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So, instead of speaking only of work-life "balance", why not speak of "balance" within each area of your life? For example,
Alpha = Work
Beta = Family
Gamma = Self-Care
Delta = Socialization
Epsilon = Education
Zeta = Hobbies/Recreation
Eta = Sleep
...so, instead of trying to achieve work/life balance alone, you have alpha/beta balance, alpha/gamma balance, and also gamma/delta balance, zeta/eta balance, etc.
Them - "Hey, why don't we do this every week?"
You - "I have a lot of gardening to do. I need delta/zeta balance!"
I love this! I’m an introvert and when I was growing up (w a super-extrovert mother), I always thought it was unfair that my plans to lie around and read a good book didn’t count as being “busy” for my Mom when opportunities for me to socialize came up. Later I had the same problem w friends. If we all adopted a similar scheme/mindset, I could also say — sorry I need to work on my delta/zeta balance.
Or if my husband wants us to get up super early for birding, I could say: “Sorry hon, I’m working on my beta/eta balance.
Because Work consumes such a huge percentage of your time and all the other six are packed within "life." Consider there are 168 hours in a week. Consider that for most people "work" consumes at least 50 of them (actual job time + commuting time). That's almost one third of the available hours going to that one item on your list. Then consider that "work" should also include those other essentials like meal prep, cleaning, housework, yardwork, etc and you can see that "work" (as in those essential tasks it takes to survive and thrive) consumes well over half the time in a week.
That relegates all those other six to be balanced within the remaining available time. The only way to gain more time for any of those items is to make the work time smaller. And since most people don't have the resources to make work smaller, time comes from the next biggest consumer on that list -- sleep.
I love this! I’m an introvert and when I was growing up (w a super-extrovert mother), I always thought it was unfair that my plans to lie around and read a good book didn’t count as being “busy” for my Mom when opportunities for me to socialize came up. Later I had the same problem w friends. If we all adopted a similar scheme/mindset, I could also say — sorry I need to work on my delta/zeta balance.
Or if my husband wants us to get up super early for birding, I could say: “Sorry hon, I’m working on my beta/eta balance.
I'm not sure anyone would understand even then... I don't think people will understand those who are introverts or who need/enjoy/are capable of being alone even if you put fancy new words on it. People will still need different balances of those things, and people still won't understand why you need less delta than they do or why your gamma or zeta doesn't include much delta.
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