Every minute of every day, each person on this planet is experiencing a funny thing we like to call life. Different for everyone, but somehow, either directly or indirectly, connected to a larger community of people. Our lives consist of people, places, and responsibilities that define us as individuals and how we’re able co-exist on this spinning ball in the universe.

What I want to talk about in my blog is one of the important responsibilities that we each have in our lives. We not only prepare for this responsibility by going to school, but we also have to learn how to balance the rest of our daily lives along with it. I’m talking, of course, about our work.

Today I want to define both work and life and then talk about how we as individual people have to challenge ourselves and find the right balance in order to achieve a fulfilling life.

Work

When you hear the word “work” what comes to mind? Is it the dreaded drive to and from the office? For many people, work is the four letter word needed to make life happen. It feeds the family, pays the bills, keeps a roof over your head and on occasion, if you’re lucky, lets you get out of town for a little while so you can recharge and go at it all over again.

Many of us go to school for it, and there are plenty of us that bounce around from occupation to occupation searching for something that fits our lifestyle. Some of us are lucky enough to do what we always longed to do and enjoy while sometimes life requires us to do what we have to in order to continue on with our lives.

I’m fortunate enough to really enjoy my work at KeyMedia Solutions. I enjoy helping our clients with their marketing plans. Helping them grow their brand and expand their business. Sure there are stressful times, every job has that, but I work with a great group of individuals whose unique personalities add to the exciting events of each day. We work great as a team and, given the amount of time we spend together, function as a family.

Life

Life encompasses every hour of the day. It’s the pursuit of what makes us happy and what gives us a sense of fulfillment in our day to day activities. It’s the reason we get up in the morning and why we rest at night. But ultimately, life has a different meaning and purpose for everyone.

Life also delivers us each multiple responsibilities. These responsibilities are often the driving force behind why we go to work every day. For some people, the work that they do defines who they are and what their lives have become. For others, they choose to devote themselves to their family, friends, and the time they have for themselves. It provides a sense of identity.

This daily pursuit to construct our identity can be stressful enough as it is without the help of life throwing its two cents into the mix. We struggle each day with shaping and reshaping our identity that sometimes we don’t see it coming, how’s the saying go “Such is Life.”

We all know things happen, sometimes they’re tragic or sometimes they can seem tragic because of the amount of disruption they cause in our day.  It can be as simple as a sick child or having to take the car in for a service. Whatever your disruption is, it can throw your day out of balance and feel like a downward spiral.

Balance

Balance is an interesting word when you stop to contemplate the meaning. It can relate to a state of equilibrium or the equal distribution of a given amount. It can be used to describe harmony in nature or for the sake of our conversation today, “life.”

Balance is what we all strive for in our work vs life relationship. We want to succeed and do well in our careers, but not at the cost of losing touch with our family. We want our employer to know that we’re committed to them and the company, but we also want our family to know we’re committed to them as well.

How then do you put in the extra hours of work, but yet still get home for family dinner? What happens when you need to take that out of town business trip, but the kiddo has an art show? These are the situations that disrupt the work vs. life balance which we’re forced to deal with.

Balance sounds easy enough but sometimes feels like the hardest thing to do. So how does one create an effective work vs life balance you ask? Sorry, but I don’t know. I work at it every day just like you and hope I’m doing it right. I’m fortunate enough to work for a company that has family at its foundation. Not only our personal family but as mentioned earlier our work family as well.

We do things together regularly which helps build work relationships, which in turn builds the team. We back each other up when a “Life” moment happens and need to step away to deal with it. There’s a lot to be said for the confidence that a simple act from the company like that can instill in an employee. It’s also what makes me feel a little less guilty when I do miss dinner to finish something at work.

Balance is a state we each strive for all the time and sometimes we get it and sometimes we don’t, but we keep trying – every day and every second; finding happiness with the people around us and handling the responsibilities life chooses to throw our way.