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Work-Life Balance or Quicksand

Author:
Craig Zelizer

June 1, 2020

Work-life balance. It’s a phrase that can easily be added to the list of buzz words we regularly hear discussed. As if somehow we hold the scales of our lives in a constant struggle for equilibrium. Why do we approach work and life as separate? Or even worse, as work vs. life - nurturing an image of our days as finite resources that form the battlefield on which these two arch enemies contend. In fact, work is part of our life. The two are inextricably intertwined, impacting on each other in an unending dance.

And yet, we are continually pressed with this buzz word, and in response find ourselves attempting to achieve the elusive work/life balance by ratcheting everything up simultaneously. Work harder and play harder. Be busier at both. Yet, wellness is not the answer to overwork, less work is. And urgently pursuing renewal activities is not the answer to weariness, time is. Think of the counterproductive effect of someone shouting at you to “CALM DOWN!”

So what are we really seeking when we talk about balance? Is it less about balancing opposing forces and more about inclusion and connectivity?

What does it mean to live into both our work and our lives? What does it look like to consistently show up in your work and your life as your whole self? Is there some equation of time, quality, and intention that unlocks balance? Can we find mindful moments at work? How are our personal and professional resilience linked?

Maybe it’s about forgetting everything else and nurturing our whole selves. Maybe it’s about developing our regular practice - taking care of our inner and outer selves, building our resilience, and bringing that centered, whole person everywhere we go in everything we do. And maybe it’s about looking through our whole-self lens to see others’ whole selves, to connect on a deeper level of humanity beyond emails and meeting rooms.

Then again, perhaps it’s not about control at all. Perhaps we can’t actually balance our lives and live into our whole selves by trying, struggling, and hustling. Maybe this is one of those places we can only reach by letting go. Like quicksand, the harder we struggle, the deeper we sink. Yet if we let go and listen in stillness, we find ourselves rising.

I’ve been sitting with this poem by Mark Nepo recently. I hope it speaks to you as well.

 

“Understory”

by Mark Nepo

I’ve been watching stars

rely on the darkness they

resist. And fish struggle with

and against the current. And

hawks glide faster when their

wings don’t move.

 

Still I keep retelling what

happens till it comes out

the way I want.

 

We try so hard to be the

main character when it is

our point of view that

keeps us from the truth.

 

The sun has its story

that no curtain can stop.

 

It’s true. The only way beyond

the self is through it. The only

way to listen to what can never

be said is to quiet our need

to steer the plot.

 

When jarred by life, we might

unravel the story we tell ourselves

and discover the story we are in,

the one that keeps telling us.

Bio:

Jenn Weidman is founder and Managing Director/CEO of Space Bangkok, a social enterprise that promotes resilience and innovation by changing the how of what we do individually and organizationally through encouraging ongoing reflective practice and incorporating reflective elements in facilitation, leadership development, capacity building, problem solving, and other work.  She is a facilitation, training, and peacebuilding professional with over 15 years' experience working on capacity building programs in Thailand and Southeast Asia.  Her areas of specialty include facilitation and training design and delivery, resilience and reflective practice, current issues of Thailand and Southeast Asia, cultural competency, concepts of peace and conflict resolution, conflict analysis/assessment, creativity and peacebuilding, and other peace and conflict studies issues.  An anthropologist by training, she is fluent in Thai.   
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