What is work-life blending, and how do I blend?

My journey into work-life blending, and my goals to implement more balance into my life. Give a read to see what you can learn from this!

January 15th, 2020.

I will outline my journey into work-life blending and

I consider the concept of work-life blending to be most significant since I took a leap of faith towards self-employed work several years ago, and am currently undergoing another major transition in respect to direction and content. I feel this term applies more to freelance work since it is difficult to truly separate the two - work and life - in this day and age. In this regard, it is my intention to bring as much meaning as I can to my craft, and make it very personal. For me, there is not a dramatic distinction between working and personal life since I love what I do, and ideas and inspiration spill over from my personal life into my work life all the time.

When I checked in with myself around that which supports and strengthens my life, I found that meditation and inner work definitely featured highly as a way to help me ground and integrate in my day-to-day life. Without this practise I would not be able to handle many of life’s stressors.

Spending time with friends and in community is also a big part of my journey, because not only does the sense of connection feel nourishing, but my friends are not afraid to give me feedback. Sometimes the feedback is vital for me in developing my own awareness around certain behaviours, which I myself may be oblivious to. One piece of feedback I received was around weaving more creativity into my life. At the moment I have not got a main creative pursuit, or an outlet. Therefore, whilst I am currently traveling, my goal is to attend cooking classes so I bring back various skills and manage to structure some creative kitchen time into my daily life. This will help get the creative juices flowing, and to feel more inspired with life. I have found an Ayurvedic cooking course nearby where I am staying, and plan to enroll the following week.

Several years ago, I went from working a forty-fifty hour work week in the mental health sector, to part-time work whilst incorporating self-employed work into my schedule. The change was gradual, so I had time to adjust to managing my own work schedule.

Being my own boss suits me very well, thus aligning with my own personal values. I have always had difficulty with hierarchy, so feel much more motivated working for myself. In addition, moving onto a houseboat in London and changing my career to work as a massage therapist really helped ease me into a more balanced lifestyle where I do not feel dominated by work, and have better health.

Living on a houseboat means I am more resourceful and learn to manage my time appropriately. I count managing the boat as an activity in and of itself, as it requires constant maintenance and also to be moved every one to two weeks, which teaches me to be on my toes. In this sense, I feel grateful for the small things in life, and this has taught me to be more humble as a result.

Living on the boat has given me the freedom to travel the world, and gain ideas and perspective through seeing how people live their lives in a different way to what I am used to. This definitely teaches me gratitude and appreciation for what I have, but also how I can incorporate new ways of being into my own lifestyle. This is a new activity that is definitely helping with my personal development. However, the downside to living this relaxing boat life is that without the pressure to raise vast amounts of money for rent, I often find myself with lots of time on my hands. This can leave me feeling unsure of how to structure myself. To organise myself, a goal for me is to use my diary more often. I will structure myself so that I can increase my productivity and my efficiency, limiting the amount of aimless activity I engage in.

Already, I feel that taking up this coaching course has given me so much more structure in life. What is so brilliant about the coaching is that all of the inner work I am doing in my personal time, I build into my practise - using myself as a “guinea pig”. When I am going about my everyday life, a thought will pop into my head and I will stop and make a note of this and put it into writing. Furthermore, I do love writing and am going to miss doing these assignments once the course finishes, A solution is to start blogging on my website to keep my clientbase updated. This is definitely an important goal for me since blogging will harness my passion for writing - another creative pursuit alongside the cooking - which will flow into my work life practise. So really, this is a win-win situation.

I have noticed that more so during winter, I am living a sedentary life due to the cold and less frequent work. I made a vow to myself to do more yoga, exercise and healthy eating. Once I have begun my cooking course I will be able to implement these ideas into my daily life. My goal is to explore this resistance and find a solution so that I can progress and incorporate an active, fast-paced ashtanga yoga style into my regime. It is likely that my body craves being physical so much, that once I do push myself to go, I know that vast changes will arise as a result of regular yoga practise or exercise routine. It is probably this tremendous change that my ego fears, and therefore resists.

Overall, through much needed reflection, introspection, and documenting my discovery, I have identified key areas I can improve upon and set goals to achieve this growth. This was a very reflective piece of writing, where I was able to engage critically and constructively to provide insight into the beneficial activities which support a work-life blend, but also helped to ascertain areas where changes need to be implemented to enhance wellbeing and productivity. I have demonstrated my ability to reflect in an honest and thoughtful manner with an enthusiasm for going forward to pave a future that is enriched with more structure, creativity and fulfilment.

<3 William.