I’m determined not to get sucked into that whirlwind of work again. Before I retired from teaching, I was a chronic over-worker. I enjoyed my job (for the most part), and filling my out-of-school hours and weekends with work felt necessary and purposeful. Perhaps it was just easier to do more work than to figure out what else I could be doing? Now that I’ve been away from teaching for a while, I’ve been doing lots of other things. It’s been great! But, will a new, exciting job return me to my old over-working pattern?
Define Balance
A work/life balance just doesn’t make sense. It divides our time into two sections: either working or living. Like a balance scale, each side is weighted equally. But no healthy life is 50% work! There are lots of aspects that compose a healthy lifestyle: connections with others, fitness and health, fun and recreation, spiritual life, finances, personal growth, and also, work.
Life As A Wheel, Not A Balance Scale
Here is an example of a wheel of life used by life coaches to help clients determine which areas of their life might need some more attention. The wheel of life works by taking each section (you can change the section labels to suit your life situation) and ranking it from 1 to 10. A ten would be a section that is well attended to, and a one would be completely neglected. After ranking each section you can clearly see which areas are in need of attention.
Paid Or Unpaid: It’s Still Work
Many wheels only include a paid work section. However, since most people spend significant portions of their weekends and evenings doing chores (groceries, cleaning, yard work, mending things, cooking), I think an unpaid work section is useful. It helps you see where your time is going. (What do you think? Leave your comment below)
Always Striving For Harmony
Obviously, no one’s wheel of life is consistently in harmony. It’s an endless quest. Creating a balance between all of the sections is something that requires regular re-assessment and adjustments.* This is the stage I’m in at the moment: trying to keep my new career section in harmony with the other sections that have blossomed since I retired from teaching.
Retired, And Now What? 