Work/life balance is unobtainable.

Work/life balance is unobtainable.

Work/life balance is unobtainable only if you’re not willing to do the inner work and get uncomfortable. 

Earlier this week, I spoke with a potential client. She was suffering from high levels of burnout and looking to achieve a better work/life balance. 

As we spoke, it became abundantly clear to me that she had a really hard time saying no. (I’ve been there and still have my moments.)

Her inability to say no was creating extra stress and anxiety every day because she was unable to unplug and recharge. She hoped for more time away from her phone and job; she hoped to sit down at the end of the work day and just relax without feeling like she was missing something. 

I used to feel this way too. I was constantly responding to all the notifications on my phone. I said yes and committed to all the things. It felt real difficult for me to set boundaries and begin to say no. I thought people wouldn’t love me; I thought my clients wouldn’t want to work with me if I wasn’t readily available. And being comfortable with saying no took some time. 

Ultimately, the thing that helped me most was this, “When I say yes to something I have to say no to something else.” I begin to see the things I really wanted to spend time doing were being sacrificed every time I said yes when I really wanted to say no and I was no longer willing to do that.

For instance, when I over committed to my kids’ school functions, I was actually saying no to quality time with my kids. 

These days, no is a complete sentence for me, but I had to do some inner work to be okay with saying no and to stand firm in my boundaries. 

We have a finite amount of time each day and if you don’t control your day, someone else will.