Lily Reslink| Marlin Chronicles
Work-life balance: how to maximize your time living life to the fullest
I used to live by the phrase “Do something your future self will thank you for.” I upheld that by working myself to the bone to get ahead in my professional and academic goals. I spread myself thin and left nothing in the tank for enjoyment outside of the validation received from these pursuits.
In my free time, I sat at my desk on my laptop working away. This impacted how well I took care of myself. I allowed it to cut into not only time with friends and family, but also sleep. I struggled to put my work away, and even when I did, I found it difficult to truly feel a sense of relaxation. Despite not explicitly realizing this, I had convinced myself that time away from productivity was useless.
It took me too long to realize that as I lived by that mindset and maintained that discipline, I was not doing what my future self would thank me for. In fact, these harmful levels of discipline can result in a string of long-term negative consequences. The inability to set boundaries in this regard can strip people of individuality, damage self-esteem and lead to burnout.
Creating a healthy work-life balance is the most sustainable path to success, but achieving this can be very confusing, especially for highly ambitious people. It is not always clear what that is supposed to look like, which causes people to falsely believe they are doing just fine when, in fact, they are just months, weeks or even days away from finally close to going off the deep end. It requires a lot of personal reflection for a person to determine what they actually want out of life.
However, the blame for these tendencies cannot be solely placed on the individual. Many settings create a toxic culture that encourages this, exacerbating the issue by making it more difficult to escape this cycle. This productivity culture often undermines the intrinsic value of humanity. It is important for individuals to feel a sense of self-worth and value outside their work work they complete and the roles they occupy. Leaders who possess this power should feel responsible for creating an environment where people are not reduced to their contributions. Educational institutions, workplaces and households need to consider whether their expectations support or hinder individual self-worth.
Mars Johnson|Marlin Chronicle
It is a beautiful thing to have big and bold professional goals that you can look forward to working work towards. However, this should not feel like a punishment or a deprivation of personal wants. This should not come at the cost of losing the formative life experiences and quality time with others. Personal fulfillment has to come alongside professional fulfillment.
Spending my semester studying abroad in South Korea has only continued to open my eyes to the importance of how I spend my time. I am surrounded by an entirely new environment to explore, and the possibilities are endless. Simultaneously, I am managing my course load, endless study abroad paperwork, finances and other commitments. It is so important for me to slow down and consider whether I am living life to the fullest or running myself ragged. Time for rest is also valuable.
Don’t spread yourself so thin that you have nothing left. If you burn yourself out, you are left without a spark. You will become a shell of a person. There is no point in achieving professional success if all you have to come home to is more work. A long list of accomplishments does not get you as far if you have no breath remaining to share it.
Today, I still live by the phrase, “Do something your future self will thank you for,” but it means something different to me now. Our future selves will thank us for saying yes to opportunities and making memories. For giving and receiving love and happiness and joy. For the chance to watch the faces of loved ones light up when we join them for something meaningful. For being fully present in beautiful moments we get to look back on for the rest of our lives.
Time dedicated to life outside of work and screens does not have to be time-consuming or grandiose. It can consist of a night a week set aside for a movie with a friend, or a free afternoon used to take a walk by the beach. Putting in the work will get you to the point you want to be, but it is these things that make it all worthwhile to get there. Everyone could benefit more from thinking about what their future selves would truly thank them for.
By Lily Reslink
