Category Archives: work-life balance

The Danger of Smoke Screens

women, work-life balance,

If you have read my previous post, ” To Have and Have Not”, you may have noticed the topic was one I feel very, very strongly about.

As far as I can see this constant crying for more and more unreasonable and, for small to medium businesses, crippling demands, actually detracts from the key and all too pervasive problem that still exists to-day of sex discrimination.

Those brave women who fought for sexual equality may as well have held on to their bras. The young women of to-day are allowing themselves to be distracted from the “Big Picture”; allowing themselves to seem ridiculous, spoiled and incapable of holding down positions of responsibility and trust. We are helping the dinosaurs of  industry and business keep us where they reckon we belong, still bare-foot, still pregnant and still in the kitchen ( figuratively speaking).

Oh yes, we are helping pay for those lovely kitchens we now have by working at a level that poses no threat, but don’t look up ladies; don’t aspire to go where “No woman has gone before”( sorry Captain Kirk, I’m stealing/adjusting your best lines). If you dare you will most probably find we have not traveled far down the path of true equality to our male colleagues.

 

To Have and Have Not !

Life Stressors, women, work-life balance

I was watching breakfast TV the other morning and two people were reviewing the days papers. One of them, a young and very successful businesswoman, was discussing an upcoming seminar/forum on how women can ” Have it All”. She went on to explain this referred to having a career and children and the “Right” to have both. ….. I’m taking deep breaths here….

What a Pile Of Crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sick to my back teeth of this utter shit being peddled to young women and girls. When will folk get tired of selling this nonsense. What are we doing but setting these women up for huge disappointments.

It’s NOT about “Right.”

It IS about choice; choosing which will come first ( and I’m not talking timing here but priorities). It’s about compromise, huge compromise; wondering if you doing any of it passably well. It’s about guilt in bucket loads.

The bit that saddens me most about this though is why we have a ” I want it ALL” society. No-one, man or woman, should or can have it all. It’s a myth.

If you are very fortunate you will get what you work hard for. It is a blessing, not an entitlement.

The Promise of a Sunday Morning

The Weekend, work-life balance

I prefer Sunday mornings to any other time of the week. I absolutely love this time; the indulgence of reading the papers with several cups of coffee, making plans for what I am going to accomplish through the rest of the day ( even though I would usually need the ability to bend time in order to achieve everything) or maybe, sometimes, deciding that the most I am going to accomplish is to sit on my backside and watch old movies, the type that used to be called the “Sunday Matinee” when I was a child.

It’s the not having to do anything that counts and I can get really bothered if arrangements are made for Sundays. I feel robbed and, regardless of how wonderful those arrangements turn out to be, I start my working week feeling tired and out of sorts.

And of course at this time of year you have the fire lit, it’s cold and raining outside, and is there a better place to be than warming your toes in front of your own hearth with a full day of suiting yourself ahead??

Okay………..mine isn’t quite as idyllic as that either BUT I generally don’t mind the washing, cleaning and ( to-day) decorating, because I’m not trying to fit it all in around a full-time job as well!

The smell of a fresh pot of coffee is wafting through the house now, Miss Marple is sleuthing away on the TV and the washing machine has just stopped. Oh but the simple pleasures are the best!

 

A Touch of The Good Life

Life Stressors, The Weekend, work-life balance,

I have had the most beautiful experience to-day; a wonderful facial with a neck, shoulder and foot massage. It was heaven on earth and I think the lovely beautician, Hannah, has hands that are a gift from God !

This was a great Christmas present; last Christmas !

I wonder why I have put this off for so long, almost in fact until the gift voucher ran out of date. Why do so many women I know do the same thing? I think part of it, for me anyway, is the knowledge and comfort of having a bit of indulgence just a booking away, with no guilt attached as it is all paid for.  It’s like having an escape route at your finger tips, even if it is only for half a day, or an hour and a half like mine to-day.

The smells and soothing sounds, along with the wonderful Hannah, helped take the wrinkles out of my neck, shoulders, face and, most importantly, my mind. In this indulgent atmosphere I was able to take a more charitable and understanding view of the various happenings during the week. The feeling of peace allowed me to take a step back and look into my life from the outside, offering another perspective of different situations and, potentially, different solutions. This I reckon is the “peace” that so many of my friends, men and women, are searching for. It’s like switching off the white noise in your head.

Some people tell me you can train yourself to find this in your day-to-day life through meditation or “mindfulness”. I don’t know but I suppose I could try……. OR maybe I’ll just bring Hannah home with me!!

 

Far be it from me to say…….but

The Weekend, work-life balance,

It’s the early hours of Saturday morning and I’m feeling really chilled, the best part of the weekend because it’s all in front of you. Brilliant.

It has been a stinker of a week but, thanks to my fantastic mates ( male and female) I am still in one piece and have not throttled anyone as yet. It’s all good. I am calm, peaceful and at one with the world. I have decided not to stress about work, unfairness, people being idiots (ahh, bless), my kitchen being a shit-hole every time I come home ( he’s baking Christmas puds  ‘cos I’m not quite fat enough yet), the dog rolling in crap when you let her out ( looovvvely)…..you know what I mean, you get the picture. Well, none of that bothers me any more because I have found the path to inner harmony…………………….

Eh, I don’t bloody think so!  No.

At least not all of it. I actually have at last got my head around some of my work related stress and for now that is an incredible relief, it really is, and maybe that’s enough. I can never imagine myself being ” at peace” with the WORLD ( neither could anyone that knows me); there is just too much shit going on out there to find peace with all of it at the same time. But, “A” peace in “any” part of your life is a blessing, and so are those that help you find it!

Thanks guys. Love you.

 

Lazy Mare! ( I wish)

work-life balance

I am sooo sorry to have neglected this blog in what is its infancy! I know some folk say they are really busy, but seriously, this last week has nearly put me over the edge, under the weather and totally round the twist, all at the same time!! Without wishing to sound completely paranoid I think the bastards are all out to get me! There you go, no mental health issues at all!!

I have called myself “lazy” in the title but that is not something I suffer from. No, in fact it is something I aspire to. I hope some day to sit on my fat ass and do absolutely nothing; not a bloody thing…..at all! I think I will eat chocolates as I sit on my ass, and perhaps read ( or write) a book or two, all the while watching the world go by.

Not sure of my chances of this though. As the title implies I have a vagina and, similar to all the other owners of such wonderful organs that I know, our lot is not to sit on our asses but to work them off! Shouldn’t middle-age spread only apply to men in that case. Oh but silly me, they don’t sit around either; they play golf, rugby ( mmm, might be worth it!), football ( not so much) and other such pastimes to ensure their asses stay firm and round. Be thankful for small mercies ladies; it gives us something good to look at when we are almost in a coma!