Work Life Balance - 9 Strategies to Help You Regain Your Equilibrium

I like working with independent professionals and artists because of the way the work life balance shows itself in our lives - for us, life, work, and business exist in a nexus from which we cannot easily extract our ways of loving, relating, and making meaning. The challenges we face in business inform our personal lives and personal challenges affect our businesses.

Rich as it is, the relationship between personal and professional life can be rocky and maintaining the work life balance is often a tricky issue. I experienced this recently when, within a few weeks of declaring some audacious goals for my business, a routine mammogram turned up some abnormalities. In the following weeks I had additional mammography, a biopsy, and surgery, with the happy outcome that the abnormalities were benign. I wanted to put the experience behind me and get back to work, full speed ahead.

The problem was that I didn't feel like it. I enjoyed my client work and my speaking engagements, but I dreaded the creative and analytic work related to teleclasses and Internet marketing. Try as I might, I just didn't have the juice for these projects. On the life side, I felt I needed time and energy for processing, renewal and restoring my inner balance; on the work side I felt I needed to make up for lost time.

I've been caught between the promptings of my spirit and the requirements of my business more than a few times, and I know pat success formulas don't help. I also know it is possible to take care of ourselves and our businesses if we are willing to do the work.

Here are nine strategies that, taken together, can help to change course without abandoning the destination and help you restore your work life balance:

1. Don't panic.

Even if you feel panicky, you can choose modest, recoverable steps to address the situation. This is no time to get a divorce, fire an employee, or buy a new computer system. Tip: Talk with a coach or therapist to get perspective.

2. Return to Source.