• Home
  • Parenting
    • Motherhood
      • Relationships
    • Pregnancy
    • Baby (0-1 years)
      • Breastfeeding
    • Toddler (2-5 years)
      • Potty Training
    • Kid (6-9 years)
    • Tween (10-12 years)
    • Teen (13-18 years)
  • Hygge
  • Creative
    • LEGO
    • Perler Beads
    • Wreaths
    • Winter
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Fall/ Autumn
  • Life Style
    • Pets
    • Financial Life
    • Our Life
    • Reviews
  • Health
    • Heart
    • Narcolepsy
    • Special Needs
  • Meet Tove Maren
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclosure Statement
  • Shop
    • Best Selling Shirts
    • Sarcastic Shirts
    • Sleep Humor Shirts
    • Heart Mom Shirts
    • All MITN Shirts
    • Hygge & Happiness Books
    • Book Club Worthy Books
    • Parenting Books
    • LEGO Gifts

Mama In The Now

Boy Mom Life With Humor and Hygge

I use cookies on this site to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze traffic. I also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. Privacy & Cookie Policy

“Work/ Life Balance” – an Oxymoron

Sharing is caring!

0 shares
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

There are affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations.

There are affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations.

Balance

Balance

Work/ life balance. What an oxymoron, a big fat lie! How about “active guilt management” instead?

When I hear the word “balance” I picture my kids sitting on the see-saw on our playground. When the two big kids sit on the see-saw there is BALANCE – they take turns bouncing up and down, but if neither of them pushed off the ground they would both just hang there at an almost even level – that my friend, is balance.

My personal view on the whole “work/ life balance” is best described if I get on one side of the see-saw and I stick our two year old Jansen on the other end. Once I sit down on my side of the see-saw the poor little guy will practically get catapulted into space if he’s not holding on for his dear life. To me that’s as close to “balance” you can ever get when you have “work” on one end and “life” on the other.

I haven’t even gone back to work… yet – and I already feel torn, guilty and sad. All aspects of my life deserve more than what I can give – family, work, friends and myself, so how do I decide which portion gets more of “me” while the others get a sweet and sincere “sorry, but not today…”. Guilt, guilt and then some more guilt.

If I give it my all at work then my family is sure to suffer – especially the baby. If I allow stress to sneak into my life my milk production will go down and that directly affects Jonah – so I cannot let that happen. I am a VERY conscientious employee, especially considering I have worked there for over nine years with the same core group of people – day in and day out (except for the four maternity leaves I have taken). So I could never not give it my all while I am at the office, it would go against everything I stand for… so how am I going to make this work?

I might not be able to strike a balance, to HECK with “balance” – screw “balance”… I need to just strive for survival at first – plain and simple “making it through the day”, putting one foot in front of the other… doing what I need to do to make sure my family is well taken care of – and then fill in the remaining day time hours with work stuff. Once we have that routine down, perhaps I will be able to live in a state that is not just described as “survival mode”.

“Balance”, however, will never happen, but I will actively manage my guilt – it might not sound like proper corporate language to put it that way, but that is what it feels like. Every day I will assess what needs to be done for my family, for my job, for myself – and I will actively manage my guilt accordingly. In the long run I need to slow down and take my own advice. I always give new moms the same advice that got me through the early days of motherhood: “adjust your sense of perfect!”

When I was single my apartment was always dust free and nicely organized, then we had one kid… the clutter slowly started to accumulate, if it wasn’t multiplying over night. Instead of stressing I just decided that we will have a nicely decorated house once our baby got older, then we had the second, third and now the fourth baby – well guess what… my sense of what a perfect house should look like has been modified a few times – and that is simply what I will have to do again.

However, I know where my priorities lie and I will make sure that my family’s needs are met – my kids and my husband will not be catapulted off the end of the “work/ life balance” see-saw.

Mama in the Now Signature

Filed Under: Motherhood, Our Life Tagged With: family, Happiness, live in the now, work life balance

I am a Danish American mom of four boys parenting with heart, humor and hygge. Join me on this crazy ride. You will laugh more than you’d expect!

Don't Miss Out! Subscribe to the newsletter for all the latest

STAY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST TO HELP YOU PARENT WITH HEART AND HUMOR WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER!

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Search This Blog

Must-Read Posts!

10 things other parents need to know about ADHD in girls. Insightful, empowering and educational article written by a mother with ADHD about her daughter with ADHD.
learn the 8 signs of teething so you can calm your baby. Drooling infants, sleepless nights and runny noses can all be signs of teething, but there are a few surprising symptoms too! Motherhood teething tip!
Get rid of pinworms (almost) naturally. Cure pinworms, find best solutions to your child's itchy bottom. Natural pinworm or threadworm cure for kids and adults.
Put together the perfect care package for families in the hospital. Cheer up a medical mom. Show kindness towards families in the hospital with these care package ideas. #CarePackage #SpecialNeeds #CarePackageIdeas #SpecialNeedsFamilies #Kindness #MamaintheNow
elf on the shelf shortcuts
Easy DIY red, white and blue patriotic ribbon wands. They are so easy to make that a preschooler can make them! Preschool activity. Perfect for the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Veterans Day or any other parade or reason to wave a ribbon wand!
Tove Maren Stakkestad is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Privacy Policy and Disclosure Statement

Please read our full Disclosure Statement and Privacy Policy. As an Amazon Associate, I could earn from qualifying purchases. This site uses partner links from other advertising partners.
Copyright ©2023, Mama In The Now. All Rights Reserved. Design by Pixel Me Designs
0 shares
 

Loading Comments...