So this, is a totally unexpected lil post, but I was just chatting (emailing? e-chatting? whatever, virtually hanging!) with the lovely Blaise Hunter when she shared with me pure gold that had my jaw dropping, my fingers quickly screen-shotting, and thereafter my brain shouting, "You must spread this!!"
So, with her permission, that's what this is. A little (lightly edited) excerpt from a gorgeous email by the incredibly talented author, speaker, and mama Blaise Hunter, on work/life balance and its link to self-acceptance.
Yes, the work/life balance is tricky no matter where you are in your life. My husband's currently taking his Masters online, working two jobs, parenting, and acting as my partner. So, right now we don't have a set plan on how to balance but we are committed to pushing through this hectic time and know it's in store for our future.
"The way we balance is just letting go of unrealistic expectations of ourselves."
There are days I can't have a clean home. There are days I forget my kid's dance class. And there are days I am a rock star and slay it all day long..
"So the balance is just acceptance, really."
I have no boundaries between work and home. I steal moments to work and I carve out time for myself, my husband and my daughter.
For sure, I struggle to write now and again, even when it's a topic I am passionate about. I find when I am struggling to find the words, I just need to take a break. Obviously, my mind is cluttered. So I take me time, rest and head back to the computer when I feel a bit more decluttered. Then, it just seems to flow organically.
Take from this what you will, of course. But, I'll tell you, what got me most of all was this idea of balance being "acceptance." See, I'd asked Blaise about how she manages personal/professional life, working from home. I expected her to say something along the lines of, "I disconnect from my email by x time and on the weekend days I do x, y and z to protect my family time."
But instead, she was so honest in that life is not so cut and dry in the real world. Sometimes, our To Do lists are a million miles long. Sometimes, everything is a mess. Sometimes, there isn't the space to create boundaries between work and play. Sometimes, no always, it's okay to not "have it all together."
And when we can accept that, I mean really accept that deep in our bones (not just on an intellectual level), we let go of this invisible strain we've placed on our own shoulders, and just... trust—trust that, as Blaise said, equilibrium will be found in another season of life.
Still working on that? Me too. We can be in it, together.
PS. Blaise is an amazing speaker. I know because I heard the goddess literally roar at the Fearless Women's Summit. If you want to learn more about her, catch her on tour, etc. check out her website here, as well as her Facebook page here.
