Work-Life Balance

Anyone who knows me knows that I struggle with the whole work-life-balance thing. I throw myself into projects, running at full speed until I collapse in a heap and then get up and do it all over again. The whole not sleeping thing just compounds that all. Even with hobbies, I go weeks with no crafting and then spend a whole weekend knitting everything in sight. (It's not mania per se, it's just a pattern of manic-like behavior I learned at a young age.)

In any case, I am always looking at ways to be more in balance. The past three weeks of downtime I've had between projects has been wonderful. I feel more centered than I have in a long time. Of course, better is not the same as good.

My dear friend Janice recently sent around a link to a post about just this thing. It's from the blog Feld Thoughts.

In the post Janice sent around, he talks about 5 types of vacation:

  1. Spend Time Away
  2. Go Dark Weekend
  3. Excursion
  4. Downshift
  5. Visit

I realized that I only ever take Excursions or Visits. Looking at the definitions Feld gives, it's not surprising that I never return from them as rested and refreshed as I hoped. I'm not sure that I can swing the Spend Time Away soon, but I'm seriously considering incorporating the Go Dark Weekend into my life.

In the vacation post, he refers to another post of his on how he discovered work life balance. I actually found this post more helpful and it's what inspired me to write this post. Again, he has 5 habits for keeping himself in balance:

  1. Spend Time Away (this one seems to be key)
  2. Life Dinner
  3. Segment Space
  4. Be Present
  5. Meditate

I can't wait to start doing these. I love the idea of the Life Dinner. I do a good job at the segmenting space (I tend not to work at home and rarely work at home after being in the office all day). But I certainly need improvement on the being present and meditating.

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Chiara published on March 31, 2008 10:01 AM.

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