Work/Life .. so what are you going to do about it?

I am getting a sense that Covid shifted something in all of us.

For all the prolonged uncertainty and pain it brought into our lives, it gave us something else.

Something that needed to give us a firm shakeup before we realised its worth.

It gave us time.

Time with family.

Time to walk the dog.

Time to bake banana bread and learn a hobby.

Time to have a meaningful conversation with friends.

It gave us a breather from the often hectic, occasionally mundane and rinse and repeat cycle we all call life.

Covid forced upon many of us a work-life balance that had been missing from our lives.

We all slowed down. And then .. we realised .. it was kind of ok.

Gone were the mad morning rushes to get lunches packed and uniforms ironed; the incessant carting of kids to their social and sporting obligations; the crazy dash out the door at the end of the work day to make that exercise class for a semblance of a healthy lifestyle.

Suddenly, we were masters of work/life balance. Albeit in active wear.

Millennials were already onto this long before Covid. They were the pioneers of demanding flexible work arrangements to bring balance to their lives. Covid just reinforced for them that this is exactly how life should be done.

Flexibility gave them the time they were craving.

But now, this isn’t just a generational phenomenon.

There is part of me that still aches for a simpler life. A life that gives me more time to follow my passions and do more of the things I want to do, and spending more of it with the people I love.

And I get the feeling I am not the only one.

I was talking to a business owner the other day. He runs a busy and popular Vietnamese café in the city and works long hours, 6 days a week.

Chatting to him about his recent Xmas holidays, he said something that struck a chord.

“What’s the point? We smash ourselves at work 11 months a year to get four weeks holiday, and then we have to do it all over again. At what point do we actually enjoy this short life we have?”

Perhaps it’s the post-holiday blues, or maybe it is something deeper, but I am hearing this more and more each day.

People wanting some of their life back.

And they don’t want to wait until retirement to do that.

Covid might be behind us, but the impacts are still being felt firmly on the way we think about work, work life balance, and everything in between.

The question for all of us now is .. what are we going to do about it?