Get over the frustration with the struggle to balance work and life by realizing the struggle is real. No matter what life looks like, it is hard for everyone. It is okay if it is hard for you to balance it all.
Whenever you gather a group of women together, the conversation inevitably turns to how hard it is to balance the duties at home and work. It doesn’t matter if the women are successful business executives or stay-at-home moms charged with keeping things running smoothly on the home front. There is always a conversation about how to balance work, family and still squeeze in some personal time. Inevitably someone leaves the conversation upset because she feels like a failure because she can’t make it all work.
It is fantastic to finally realize that there is no magic secret to the work-life balance puzzle and that is okay.
To read more about work/life balance, check out the following:
Work Life Balance – Learn New Tricks – It is fantastic to know there is always something new to learn in the work-life balance battle. Click here to read more.
or
Avoid Excess and Learn to Balance Work and Home – I am a woman who works at home and know it is very easy to slip into working during all my waking hours. Click here to read more.
Also, check out our Confidence Tip of the Day YouTube channel for hundreds of videos on creating the confidence you need to succeed.
Today I am advocating for a different way of looking at it. Get over the frustration, kick it out the door and say, forget it all and accept and embrace your life, whatever it is, and keep moving. This is a great situation to use the seven stages of grief to handle:
1 Shock and denial – what happens when a woman realizes that she has responsibilities at home and work that ideally need 28 hours per day and that there are only 24 hours in each of her days.
2 Pain and guilt – what happens when she realizes that she cannot attend both her child’s school play and the big client pitch meeting at the same time so she must pick and she chooses to go to the client pitch meeting instead.
3 Anger and bargaining – what happens when she tries to explain to her family and her job that she can make it work and that she is sorry she missed the school play and went to the client meeting and that she is sorry she didn’t go out for drinks after the meeting but went home to feed the kids.
4 Depression, reflection, and loneliness – what happens when she realizes that she is not squeezing 28 hours into 24 and that there is no way she can do it. She feels sad and spends hours thinking about what she should have done, could have done.
5 Upward turn – what happens when she begins to realize there is hope, a chance that there may be a way to stop feeling so bad about the job she is doing juggling work, home, and her personal needs.
6 Reconstruction and working through – what happens when she realizes that there really are only 24 hours in each day and that sometimes work will rule her life and sometimes family will rule her life and that is okay. It is at this point that she starts prioritizing things situation by situation and accepting the fact that there is no 50/50 rule that will work and that is okay.
7 Acceptance and hope – what happens when she decides to be happy. She accepts that work-life balance is a myth that she no longer has to believe. She decides she is happy with her new knowledge that she doesn’t have to have it all and instead can enjoy and appreciate her life for what it is – full of opportunity to fail, but also open to the possibility for so many wonderful accomplishments.
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In conclusion, it is fantastic to finally realize that there is no magic secret to the work-life balance puzzle and that is okay. So, the question for you this fantastic day is when are you going to embrace your life and be happy?
I struggled while married to my ex. We divorced and everything still sits on my shoulders. But I am free of cleaning up after a grown man. As a single mom with health issues, I just have to do my things in chunks of time in order to try to keep up with all the chores.
I am also having a hard time balancing my time, I just have a lot of work and things to do.
It can be tough to get a good work/life balance. Being both realistic and flexible about priorities can really help a person achieve that happy balance.
I agree that finding a balance can be challenging. It’s important to do our best to find peace and contentment with whatever stage in life we are in.
It’s very hard to balance between the two. I bet when it’s successfully balanced it’s fantastic and stress-free. Thanks for sharing!
I’m older, into my second career after a retirement, and I find I struggle with this too, especially since now I spend time with the things I love.
I totally deal with all of this. I struggle with my part time job because I am not happy there, but I don’t want to miss my kid’s life events, and mad because I can’t start a career because nothing is flexible enough for me as a parent, and nothing pays enough either. I feel like I am being punished because I am a dedicated parent. Part of me wants to just go full time, but I would never get back those years. It really is a never-ending struggle.
Work-life balance is something we all desire but actually hard to achieve. You’ve shared good ways to approach it here though.
This is such a great post! At some points, work/life balance is impossible and we have to accept it!
I don’t think there is such a thing as work life balance. Sometimes work requires more of your time and sometimes your family requires it.
My work and home life balance is so off. It’s already 8:39pm and I’m still working. Yikes.
This is very true. It can be hard trying to balance everything. Definitely something I needed to read today.
I knew because we all need it today or maybe everyday.
Thank you, Janeane. How did you know I needed this today? Or maybe everyday?
Ture we need to find balance between work and family otherwise it will be difficult to maintain both.
Everyone has their own struggles in balancing life and work. It’s really tough. But I know that we can get through it with our family. Thanks for sharing this blog.
Yes! We need to look forward and not to stop! We need to improve our life every day and to find the right balance between the personal and professional life!
This post gives a totally fresh perspective about work-life balance, which is something everyone strives for. I think the stress of maintaining the balance itself creates a lot of stress and frustration.
This is so true and also I suppose balance looks different to every person !
Love this. Even if I’m not in the situation I could really imagine how this feels like and what happens. So glad to read this.
I really try to incorporate some of these ideas in my day to day life. It’s difficult sometimes but that’s life. The important thing to do is remember life has it’s ups and downs but it’s important to keep moving forward no matter the pace
Maybe for single people it could be possible but for moms? Nah.
Definitely. Even work at home moms are struggling to balance it. Thanks for this motivating article.
We really cannot avoid some incidents that we need to choose between work and life. It’s really hard but we are doing our best.
Work life balance is really a matter of choice since at some point we could not avoid conflicts. As long as we are happy with our choice and it is for the betterment.
I am happy to read this, it reminds me to let go of the guilt to move forward in life. Thank you!
I remember a few years ago, I was work and in full time education and as well as being a single mother. It was very hard but I was highly motivated and kept it going. Balancing was hard at first but as soon as I set my priority, the rest was history.
I think once we let go of the guilt, it gets easier. We have to work to provide.
There really is no solution. It is a day by day process of trying to balance everything as smoothly as possible while still feeling accomplished. And a lot of days are unsuccessful and that is okay!
Work/life balance is so hard to master, especially if you’re very driven. When I first started my blog, I was just consumed by my work. I had to learn how to create a balance or I would have lost my mind.