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Is Work-Life Balance A Real Thing? 6 People Get Honest

Is Work-Life Balance A Real Thing? 6 People Get Honest

Sometimes it just seems like work-life balance is a myth

 

 

We talk a big game about keeping our sanity amidst work, romance and family here; we can’t help it. Work-life balance is the thing we all strive for at the end of the day—or start of the weekend. But despite our best efforts, we will read emails while we’re out with family, we will check social media stats while we dine with friends and yes, we text and search for memes throughout the work hours, too. 

 

So what even is work-life balance, other than some myth we can’t quite make a reality? 

Is Work-Life Balance A Real Thing? 6 People Get Honest

Technically speaking, it’s when we’re able to freely move between what’s personal and what’s professional without feeling like we’re sacrificing one or the other. But does a technical definition make it a real possibility? Something we can actually experience? 

 

Maybe. 

 

RELATED: Get That Mind Balance: What To Do When You’re Overstimulated & Overworked

 

Miko Buluran

27-years-old, male, single

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

Every time there's a holiday or family gathering, but I'm scheduled to go on duty at the hospital, patients trump personal life every time.

 

Phoebe

36-years-old, female, married with kids

 

Wonder: What makes work-life balance easy/difficult to accomplish?

The culture of the team or company you are in. And the [guilty] feeling that you’re not supposed to take those leaves. But you DO deserve it. Deserve na deserve mo! 

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

My kids only have one mom and the office has a lot of managers they can rely on. The company will survive, but you not being there for a program will have an impact on your children.

 

 

Irma Joe King

3x-years-old, female, married with kids

 

Wonder: What is work-life balance?

Being able to find the right amount of time to meet obligations in both work and life. More importantly, it has to be a balance that keeps you growing and moving towards your dreams. 

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

I gave up work, to focus on family. It’s been difficult, but I will never regret it. Maybe some time in the future, I [can] give little more to finding my own successes in life. However, being able to provide what my family needed is a success on its own. 

 

Hale Donnie Zist

39-years-old, male, engaged

 

Wonder: What makes work-life balance easy/difficult to accomplish?

It'll never be easy. I like comparing it to someone needing to juggle several objects, each with different dimensions and weights. 

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

Although it shouldn't be the case, my reflex always has me prioritizing work over personal matters (as long as it isn't life or death). Personal life tends to be more forgiving. So no one specific tie, but it's now more a general rule.

 

Is Work-Life Balance A Real Thing? 6 People Get Honest

 

Aliping Sagilidgilid

36-years-old, female, single

 

Wonder: What makes work-life balance easy/difficult to accomplish?

Depends on the arrangement of the individual, but in my case it’s difficult because a lot of time is unnecessarily spent on non-value-adding tasks (i.e. waiting in traffic)

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

Probably when I reached a breaking point at a previous employer—I was working 12-hour days, rarely taking leaves or working even while on annual or sick leave and was over capacity at work. I found myself crying on my way home from work one night and realized I was slowly killing myself with the stress, so I decided to resign and find employment at a company with lighter workload (and higher pay!). In short, other options are there if you look for it, or you need to sit down once in a while to self-evaluate your priorities and what you’re willing to let go off to stay sane ?

 

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

24-years-old, female, single

 

Wonder: What is work-life balance?

Being able to have enough time for yourself to recuperate after working hard during a 40-hour work week. Also having enough time to re-connect with friends a family and live a life outside of work despite being away most weekdays.

 

Wonder: What ultimately leads you to choose work over personal life or personal life over work?

I chose personal life over work because I finally realized that no amount of money paid or accolades given can ever bring back the health and social life you once had. Work is important—but family and yourself more so than that.

 

 

RELATED: Has Advocating for Social Justice Become the Shiny, New Thing for Those Chasing Clout?

 

So is work-life balance a simple equation we’ve all just been unable to solve? No; not even close. It’s not a + b = c, much as we’d like it to be. It’s an ever-evolving equation, with morphing rules that only you can ultimately decide. 

 

I don’t think work-life balance is a possibility; I don’t think it’s something that anyone can really achieve—talking with others just proved this to me. It’s about priorities and what you can live and what you’re willing to sacrifice. It’s about where you are in your life, who you have in your life and who you ultimately want to be. 

 

The great thing is that there are multiple opportunities. Your choice this week doesn’t mean you have to make the same one next week. So don’t beat yourself up over a standard you hold to yourself; give yourself the freedom to be flexible. Maybe erase the myth of work-life balance from your mind and replace it with something a little more realistic, like contentment or being able to live with yourself or not hating yourself at the end of the day?

 

Sounds like the new dream. 

 

 

Art Alexandra Lara

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