A work-life balance that WORKS

I read a news story online today about a lawyer who left a BigLaw law firm and the resulting 16-hour workdays to start her own firm. The article talked about the "newly discovered" importance of work-life balance to singles, as opposed to its already-acknowledged importance to married folk, and portrayed the lawyer's ecstasy at being able to go for "long evening bike rides" and out to dinner. You can read the article here: http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/even_single_people_give_up_pay_for_work-life_balance_ex-biglaw_lawyer_is_an/

Quite frankly, this is an option that really represents a pipe dream for me and many of my friends and acquaintances. Those of us who got unlucky early in life were fortunate if we got out of young adulthood with a high school degree or a near-worthless B.A. and are, for the most part, slinging lattes for said overentitled lawyers or working 16-hour security shifts. Those of us who got a little luckier have jobs that actually offer e-mail accounts and phones with extensions, even though they may only pay $28,000 per year and we still have to live with Mom and Dad. At 30. Even the so-called anointed among us, those of us with gold-embossed degrees from tree-lined liberal arts colleges or - gasp - even the occasional Ivy Leaguer (just to set the record straight, I was once one of them), hardly qualify as "entitled", so forgive the aforementioned jab. You guys are, for the most part, working jobs you hate just like the rest of us, sometimes with hours and banker bosses that occasionally make you dream about working at Starbucks. And, quite frankly, more than a few of you are doing so anyway.

But I think the article introduced an important concept.  Speaking from the experience of my own personal life, I have not been happy during the periods in which I did not incorporate a work-life balance into my own experience. For me, it took a while to truly understand the implications of what this meant, and apply them to my life. At first, when I heard the words "work-life balance," it suggested a vaguely clinical tone to me. Something like, "Eat whole grains," or "See your doctor three times a year." What it sounded like was some supercilious therapist type telling me to eat my vegetables and make sure to see my parents and spend 30 minutes in the sun three times a week. Who wants to bother with that?

What ended up working for me was a "work-life" balance that I'm not sure was exactly what the psychiatrists and mental health counselors had in mind, but one that I know is exactly what the doctor SHOULD have ordered. :) What balances my extremely intense professional life is FUN. I balance out the stress of work and school by doing things that are completely pointless, sometimes "unhealthy" (but never unsafe), and always EXTREMELY decadent and fun. I love to go to amusement parks. I love to buy a 24-Karat Cake from Trader Joe's (a frozen carrot cake that should be embossed) and eat three slices all by myself (granted, this is not a common occurrence). I love to go out to tapas bars with live flamenco music with my friends and eat tapas and drink sangria until I'm dizzy and aching with laughter.

I love to watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians (the only reality show I can stomach). I love to sleep in the park. I love to listen to independent radio and get mad about what the corporations and government are doing to this country. I love to get pedicures. I love to sunbathe and read spicy novels. I love to eat two whole pounds of fresh cherries and listen to a new album by my favorite musician. I love to chill and do things that we all feel guilty about doing because people will think we're lazy.

I'm telling you, for us unlucky folk who CAN'T afford to start our own law firms and don't like yoga, bike rides or brown rice, decadent fun is the key to work-life balance.