All home – based professionals have at least two roles, their role as an individual and their role as a home – based professional. Many home – based professionals also have the added roles of spouse or partner, parent, and household manager. All of these roles are important, and all of them require your time and attention throughout the day.
It can be difficult to balance all of your different roles on any given day, especially when activities related to one of your roles demand more attention than usual. For example, your spouse or partner has a crisis, your child gets sick, or something goes awry with the plumbing, heating, or another part of your home. The good news is that whenever this happens, you are not alone. Both home – based professionals and people who work outside of the home feel like their lives are out of balance at least some of the time.
The knowledge of that simple fact alone can help you to feel better about the temporary imbalances that come from a shakeup in your day to day routine. It is also important to realize that feeling balanced among your various roles does not require that you are performing each role perfectly. In my opinion, a feeling of balance comes from knowing that you have put the most important things first no matter which roles they relate to and that you have done the best that you could that day, that week, that month, or that year.
When you are having one of those days, weeks, or months where things seem very out of balance it is important to know that it happens to everyone from time to time. Events like the arrival of a new baby, the passing of a family member or close friend, working on a major project, planning a wedding or being part of a wedding party, and many other things can require a disproportionate amount of our time and attention. These are events which help to shape the course of our lives, so giving them the attention that they require is not only okay, it is essential.
Photo by rollingroscoe on morguefile.com.