Although it may seem like work-life balance is an individual issue, you may be able to achieve a better work-life balance if you approach the issue from a different perspective. The perspective that I am referring to is not upside down while doing a headstand, nor is it sitting cross-legged and gazing intently at your navel. However, if either of those two positions is how you do your best thinking then by all means go for it. All joking aside, it may be helpful to approach work-life balance from the perspective of the family as a whole.
Having a family discussion about work-life balance makes sense. Whether you are a dual-parent household, a single-parent household,or some other type of household each adult probably has at least one job if not more. It also does not matter whether the jobs are full time, part time, paid, or unpaid. Children have work too, in the form of school and homework as well as other enrichment activities. If you bring the family together to talk about work-life balance, you may be able to create a family life that is happy and balanced because each person does enough work (but not too much) and spends enough time participating in family activities as well as having personal time to do what it important to them.
One way to approach a family discussion of work-life balance is to plan some time for the discussion to take place in a relaxed way. For example, a weekend lunch or dinner or a lazy Sunday afternoon will result in a better discussion than a weeknight dinner where everyone leaves the table as quickly as possible because they have things that they need to do. Once you have the time set aside, let everyone know in advance what you will be doing and ask each person to write down what they currently have going on for work, family time, and personal activities. Also ask them to write down on another piece of paper what they wish they had going on in those three areas.
When you sit down together, share your lists and let the conversation flow. Look for opportunities to help each other out. You may realize that some responsibilities need to be reallocated or that someone is overscheduled and could take a few things off of their schedule to make room for other things that are more important. Keep an open mind and see what happens. You may have to find more time to finish the conversation or evaluate how the solutions that you came up with are working. Hopefully your discussion will help you and your family to feel less stressed and more fulfilled by how you spend your days.