their minds, is problematic. Almost as if time at work is not time spent living. I ask myself this: are you still separating or are you living yet?
So, we have to do something about this evil work, using the baton of obsessive optimism. Free time terrorism as ‘scattering’, compensation, and reward for the tiring work creates a war inside one’s head. Demonising time at work doesn’t just turn into a ball and chain, but doesn’t even make sense when we look at time itself. It would require 50 hours of expedient, meaningful and relaxing free time to balance out an average 50 hour work week (including commutes). Who could possibly manage that? And doesn’t this free time activism, with the pressure to successfully recover mentally and physically, create even more stress?
We need to realise: Time spent working is time spent living!
Even though many people might not be aware of it, many have subconsciously internalised this un-equation, which can never be an equation. And depending on how we look at our work, wanting to artificially create a non-existing balance can hardly be achieved by anyone. Searching what doesn’t exist means running around in a frustrating, never-ending hamster wheel. That exact frustration leads to more and more burnouts and depressive moods, rather than reducing this misunderstood work-life-balance. Our psyche, just like our body, reacts very sensitively to the quality of our thoughts. A negative approach to work therefore leads to a feeling of inner emptiness. In the long run, this will make you ill.
Stressful time off doesn’t balance out meaningless work
Fundamentally, time spent working is time spent living, as the meaning is defined by ourselves. One who doesn’t see any meaning in their work will never get rid of the aforementioned inner war. The work of a scientist, teacher or judge has a different meaning than that of a nurse, dustmen or police officer, not a deeper one. The fact that society, in part through salaries, evaluates their values differently, is a different story.
If necessary, we can change our attitude to our work. Here, the following ground rule applies: Change what can be changed and accept what cannot. Any ‘in between’ in the grey area is counterproductive for good conditions. With that, we have to be honest with ourselves. The tradition of treating work as an eternally painful burden is just as false as using positive thinking to sugarcoat poor working conditions. In the end, we all lead self-determined lives; if we want, we have the choice to step into our own self-efficacy.
Change what can be changed and accept what cannot
A howler monkey as a boss, bullying coworkers, or 12 degrees room temperature in the office cannot be accepted. On the other hand, innovate employers these days are interested in creating conditions and atmospheres that improve the employees’ comfort factors. Only if thats the case can fun, creativity, excitement, and dedication spread, as precursors to excellence. Someone who feels appreciated at work won’t seek to repress it in their free time.
Enjoying work is lived, not constructed work-life-balance
Work and life shouldn’t be opposites or contradictions. Rather, the approach should be to fill the work with more life and happiness, to bring those two areas closer together. The motto has to be to integrate work into life! In order to achieve this, the idea of the arduous, life-consuming work has to be overcome. Not at any price, however, especially not if it seems like a task that disrupts a healthy self-esteem. Overall, it’s crucial to choose a profession which is equally challenging and rewarding, and therefore fun. Confucius said: ‘Choose a job you love, and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” soulboxer🥊🙏❤️