Actually, I find the phrase “work-life balance” an awkward way of saying things, but that’s how it’s said so I will use it that way. But what I find strange is that it sort of implies that work is something else than life (or living). It stresses the fact that work is not seen as part of living, which is of course not true at all. Work is very much part of life.
What it’s about is how you balance the time you spend working (usually in the sense of “working for your income”) with leisure time, that is, how much time do you work and how much time do you not work and do other things. You could also say: how do you balance or harmonize the demands of public life with those of your personal life.
It’s quite hard to make a rule out of things because for some people work (even working for money) is really deeply part of their personal life and what they want to do, and for others work is something that’s rather an obligation, a nuisance, sometimes even a kind of prison.
Now, when I still actively worked as a Thai Massage and Thai Yoga (Reusi Dat Ton) practitioner and teacher I did work that I truly enjoyed. To me, there was no real separation between work and leisure, or public and personal. That is, there was no conflict between my work and my so-called “free time.” To me, moving my body intensely and supporting people to regain or keep their health was a win-win situation.
But when I stopped giving treatments and classes, and subsequently launched TraditionalBodywork.com (the website you’re now visiting), things changed quite a lot. I would suddenly sit more than 40 hours a week in front of the screen working on the website and I missed using my body. Being physically active and spending time outdoors regularly was/is essential for my physical and mental health so I realized that I needed to create a beneficial work-life balance.
Hence, one of things I do today is to never sit more than an hour at the computer. I get up and do “something physical” for at least ten minutes before continuing my deskwork. This could mean doing stuff like washing the dishes, sweeping a room, cleaning a window, or bringing the garbage outside, etc.
I also regularly practice Thai Yoga to stretch my body, I now and again do some gardening, I have a bicycle and bike about once per week, I mostly walk to do errands, and because I live in an environment with lots of mountains and forests around me I hike as much as the weather allows it (which is typically about two times per week, sometimes three times), usually doing hikes that take three to five hours.
Another thing I do as much as possible is to integrate physical exercise into my daily activities. That works best for me because I’m not much of a disciplined person and I don’t manage well to do physical exercise at scheduled moments. Besides that, exercising while doing other things is just a very efficient way to “keep on moving.”
I also like to read novels and watch movies to relax my mind, but those are things I only do just before going to bed. At any rate, that gives me an extra hour or two every day to wind down mentally before actually sleeping.
But to be clear: since I again started deskwork I noticed that I need to be very careful with my lower back. It has been a weak point for years and when sitting much it often starts to play up. I also feel less fit than when I was professionally giving Thai Massage and Thai Yoga. But life has changed for me and if I want to live away from big cities and be close to Nature so it’s convenient to do work that can be done over the Internet. That means quite some sedentary work, but that’s how things are, which is fine.
Nonetheless, because of my lifestyle before I was a massage therapist I’ve become very much aware of my body and how it reacts to sedentary behavior, and hence I continuously aim at keeping an appropriate balance between sitting and moving.
Today I still feel much better, fitter, more vital and healthier than twenty years ago. I find that something amazing. An just because I really started to move my body and keep giving it my utmost attention.
Nonetheless, I know that I currently don’t live the healthiest life possible. I would like to work less on the website (say twenty hours per week instead of forty) and go outdoors much more, but I’m not yet in a position in which I can financially afford to do so. But whatever the case, I keep trying to find ways to serve my body and mind to the best of my abilities and opportunities.
