When Balancing Work Life & Self Care feel like a game of WhaC-a-mole
- Feb 6
- 3 min read
By Mia Jerritt
When balancing work life with self-care feels like a game of whac-a-mol instead of chess, it may be time to approach the game with a different energy – one that starts with intention and ends with managing energy, before time.
While your energy can be renewed in many ways, the number of hours in each day is linear and remains fixed—so although time blocking is an effective strategy, it won’t create more time. The way to create more time is by prioritizing SELF. Delegating what isn’t in your zone of genius. Purging what doesn’t support your growth. And, renewing your energy daily – also known as self-care.
When you step back and look at your life from a place of self-awareness and radical responsibility, it’s important to ask the difficult question, ‘where do I reliably place myself on my priority list’? Is it after picking up the dog poop in the backyard that is your son’s responsibility or perhaps at 11:00pm after the last load of your husband’s workout gear has been folded and put away? Putting yourself first on your personal priority list is the first, and most important step, to creating your self-care plan. AND, it isn’t self-ish – it’s self-awareness.
How often do you delegate tasks that drain your zone of genius because it’s easier to just do it yourself, or because you’re the only one who will do it right, or it saves you time. Your zone of genius is unique to you and it’s part of what makes you special. When you compromise your zone of genius to people-please, perfect, fix, save – you drain your precious energy. This is self-ish and not self-aware. Let others fix themselves, make the mistakes, use their time.
Purging what doesn’t support or serve you is a spectacular way of renewing your precious energy. Ditch the energy vampires. Get rid of social media off your phone. Let go of the strangle hold on life. Release the people-pleasing perfectionistic princess. Throw away anything that lowers your vibrational frequency – within reason - you can’t throw away your kids or spouse! This is where your personal boundaries become a critical part of your self-care plan.
Think of balancing work-life and self-care like a chess game. The queen determines your intention. Is it to punish yourself and others or to protect your energy and well-being. The king is your courage. To say no – or perhaps yes! The rook is transparent communication. Based on clear values and priorities. The bishop is your consistent effort. What inspired action will protect your energy and share your gifts? The knight is understanding your worth. Whatever you do for others – you absolutely can do for yourself. And lastly, the pawn is knowing how to manage your energy.
Managing your energy is a vital component of your self-care plan, and a great place to start is by doing an energy audit. This is a moment of truth-telling and it’s about generating awareness, accountability, and honesty – not more self-judgement. Once you see clearly – you can choose differently.
Start by dividing your life into ENERGY ZONES – such as relationships, finance, work, personal boundaries. Create at least 8 zones. Then, ask yourself key questions relative to each zone. Questions such as, ‘does this create flow or resistance’, ‘do I feel expansion or constriction’, ‘does this align with my values and my vision’, ‘what am I avoiding’, ‘what am I telling myself that isn’t true’. Sit down and reflect on the answers to each question.
Mark a star for what lights you up. Mark a heart for what nourishes you. Mark an x for what drains you. Mark a minusfor when you reliably compromise your boundaries.
Then, reclaim and rebalance your energy. Release heavy energy by creating clear boundaries or step back from what drains you. Recommit to self by devoting time to what uplifts you. Renew your energy and your self-care practice by infusing what you do with joy, love, kindness, gratitude, and rest.
An energy audit will result in bringing you back into energetic and personal integrity – where your choices, actions, thoughts, words, feelings, emotions and presence all align with your biggest, boldest, and most unapologetic version of your truth. It’s a reset button for your soul!
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