WoLFi TaLEs

The more I think about work life or work family balance the more I realise that it doesn’t really describe what goes on when people try to deal with the myriad of commitments in their busy lives. From my experience, as a mother in paid work, my thoughts and actions, do not delineate work and life into such neat little dichotomies. For me, it’s much messier than that! There’s lots of overlapping, as life and family seeps or sometimes floods into work, just as work seems to sneakily or sometime brashly intervene into family or leisure time. I guess my point, is that without even realising it, except from the exhaustion factor, I tend to multi-task, stop and start, blend and blur, and time squeeze my way through the day. There is some research by Alison Morehead to say women are particularly good at this, but it’s not easy. Indeed simultaneous employment/family work equates to an additional form of labour in itself.

Ok, so here’s an example. I had to do a presentation for work the other day. I was working from home, as my daughter was sick, but not so sick that she didn’t want to play. So somehow, as I was doing up my PowerPoint, I was on one hand playing the role of sister or ’sissy’, while looking after the ‘dolly’ baby. Meanwhile my 5 year old, was role playing the ‘mum’ wearing my knee-high boots (that went up to her waist) and she dragged my roller work bag up the tiled hallway, telling me she was ‘going off to work, and to look after the baby’. I know there must be some irony in this situation, but somehow we both ended up playing these alter-ego roles and achieving what we needed.

So I guess I had an epiphany one day, or perhaps just a random thought among many, when I realised the overlapping, intertwining, and chaotic threads of family, paid work, unpaid work, leisure, community etc. are not really so much about balance but about interconnections…and lots of them. It seems that instead of trying to juggle or balance , what we should be seeking support from workplaces, family, government policies, and society is interconnectivity….rather than balance. Oh dear, have I just created another either/ or? Anyway would love to hear your thoughts on this…