"Work-life balance" to "Life's work"
Muse #328 - moved on...
Once upon a time work used to be “work” because I had to do it. Got to earn a living, I thought. Then, there came this concept called “Work-life” balance. And over time this concept has deteriorated to work-life imbalance. Work has taken over life in many cases. Thankfully, I am not one of them.
But I do know others who are struggling with this. And then came the pandemic. And this got worse. The work-life imbalance I mean. The commute has gone and has been replaced by work. The evenings have become work. And so the weekends. Dedication and loyalty are measured by what time emails are sent out rather than the smartness of the work one does. A very sad state indeed.
And for the rest of them, our Canadian province has borrowed from the European book to pass the “Work for workers act” - that makes it a right for workers to have a work-life balance. Or at least try for one. Or at least force employers to think of helping the employees try to have one.
As for me, I have recently focused my time on finding work for myself. And my focus was not on “work-life” balance but doing my Life’s work. Time is short and I would like every day to count. Count for something for me. And for others with whom I work with. No more outputs, no more counting hours, but focus on outcomes I could help create. It’s only results that matter and I focus every day feeling the pain of creating the outcomes that I have to create. And constantly noodle for better and more effective answers.
Even though I try to be a change agent (improvement facilitator?) everything around me pushes back. Does not want to learn or change to improve. Unfortunately, we humans are not built like that. To change that is. Unless one has agency over it, they say.
In spite of a myriad of these challenges, I believe one needs to use their intelligence and smartness to find answers to dance in the lonely void to identify creative ideas that could potentially work. And if they don’t, get back to the drawing board to try again. And again. And yet again.
It is the trying that makes life fun. And it makes for life’s work. The ability to keep on trying… until the end of time.
Source:
Ontario passes new rules that will change the work-life balance for employees — https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-passes-new-rules-that-will-change-work-life-balance-for-employees-1.5687603