Work-life balance

The term work-life balance is a pervertedly Anglo idea. It makes me think of lady justice, balancing her scales, with a pop-up image of “work” on one side and “life” on the other. It’s the professional’s job to keep them level, I suppose, though it’s not particularly clear what that means.

One assumption might be that we’re supposed to partake equally of “life” and “work.” That could be construed as 12 hours of “work” per day and 12 hours of “life.” But for the worker, that doesn’t seem satisfying, because sleep will inevitably have to be taken out of the “life” allotment. Taking it out of the “work” portion of the day could get us in trouble with the boss. In fact, even a modest suggestion of splitting sleep time down the middle would be considered off-putting for most employers.

For those of us who sleep 8 hours each day, and don’t sleep at work, that leaves us with only four hours of life per day. That’s not much. Especially if you consider that some of that time might be spent getting ready for work, or commuting to work. Showering, making your lunch, getting dressed, shaving, it all takes time. That means your lucky to have 3 hours a day of really living. And if you’re half as tired as I am after a 12-hour day, you’re probably not doing much living when your work-day is over.

We can probably agree that 12-hour days don’t leave much of a life balance. Most would shoot to divide the work-life-sleep balance into three separate and equal groups. 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, and 8 hours of life. Better than 12-hour days, and probably largely commensurate with the ideal.

To me, this perspective gives too much consideration to work. We shouldn’t assume that work gets half our waking hours. With family, friends, hobbies, food, and exercise, it’s hard to cram a full life into 7 or 8 hours a day.

For those who live a healthy life, there is no work-life balance. There is only life balance. Full stop.