Work-Life Balance: The new 4-letter word

A quick scroll of LinkedIn is a minefield in the battle of Work-Life Balance. For every person celebrating their organization's encouragement of PTO and hybrid work options, someone else is arguing that #wfo will be the death of any organization that opts in.

It's a sad truth that, even in this day and age, work-life balance is a controversial topic. It feels like it shouldn't have to be this way, like we came so close to respecting employees' personal choices when the world shut down in March 2020 due to COVID. Instead, it seems that the braodened horizon of work-life balance has solidified some individuals' belief that their preferred way is the best way, if not the only way, to succeed.

Some of the conversation around work-life balance has strong components of shame, which is dangerous territory from a wellness perspective. People are waging battles of "you don't care enough" and "you care too much," where the outcome is always "therefore you are bad."

The bottom line is that judging how much someone gives to their work as a reference point for that person's moral and personal value is unhealthy and irresponsible, especially because we cannot know why they are applying what they do or do not toward their career. One person accused of caring too much might be trying to keep the business their grandfather started afloat as a way to honor their loved one, while someone being accused of caring too little might be caring for an ailing loved one or dealing with infertility.

You never know what someone else is going through!

We sometimes hear people use the phrase, "you never know what someone else is going through," and work-life balance is an especially important opportunity to employ this belief. From the trauma-sensitive perspective, there are millions of perfectly right and valid reasons for someone to apply themselves differently than we do, and our desire to know those reasons so we can determine their validity represents a determination to remain in control of other people's decisions.

So next time you're scrolling LinkedIn feeling angry about someone else's wake-up and work prep schedule differing from yours, remember that we all have our reasons. It's okay to disagree, but it's never okay to insult or shame someone for those differences.