The WWW (the who, the what, and the why) on Balanced Lifestyle
Me and my interest in what I now refer to as a “balanced lifestyle” goes way back, with plenty of writing, posting, and living experiences before this moment.
It all started during the time I spent living in Denmark for a couple of years. It was there that I first encountered the concept of hygge, the importance of work-life separation, the value of my own time, and the significance of respecting others’ choices in how they live their lives.
After returning to Romania, I began writing about this on two different blogs so far, the first being “Work and Life Balance,” and the second being a personal blog under my maiden name. However, life happens, and I eventually gave up both of these blogs. Nevertheless, the desire to share my thoughts and experiences about the pursuit of balance in life remained strong, and that is why I have decided to gather everything under this new blog.
When I became a mother, in 2021, my life became anything but balanced. Taking care of a baby requires your constant attention, and even going to the bathroom alone becomes a cause for celebration. Therefore, I realized in those moments that it’s impossible to have a balanced life all the time. But, it’s still important to strive for balance and never forget how significant that is while enjoying and embracing the life we live.
On this blog and my Instagram, I want to give an honest portrayal of what an imperfect life looks like for someone who is genuinely striving for balance. I’ll be sharing about my work life, mom life, wife life, hiker life, nutritionist life, and all the other roles I juggle. I’ll be writing in both English and Romanian on my blog and Instagram since the translation tools available now do a fantastic job of translating everything into any language you feel comfortable reading.
For years, I’ve spoken about “Work and Life Balance,” as I genuinely believe that being happy and satisfied in both your personal and professional life is key to living beautifully and achieving success. After a while the concept evolved, and there was an increasing amount of talk about work-life integration or work-life blending, which further emphasizes the need to see these two domains as one, with more common elements than one might initially assume.
However, I’m no longer satisfied with any of these concepts, as there are so many other things in “life” and “work” that should be blended in as well. You can wear so many different hats in your life, and it’s unfair to simply group them all under a general umbrella term. As a result, I believe we should consider our lifestyle, the roles we play, and the choices we make to balance our tasks, peace of mind, and soul integrity.
In tribute to the past, I’ll share a brief history of these concepts and what they mean before we delve into the balanced lifestyle concepts as time goes on. If you find it interesting, make sure to follow this blog and my Instagram. Here’s the history I promised.
Work-life balance
The concept promotes a clear separation between a career (the “9 to 5” approach), and everything “personal” such as family, kids, health, hobbies, and community. A lot of theories around “how to achieve work-life balance” go towards teaching us how to make time for the things that matter, how to prioritize our goals, and strive to keep a balance between the two main domains. Needless to say, all these hardly work when we want to give our best towards a bigger purpose, and intentionally choose to focus most or all of our time in only one direction.
Our time is limited, and it’s close to impossible to focus separately on so many areas on the same day. We’ll always have to choose one thing over the other. Also, in such a connected world we live in today, with different time zones, checking your emails during your free time or solving an urgent personal matter during working hours is something you would need or want to do when thinking about your bigger purpose. Strict time limitation and allocation between work and life is a utopia I believe, and not something we’d strive for if we want to be mentally healthy.
Work-life integration or “blend”
Work-life integration or “blend” introduces the idea that we can focus on various aspects of our lives at the same time. From spending quality time with family, career goals, getting involved in charity work, or pursuing a particular hobby, a work-life blend is about being treated as an individual rather than a resource able to drive benefits for a company. It’s about the uniqueness each human brings to the table and being seen for that.
Work-life integration is about how you spend your time, and how much of it is to pursue goals that matter to you. Do you love your job and it is something you want to be doing and growing into? Are your hobbies helping you into being a better self and do they contribute to your well-being? Are your professional and personal goals anywhere connected and aligned?
Having happy and committed employees who feel valued in the workplace through the unique contribution they bring to the table is what makes the difference between successful companies and workplaces that will keep struggling with hiring and retaining good people. The work-life blend is not anymore about how an individual perceives his life and profession, it’s about how both employer and employee should switch their thinking around these two domains that are more and more interconnected.
We all want to live a meaningful life and that’s why besides a career we want to spend time pursuing personal and community goals. Blending all these in and finding a common ground is therefore the key to being happy, productive, and living a life that matters to us. Keep reading this blog and the upcoming articles to find important resources and thinking that help you see the life you’re living through a more balanced perspective.
