If it’s all about balance there must be a lot of unbalanced people around.
We watched the Adam Sandler DVD Click a couple of nights ago. It’s a great movie about getting the balance right between work and family. Sandler’s character realises a little too late that while he might say that family comes first and that his long working hours are about providing for his loved ones, the reality is quite different.
How do you go with balancing work and family?
This article by Daniel Danahoo at News.com.au says that one in three Australian workers admits they’re not spending enough time with their family. I would imagine the percentage would be a lot higher if all those surveyed were honest. Relationships Australia is quoted as saying that almost 90 per cent of people believe that work is threatening their home life.
Danahoo points to rising costs and ‘too-high mortgages’ as being among the reasons that work life is taking over family life. With mobile phones and the internet we’re often still working when we get home. We’ve lost the ability to focus our attention with our family.
One of the final paragraphs of the article is very telling when it asks, “Is paid work that important? On our death beds, will we be surrounded by work colleagues, will we be glad for all the unpaid overtime we put in?”
If we know the problem is so serious, why don’t we do anything about it?
Maybe part of the reason is that we’ve bought into the bigger and more is better idea. We want to buy homes we can’t afford and fill them with gadgets and stuff we don’t need. Our pay packets might allow us to buy a super sized flat screen TV, mobile phones for everyone in the house right down to the dog, Playstations and so much more but is it all really adding to our quality of life?
We say we ‘need’ to work longer hours top provide for our families but what is it that our families really need? Food, shelter, love – all the rest is just trimmings. I’m not against the trimmings – I like having ‘stuff’ too – but we need to know what’s essential so that we stop sacrificing it for trimmings that we don’t really need and can’t afford.
We’ve chosen to be a one car family. We’ve chosen for me to work in a relatively low paying job that doesn’t require me to work a 60 or 80 hour week. We’ve chosen for Pauline to only take a few hours of paid work each week. We’ve chosen to put family first. We can’t afford the latest and greatest of everything but that’s not what’s important to us. I’m not saying we have the balance exactly right but we’re making decisions that are tipping the balance in the right direction.
Downsizing
I know it’s a dirty word in most circles but when prices go up and belts get tightened, why do we always think about working more instead of downsizing?
Downshifting Downunder is an organisation supporting people who want to live simpler, richer lives. They refuse to buy the lie that we need the latest and greatest ‘must haves’ to lead a fulfilling life. On the front page of their website they say “A majority of Australians could afford to escape the rat race by downshifting economically, enhancing happiness & social capital, while reducing consumption and environmental damage.”
What would life look like if we really did decide to put our family and our relationships first? What would happen if we were willing to accept that there are some things – things that many people would consider essential – which are far less important than society tells us they are?
It’s time to start asking ourselves questions. What are the most important priorities in our lives? Do our lifestyles reflect those priorities? What are we doing in 2007 to bring back a little balance?
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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It is very important to me spending time with my family every day
finding the balance between work and family can be challenging but I seem to be doing ok.
by the way Rodney I did enjoy the movie click Adam sandler is one of my favourite actors
Nice article Rodney. I saw a downshifting story on Today Tonight in the last few weeks. People were leaving high paid jobs with long hours to balance work and family. Most of them were much happier and found they were able to live quite happily without all the trimmings and plasma tv’s.
We made a decision to do this several years ago. I prayerfully decided to work only four days per week. Now I can spend more time with my wife and kids. We have all benefited heaps. It is nice to know I have four days on and three days off!
We can’t afford all of the latest gadgets and our house doesn’t look like a display home, but we were are more than happy with that. The extra time with family has more than paid off and we are alot less stressed too!
We recently went from my husband’s very high income to living on my part time income. It was hard; it still is hard sometimes. But he is now a part of our grandkids lives in ways that he never was for our kids. We don’t miss cable TV, the big house or all the electronic gadgets. For me less money has meant increased stress not less though.
great post. we’ve stuck with one car as well. I’ve talked to other couples who say having two cars causes them to end up seeing each other less.
anyhow, i’m still in need of figuring out how to balance my time as well. thakns for the reminder.