The importance of work-life balance

At Purple Monster, we value every voice in the room. Which is why we are turning this week’s LinkedIn ‘Thought Thursday’ over to Alana. (She does have thoughts on other days too but this is a good one – Ed) 

It is well known that there are life events that rank high on the stress scale. And moving house is one of them. Which is exactly what my husband and I have been doing the past week.  

 ’It’ll be fine’ we said…’It can’t be that bad, surely?’…’It’s just moving house’. Spoiler alert. It was not fine. It can be that bad and it is not just moving house. Between fictional exchange and completion dates, non-communicative solicitors, the never-ending paperwork and email/ Phone chasing, down to actually packing up all of our worldly belongings (just HOW did we accumulate so much stuff?!) and remembering which box the essentials are in (the tea, the coffee, the wine glasses) it was an overwhelming journey to say the least. I cried, I screamed, I questioned my own sanity and whether it was actually worth it. And it was nearly impossible to maintain a sense of perspective – so hard to do when you’re in the middle of it all and watching the clock tick closer to the deadline.  

But there was ONE thing that did not worry me. And that was the unwavering support from my colleagues. I used to struggle with the concept of work/life balance and would constantly be either too far one way or the other. Feeling insanely guilty for not being present enough at home due to work commitments and the other way around of course.  

But luckily, (is it luck) the team at Monster towers have helped me adjust my attitude towards that. They were all there for me to vent to, to cry on and to turn to for words of encouragement and, of course, for inevitable banter and lols. And so, when, at the eleventh hour, we got the call to say we had exchanged and completed and we could go and get the keys, I was able to do just that, in full confidence that the Monster team had everything under control.  

So, this post is about a lot of things really. It is about stress. It is about teamwork. It is about work life balance. And I know I am extremely lucky to be able to reflect on this, in a kind and thoughtful culture, but in the end, it isn’t luck that has made them all respectful and supportive. They choose to be that way. So, I think most importantly, this post is about being there for your colleagues. Recognise when they need a hand, when they need space and just remember to keep talking.  

And it is all worth it in the end. We found the wine glasses.