“One of the reasons I chose to be a therapist was so that I could show a full-time career to the world - and not be judged for working only 30 hours per week. Amazing how even as I choose a healthy work/life balance, I often feel ashamed for my own hard-won value...”
This is a quote from one of my clients. She lives in a fast-paced city in the Pacific Northwest and made a deliberate choice to work 30 hours a week and have time to restore, be with her family and friends, and have a life outside work.
When we clarified her values, and she, like many other young professionals included Flexibility, Community, Friends, and Family. Of course, she values excellence, integrity, compassion, and other personal and professional values. However, when we prioritized, and rank ordered her values, we found that Work-Life Balance mattered most. Making a difference in the world and saying yes to her most important priority, her family.
The ‘definition’ of work-life balance is having a sense of accomplishment and a sense of enjoyment. Those can happen in both work and life.
We are integrated beings. We don’t need to leave our soul in the car when we walk in to our workplace.
The commitment to living an integrated life takes a willingness to choose what matters most, say yes to what has meaning, listening to both our heads and our hearts, and trusting our own knowing.
As I write this, I realize that coaching is a very new industry and offering. It has only been on the radar for about 20 years. There are coaches everywhere with extensive training and certifications, ongoing professional development, and deep commitments to offering leading-edge programs and skills. There are also coaches who say the do coaching, but haven’t been trained to be coaches. Something to keep in mind. Coaching is a service that can help you learn how to make conscious choices in your life that are in alignment with who you are.
Another way of saying it is a quote from one of my clients, “Rebecca, you should offer a workshop titled:
“How do you know what to do, if you don’t know who you are?”
I think I will.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
