There’s a major difference between life balance and life vs work balance. Life balance sees work as a significant part of life overall. Life vs work balance places work on one side of the scale and everything else in life on the other. I’ve read plenty of writings that advocate life – work balance. I soon discovered this was not what I was ultimately after. Now to be certain, there were plenty of areas I needed to evaluate and change when it came to my work life.

If your idea of work vs life balance is, you’ll never work an hour of overtime again or you’ll arrive at work at exactly 8am and not leave a minute later than 5pm, then I would challenge and question your motives.  When it comes to our work the goal isn’t to do as little work as possible, but instead to do the very best work that you are capable of.  Striving for excellence and pursuing a career is admirable.

Work is noble. Work is honorable. Work is satisfying. Work is necessary. In the Scriptures work is commanded.  From the very beginning before the fall when the world is still pristine, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15 ESV) He also tells him to have dominion over the earth. Adam had a job given to him by God with a clear job description.

There is certainly the matter of work vs rest. Workaholics, people who are so driven by their jobs that everything else takes a back seat and suffers including marriages, parenting, relationships, physical wellbeing, and spiritual growth, must be addressed.  In the 1970’s in Japan, the problem of overwork was so significant they coined a word for it “karoshi” – “death by overwork.” Work and rest are not enemies or opposites. Work and rest complement one another.  One of the benefits of rest is so that you can contribute your best work.

Our mindset should be life drives labor not labor drives life. The point is we live in a society where the norm seems to be everything else in our lives revolves around our work, and work is the #1 priority. I don’t think this is healthy.

I really appreciate and resonate with a quote by Seth Godin, “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should try to set up and craft a life you don’t need to escape from.”

Examining our work and making needed adjustments, and then balancing the role of work in our lives as a whole, now that’s worth pursuing!

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