Work-Life Balance: The Lie

In case you haven’t noticed my absence from the FT Careers scene, I am here to update you: lately I was in a funk. The funkiest funk! Days and weeks went on without a shred of writing inspiration. What happened, you wonder? Have I suddenly found happiness? Am I riding the ultimate wave of life and career bliss?

Couldn’t be further from the truth.

This little thing called writer’s block kicked it, or at least I think that is the diagnosis. I’m not the most in touch person when I needn’t be. Isn’t that a sucker when it happens? Nope? Never happened to you?

So after painfully acknowledging I will not be able to write for a while -even if it saved my life- I decided to get proactive and refocus.

Sure, my mind was telling me I need to give up, retire to my sofa and (maybe) cry my eyeballs out as my identity was fading, but my little heart was screaming: don’t give up, you nob! Move! Move! Move!!! So I hit the gym. I know, I know. Cliche.

Who am I, I wondered? What am I good at? Shhh… I’m still awaiting an answer.

See, work-life balance is a myth. You can chase it if you chose to, but take it from us, it’s an illusion. A lie.

There you go, I said it!

Yeah…yeah… you might think I’m cynical and just wanna kill your thunder or rain on your parade… but am I?

Allow me to give an example… one of my jobs involves 13 hour shifts. So let’s do the maths: 5am wake-up call, shift starts at 7am, ends at 8pm. I travel home for a short 30 minutes, try to unwind and pass out in exhaustion for another 5 am wake-up call. Where is the balance when sometimes even the recommended 8 hour sleep are hard to cram in? Where do you fit the rest of your life: relationships, children, physical health… you know… the important stuff?

So next time you feel you’re struggling with the concept and read a thousand articles on How To Harmoniously Reach Work-Life Balance you know what to do! Call BS!!! Shenanigans!!!

Life is not a thing you can fragment to find the perfect harmony amongst all its components. It’s messy, it’s hectic, and you might even change your mind on who you are, what you want to do, how much time you’ll dedicate for each area, etc etc.

Join us and call shenanigans on work-life balance!!!

Share your life and work disappointments with us. We look forward to hearing what challenges you face in the work-life drama.

Peace, love & harmony!

Article by Ioana

Ioana Lazarov is a Careers Blogger for Express and Star, and a contributor to a number of other sites. She is a graduate of University of Wolverhampton School of Applied Sciences with a Bachelor of Science with Honors in Psychology, and additionally holds a Life Coaching Diploma. Her career pursuits and passions include Psychology and Mental Health Rehabilitation, Automotive Electric Systems Manufacturing and Engineering and Retail. When she’s not tweeting, facebook-ing and blogging, she enjoys the finer things in life: friends, food, traveling and sports.

Ioana has written 22 awesome articles for us at FT Careers

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