Does work-life balance really exist… or is it more of a blend? If you’ve listened to my podcast, you know that I don’t prescribe to the idea of work-life “balance” but I find the concept of work-life “harmony” or blending work and life as a better description for the joy & peace we all seek to find among our personal and professional lives. The pandemic brought a huge shift in the way that we work and live and some of the proverbial walls it broke down between our personal lives and our work lives have taught us a few things about achieving work-life blending. In today’s blog & podcast episode, I am sharing 3 things the pandemic can teach us about blending our personal and professional lives together in a way that brings more purpose and joy to the everyday.
3 Things the Pandemic Taught Us About Work-Life Blending
#1 Find a Continuous Flow
Being able to see all aspects of the day, week, month, or year in a way where it’s all continuous and not separate, enables me to find joy and access those moments of happiness and pleasure while dealing with low points of sadness and overwhelm. By not separating the stress of work and financial means needing to be met, but making it a continuous creation of both worlds, we can strive to find a continuous flow between our work and home lives. The pandemic has allowed us to find a blending of work life instead of it being so segmented and separate that it was actually causing more stress. Seeing our life as a continuous flow allows us to fuel our ultimate purpose and we see how all things align and intersect to build a full life filled with joy and sadness simultaneously so that we can capture the ability to be fully present with all areas, tasks, and emotions - no matter which area of life or work we find ourselves in at any given moment of the day.
#2 Embrace Your Community
The pandemic created an environment where crafting a mindset and ideology that it takes a village was an essential part of successfully blending our work and home lives in a way where we could work from home and still find joy. We’ve realized now more than ever that community matters and family, friend, and neighbor bonds and connections of strong support and love of all those around us are what will enable us to raise the next generation with a continuous flow between work and life that bring more joy to everyday interactions.
#3 Managing One’s Mindset Matters
Managing one’s mindset matters & the pandemic taught us that we have control over where and how we manage our feelings and emotions. By focusing on managing one’s mindset and actions rather than simply trying to manage one’s time and schedule in isolation, we are able to find more joy in the in-between moments of each day. We can tap into the things and places and moments that bring us happiness and take the time necessary to bring awareness to the actions, environments, and mindsets needed to create more of these moments.
Tune in to the podcast episode below to dive deeper into the lessons the pandemic taught us about blending work-life & how we can use these lessons to find more joy in our everyday lives!
Listen to the podcast episode below:
Thank you for listening in and reading along… I would love to hear your thoughts… Join the conversation & send me an email at elizabeth@integratedbeingllc.com. I look forward to connecting with you & going on this journey of life together.
xo, Lizzie