The term ‘work-life balance’ is mentioned a lot and it always struck me as odd – if I have to balance work and life, measure one against the other, weigh them up and carefully consider how much I give to life and how much to work, what then is life?
And does the term not convey that life is preferable to work, that the latter is to be regarded with mistrust – suspicion even – and better avoided or at least minimised, as much as is possible?
With this work-life balance thing, are we saying that this is a finely calibrated, calculated and measured to the nth degree proposition where we make sure that work does not encroach on life? Meaning that on one hand we have work and on the other hand we have life and they better not become bedfellows? But is work not within life, intrinsically a part of life as much as going to the toilet, brushing teeth, feeding the dog, cooking and cleaning the kitchen and paying the bills?
What are we really saying when we talk like that?
What do we think or fear will happen when we understand and live the fact that work is life and life is work? When we surrender to the fact that life is about evolution – in its true meaning, i.e. leaving behind what does not serve us rather than getting stuck in the same old rut, so very obvious every time we get to what we call New Year and swear to do whatever from 1st of January, or rather, swear to not ever do whatever, ever ever again?
Work and life are not separate, they are not inimical; they do not exclude each other and we don’t need scales.
To live is to work and to work is to live – and that, just in case you are wondering, includes babies and those at the end of their physical life.
A baby’s work is to reflect their amazingness, their presence, their joy, their uncompromising beingness; to remind the rest of us that we too have those innate qualities and that they are just waiting to be accessed and revived.
Someone at the end of their physical life can inspire us and reflect settlement, understanding, acceptance and surrender of the body to a greater cycle than what one human lifespan offers.
Work bestows purpose and is part of our evolution, a huge part of it; work echoes our knowing of a much vaster All that we are all a part of, whether we care to know or believe it or not.
After all, we do not need to believe in the Sun for it to apparently rise at dawn and set at dusk, do we?
