When my boss invited me to be part of a work-life balance study he was conducting for a module in his master’s degree program at a prestigious university, I never knew the findings would change my approach to work. This is not an account of that study but rather my outlook on the subject matter.
The line between work and personal life is not black and white; it is too often blurred. More so today that technology had become a key part of our lives. People today receive and respond to work related emails anywhere they are irrespective of the time and place. Even when on vacations, I have seen people who respond to official mails. With the economic struggles, there is so much pressure on employees to deliver on huge expectations. And so to keep their jobs, employees often work late nights, weekends and even on festive periods.
Work life imbalance doesn’t just affect only those who are gainfully employed, but even those who work for themselves can experience work-life balance issues.
Your health is equally as important as your wealth; health is wealth has become a cliché these days. However that it doesn’t make it less of a truth. I have seen a lot of people break down due to work-life imbalance.

Why you deserve work life balance. Your family needs you. Your partner needs you. When I started working in Lagos, I didn’t visit my parents in Port Harcourt for two good years, and my excuse? WORK! I lost one of them last year and it has been difficult forgiving myself for not making out time to be with them all the while.

So you need to set boundaries, seek to reduce weekend work. Let work stay back at work when you leave work. So that when you get home, you really can be at home. Your family deserves quality time with you. For God’s sake stop taking work home, with careful planning and scheduling, you can finish your task for each day without left-overs.

At the core we all work for our personal lives, to live better, to have freedom to do what we want to do. Work is a means to an end, therefore you deserve work life balance. And yet most times we let the means (work) become an end in itself. We do this when we let work that should ordinarily be giving us freedom we need take us captives.

So decide to be selfish for once and change for good! Close early from work.

Take your kids out on weekends.

Make time for your partner.

Help your kids with their home work.

Visit that friend you have been planning to visit for years now.

Go see the movies with your family.

You really deserve it!


http://lightednation.com/2016/01/you-deserve-work-life-balance/