Find Your Rhythm
Many of us have been asked to work from home as coronavirus cases have surged in the US. None of us imagined that adults and children would shift to teleconferencing to flatten the curve.
As women and mothers, we go through many things that make us empowered, strong, resilient, loving and compassionate. Now, more than ever, we need to support and remind each other that we are doing an amazing job at life.
Everyone has a tip for better Work-Life Balance. “Work-Life Balance” is one of those buzz words that make me crazy. It implies that it is possible to obtain a state of balance. The typical workweek consists of five working days. There are only two days for a break for you to recharge and spend time with your family. Just merely by that definition it is impossible to find a balance. The added burdens of many women during the age of COVID from educating our children and supporting our parents, and helping friends and neighbors makes finding work-life balance even more of an impossibility.
Instead, I choose to think about the “Rhythm” of my life. The current Wikipedia definition of rhythm shows “movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions.” This makes a lot more sense to me and gives me a foundation to work within. It is possible to find a rhythm in my world and find ways to be happy and content when there are many different situations that are shifting on a regular basis.
For me, the easiest way to think about rhythm is to relate it to music. There are many different kinds of music, each with a different kind of appeal. When I am in a calm mood, I like to listen to classical or jazz music. When I am working out, I like to listen to something with a strong beat (it helps me keep the pace and makes the time pass faster.) And when I want to reminisce, I listen to the music that was popular when I was in high school. (It is amazing how much you can still remember the words, even when it has been more than a decade since you have heard the song.) For me the music and the memories are together in my mind. A certain song will remind me of a particular event.
Life is a lot like music; it has high notes and low notes. Some days I like to play a love song and other days I like punk rock. Some workdays feel easy and some days are really frustrating. It is more about finding the right song or rhythm to get me through the day than it is finding a balance. I would encourage you to find the rhythm in your day. Realize that what made for a good rhythm today may need to be different for tomorrow. When you are struggling to find your rhythm, go find a song that makes you happy and dance it out, it is also encouraged to do this with a friend, even virtually.