Work Life Balance: Are You Too Busy Building a Life to Live It?

Maybe you're sitting with your coffee this morning wondering where the last few years went.

You had plans. Dreams. Things you wanted to change.

Perhaps you've been working towards the promotion because earning more money would finally give you some breathing room. Maybe you're building a business, saving for a home, trying to lose weight, getting the children through school or simply trying to get yourself into a position where life feels a little easier.

You haven't been doing nothing.

Quite the opposite.

You've been incredibly busy creating the life you want.

But somewhere amongst all that creating, perhaps you've forgotten to actually live in it.

When was the last time you sat outside with your coffee simply because the sun was shining?

When did you last go for a walk without turning it into exercise, counting your steps or thinking about everything waiting for you when you got home?

When did you last phone a friend because you missed her rather than telling yourself you'd arrange something when things calmed down?

Maybe you've been so focused on creating a beautiful future that you've stopped noticing some of the beauty already sitting around you.

We can become rather good at this, can't we?

We'll take the weekend away when we have a little more money.

We'll start wearing the clothes we love when we've lost some weight.

We'll invite people over when we've finished decorating.

We'll spend more time outside when we've caught up with everything.

We'll buy fresh flowers when we can justify spending money on them.

Except perhaps you don't need to buy them at all.

Maybe there are flowers growing in your garden right now that you could cut, put into a vase and place on the kitchen table.

Nothing enormous has happened.

Your bank balance hasn't changed.

You haven't reached the goal.

But something about the experience of your ordinary Tuesday morning has.

And perhaps that's what we sometimes forget.

Living isn't only the holidays, the beautiful house, the successful career or finally having enough money to do everything we've dreamed about.

It's also the coffee.

The flowers.

The birds outside the window.

The friend you haven't seen for months.

The book you've been meaning to read.

The music you love but haven't played for ages.

The things that remind you of you.

This is where I think the conversation becomes about more than work life balance.

Because when we're constantly striving towards something, we can begin measuring ourselves by how much we're achieving.

There's always something else to do. Something else to improve. Another goal to reach.

And without noticing it, the life we're trying to create starts becoming proof of who we are.

When I earn that much, I'll know I've succeeded.

When I lose the weight, I'll feel better about myself.

When I get the promotion, I'll know all the hard work was worth it.

When everyone else is okay, perhaps I'll finally have time for me.

But where are you while all of this is happening?

Not the productive you. Not the responsible you. Not the woman who's keeping everything moving.

You.

The woman who loves certain music.

Who has a favourite flower.

Who enjoys sitting in the sunshine.

Who loves beautiful things around her.

Who wants to laugh more.

Who perhaps used to do things simply because she enjoyed them, without needing them to achieve anything at all.

Maybe she hasn't disappeared.

Maybe she's simply been waiting for you to make a little room for her again.

And this isn't about giving up on the things you want.

You don't have to stop building the business.

You don't have to stop wanting the promotion.

You don't have to stop saving for the house, changing your body, creating financial freedom or dreaming about travelling the world.

Wanting more for your life isn't the problem.

Perhaps it's believing that you have to wait until you have it before you're allowed to enjoy the life you're already living.

There can be ambition and coffee in the garden.

There can be financial goals and a bunch of flowers picked from outside.

There can be work and an afternoon with a friend.

There can be dreams for tomorrow and a lovely ordinary Wednesday.

One doesn't have to wait for the other.

And perhaps work life balance isn't about perfectly dividing our hours between working and living.

Maybe it's simply recognising when one part of our life has become so important that everything else has started disappearing around it.

Perhaps today is worth looking around. Not at everything that's missing. Not at how far you still have to go.

Just at what is already here.

Maybe there is a garden you've stopped sitting in because you're always too busy. A friend you've been meaning to call. A dress you've been saving for somewhere special.

A dog who would happily take another walk.

A favourite meal you haven't cooked in ages.

A part of yourself you've unintentionally pushed to the bottom of the list.

Because the perfect life we're trying so hard to create may never arrive in one beautifully wrapped package.

Life seems to arrive in moments instead.

And perhaps some of those moments have been waiting for us to notice them. You can still want more. You can still build something extraordinary.

You can still have dreams that matter deeply to you.

But perhaps you don't have to sacrifice today's life in order to create tomorrow's.

Because this bit counts too.

Is there something you've been telling yourself needs to happen before you can really enjoy your life?

More money?

Less weight?

More time?

A different job?

A successful business?

Everyone else finally being okay?

And while you've been working towards it, what parts of yourself have quietly slipped out of your days?

Perhaps today doesn't need a dramatic change.

Maybe it's simply worth asking:

What do I already have available to me today that would make me feel a little more present in my own life?

Sometimes living the life we're working so hard to create begins with noticing that parts of it are already here.

♡