Balance...or maybe not?

Balance is a funny concept. Not 'haha' funny but 'what are these people on about' funny.

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Balance is a funny concept for me. Google said it is “a situation in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions.’ Since I can remember, people have been telling me that I need to balance my life, so I don’t run into burnout…but rather walk into it slowly, like a person who knows what's going on. That’s all fine and well except I started a business in the middle of a downturn in the economy and a pandemic. The pandemic issue is not as big as it was but that economy issue… she’s front and centre.

The work-life balance is a topic that some believe to be the be-all-end-all and others prefer to throw caution to the wind. I find myself in the middle. I would love to work from 8 am to 4 pm and live life on the weekends but I also want to have a successful business and financial freedom. That means that there are some very late nights and usually few free weekends. And let’s not start on the working through lunch issue. When I have a product launch coming up or I need to get out a few extra orders *insert manifestations of more orders *, that caution I mentioned not only gets thrown into the wind but out of the mortal realm. Who said you can’t work 15-hour days and over the weekend? Spoiler alert! My body said that.

I think balance as an idea is stunning in theory. In practice, it’s a different story. The reality of running a small business is that it is not a nine-to-five (or eight-to-four) job. That’s why I chose to do it in the first place! Some days, there is nothing to do except post on Instagram and maybe design a freebie. On other days, I need to get a few orders out, load a new launch onto the website, finalise designs for a Humanity range launch, order stock and consumables, do some accounting and post on Instagram. It is on those days that lunchtime turns into ‘grab a snack and carry-on working’ time.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change what I do. I believe, maybe naively, that if I behave like a routine-less panda now, in 10 years, I will have built a business that runs itself. I am still 22 years old, so a touch of naivety is standard procedure. And maybe a wild idea is what I need to get to where I want to be. I think what I’m saying here is that balance is super cool but everyone figures out their way to balance everything. The proportion of work and life is a personal journey. For me right now, that means a large proportion of work and hopefully, a much smaller one in the future so that 32-year-old me can live the good life!

Have fun trying to work out what your Balance is!

Best,

Nita

Founder and CEO