How I Achieved Work-Life Balance: A Personal Journey from Overwhelm to Empowerment

It was clear that I was headed in the direction of a breakdown. I was working all day, night and weekends – feeling like I could barely get through the day in one piece. This was not a new feeling, but something I had envisioned wouldn’t be a part of my experience now that I had my own company. In my mind, “Work/Life Balance” was now achievable – I mean, I’m my own boss after all…

Don’t get me wrong – I am active in being present, living mindfully and setting boundaries. I just kept making excuses for the things that were draining me. I told myself that “things would just get better soon.”

But then I realized I have more power than that. Way more. And I needed to exercise it. So I did what felt natural… I made a list.

But unlike my other “to-do” style task lists, this was directly associated with my emotions. What was draining me emotionally? And what was filling me up emotionally? Kind of like a pro/cons list, but 100% related to my overall life experience. So it began…What I found was there was actually a third list. One where things were both draining and filling. For example, my Woodworking class made it there. It brought me so much joy to be in class and create something with my hands. But the class had moved to a new location and with traffic, it would take me over an hour to go what should be 30 minutes. I would be in a really bad headspace thinking about all that wasted car time when I could have been chipping away at client work. So there it was, in the middle.

After I literally dumped out all the things that made it to the list, I then decided to group them. What items were purely work? Which were purely personal? And which were a blend?

From there I got a crisp piece of paper, my super special colored sharpies and went to town. I color-coded each category (work, life, both) and then put them in chronological order of what was most draining to least and then the same for most filling to least.

When I looked at my finished masterpiece I started to consider, how can I make sure that every day I have at least 3 filling activities? And in what ways could I outsource or emotionally let go of the items on the drain list that were causing the most friction.

I share this with you because it was so easy, it didn’t take a lot of time, but it created an INSTANT sense of relief for me.

Now I have a visual reminder and guide to help me craft my life in the way that I have the power to.

I check the list every time I feel I’m getting off-kilter. And I’m so proud of all the items that are no longer a drain because I did something about them! It’s a beautiful gift I gave myself and I hope you’ll take the time to give it to yourself too.

In the comments below, let me know how it goes and what you learn about yourself in the process. If you are looking for support, let me know here.