I am excited to head into May as we say goodbye to the grays of winter and hello to the bright greens of spring and summer.
Yet I do also hold some melancholy as I will miss the silence, peace, and solitude that the winter season brings us. The winter months call out to us to slow down and rest. This is one reason why I still choose to live in this part of our globe where the four seasons are very distinct. As much as we might like to, we cannot dig the soil, start a lawnmower, prune a tree, or clean the windows from November to April. We simply need to follow what nature is modelling to us – rest my friends – rest.
Harmony, flow, and balance are what essentially define peace in the world.
This is why I never resonated with the idea of ‘work-life’ balance. What is that exactly?
As an entrepreneur, I can tell you that work-life balance seemed non-existent. It didn’t when I had 3 kids under 5 years old and it still doesn’t now that I have 3 adult kids in my home, which translates to hearing “Mom! _____ is being a jerk, can you tell _____ to …”.
I think we, as mothers, can verify we all balanced infants on our laps as we attempted to bang away on the keyboard to send that report or email off to a boss, colleague, or client. Telling our toddler, “Be quiet, mommy is in a meeting”, or “Daddy needs to run out to go see a client, but I will be home to put you to bed, I promise”. We have all felt the pangs of guilt and shame as these comments resonated with us long after they passed our lips.
I don’t know about you – but I am done holding those low-frequency feelings inside of me! Bless and release is now my mantra. I decided long ago that I could still be a good mom and a solopreneur. And for those women in corporate, the same is true for you.
Men, I am sure you feel similarly.
There is no such thing as truly balancing work and family as you may still feel the need to act as the provider for the family.
I hope that you instead see this need for balance and equality to be similar to our climate as referred to above. There will be seasons that calls for us to be more absent from family life, and others where we can be much more present.
Work for me never ended at 5 pm and it doesn’t for many entrepreneurs, business owners, and executives who all feel they need to be ‘on’ during certain deadlines, launches, etc. The goal is to strive for harmony, not balance.
Communication acts as the glue and it is what keeps the family together during these times. Communication with your kids and your spouse. Share your sadness with them and reassure them that “this time too shall pass” and follow through on that promise with subsequent behaviour changes.
Communication allows you to mix business with pleasure – pleasure being with your kids, family, and friends. There is a season where we need to explain to our colleagues that we need to exit earlier during certain times because of family commitments, illnesses, or just because we need a freak’n mental break and play hooky one afternoon in the park.
So rather than trying to create this foreign concept of work-life balance, I accept the idea of mixing business with pleasure.
By the way, fun fact. When I first suggested calling my new program Mixing Business With Pleasure to my website designer, she highly discouraged me because it reminded her of an escort agency. I found this quite humourous. The more I use this term though, the more I like it, and I may bring it into more aspects of my work’s mission.
Why? Because work is a part of who we are!
Of all the values I have inherited from my parents, the one I have appreciated the most is my work ethic. It also happens to be the one that has allowed me to achieve what I have today.
So if you feel like I do about creating a movement of “mixing business with pleasure”, let me know by sending me an email. I would love to hear from you!