Work, Life, Balanced?

Last week, I had a strange day. I spent the bulk of an afternoon meal prepping all the protein we’d have for the week. It was a day where I sent out a couple of emails in the morning and caught a bit of a podcast while I prepped and stored the food. Here’s the biggest reason it was a strange day: I am not a meal prepper. I only meal prep for families who need it during postpartum. I prefer to think about what I feel like making or eating and having that. I don’t like buying too much food at once because we prefer to buy our meat as fresh as possible. Yet, here we are living through the COVID-19 social distancing quarantine and we had to buy a giant pack of chicken wings and breasts.

I spent most of the time while I was meal prepping thinking “I hate this”. Granted, I was separating chicken and had beef stew on the stove too, so I feel it was warranted. I was a cooking machine! But once I was done I felt SO accomplished. I was so excited that I was done for the rest of the week! Let’s skip the fact that my husband referred to the meals I made as leftovers. Let’s skip the fact that my children decided that because they slept during nap together, everyone would fight bedtime. I did something new and it paid off! I spent the evening catching up on e-mails. Then I spent some time wondering if I spent too much time on food and not enough on clients/website updates, or answering emails. But this is my second month back after having my second baby! I have to show myself the same grace I tell mamas to extend themselves. Especially now. 

One thing I know that I’ve been feeling along with many others is imbalance. I feel like I’m either too focused on work or not focused enough on work. Some days leave no room for inefficiencies but surprise! I’m human. 

Each day, I try to get a bit of everything done but usually the day lands heavier on work or home. I realize that this is not balance - the days aren’t even. But here’s the truth - I don’t believe in work-life balance. Mostly because the “life” portion can get pretty complicated. I believe we can create simple routines to help manage the inevitable imbalance of working inside and outside our homes. The imbalance of not being able to fully throw ourselves into work and only work! Or family and only family! One often affords us the other - at least it 100% does in my case. As much as I love the families I work with, I was inspired to do this work by my own pregnancy. That means, I love and need time with my own family. And then, I need time alone to be the best version of myself for them. I believe that we can incorporate coping tools that make it easier to move through the world when we are trying to find balance. There are days when you have to lean in heavier to your family to make the days where you have to lean into your work easier or sometimes, worth it. 

I would encourage any mama struggling with the idea of work-life balance to abandon the idea that this is something to be achieve. Our lives - motherhood, relationships, friendships, hobbies, etc. are big defining things. Work can be equally defining. Just imagine the next time you feel that you’re too active in one area or another, that your are in the middle of the seesaw and your are redistributing yourself (your time), in increments as small as 15 minutes to feel a little more balanced.