Take a lesson from the equinox
GOES Satellite Captures Spring Equinox See NASA Images and Media Usage, NASA.
There is no such thing as work-life balance. The best we can hope for is work-life harmony.
“A solar equinox is a moment in time when the sun appears directly above the equator.” Wikipedia. Twice a year during the equinox, the earth’s axis is exactly perpendicular to the sun-earth line, so we experience nearly equal amounts of daylight to night. If we stand at the equator, the sun is directly overhead exactly at noon.
At that moment, in that spot, we’re in balance.
Each moment after, the earth begins to tilt, causing an imbalance of sunlight energy. I feel that deeply, that tilt, that imbalance, that misalignment of light.
Harmony
Like the earth, we rarely experience a perfect equinox of work-life balance, but harmony, now that’s something within our grasp.
Most days, like the earth, we tilt, sometimes allowing work to get more of our energy than our personal life; yet, our work often has flexibility to reverse that tilt, allowing us to focus on important life events when needed.
When we aim for harmony rather than balance, we live knowing that the mix will sometimes lean toward work; other times it will lean toward home.
Many days, Extension work is exhausting. We schedule events into the evening and weekend, transitioning from one program to the next as we unpack the car only to repack it the next day.
For me, harmony began when I recognized that I had a choice.
I could choose to say yes to a new meeting request or decline, acknowledging that I needed that time to focus my efforts on my current to-do list.
I could choose to take on a new project while asking for clarity about what would be removed from my already full task list.
I could choose to honor every vacation day available instead of giving them back to the organization unused. Note: This is perhaps my biggest regret: working through vacation days.
I could choose to focus my energy on the part of the project that only I could do and allow others’ help in the areas my expertise wasn’t needed. (Okay, I never mastered this one.)
I could choose to accept good enough instead of perfection. Tinkering toward perfection (that we rarely ever achieve) delays completing a project and moving on to the next (or going home for the night).
“The most sacred thing in life isn’t the path. It’s the freedom to choose it. Choose what makes you happy.”
Harmony is “when things seem right or suitable together,” according to Cambridge Dictionary. I think I agree. My happiest times in Extension were when my work life and my personal life fit nicely together even though they were rarely ever equal.
We all wobble.
Fun fact: In addition to tilting, the earth wobbles slightly on its axis, enough that in 12,000 years, the earth’s axis will no longer point toward Polaris, the north star, but will point instead to the star Vega. The wobbling is caused by the gravitational fight between the sun and moon.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it; how often we feel the tug-of-war pull between two sides of a disagreement, between the wishes of our supervisor and those of our stakeholders, between what we know to be right and what others believe to be right.
Outside forces try to break our harmony, trying to deviate our course.
Harmony comes when we remember we can choose.
Choices have consequences, but the power is yours to take the next step, to put your life back in harmony, to straighten out the wobbles and point again toward your north star.
Give this blog a try while you’re here.
How often do we do that? Stop too soon. Fail to take one more step. Fail to do the one last thing that will put us where we need to be. Fail to plot our course.
Read what I’m reading
These are my personal recommendations. I’ve read them and love them. Pick up these books wherever you shop or support my efforts by using the Amazon links provided.
About the book: “Explorers depend on the North Star when there are no other landmarks in sight. The same relationship exists between you and your right life, the ultimate realization of your potential for happiness. I believe that a knowledge of that perfect life sits inside you just as the North Star sits in its unaltering spot.” (Martha Beck) Prefer Kindle? Buy North Star Kindle. Or, purchase the North Star Hardcover or Softcover.
About the book: This book is rich and a needed read for everyone who feels they’ve lost their purpose. “Happiness comes from what we do. Fulfillment comes from why we do it.” Prefer the Kindle version? Buy Find Your Why Kindle on Amazon.