Work-Life Balance

Modern society offers more freedom than ever to choose a unique lifestyle. This freedom can actually be debilitating in some ways, because there is no one to blame but yourself if you do not achieve the lifestyle that you are looking for! Does having the ability to choose your personal and professional choices actually inhibit you from "having it all"?

Individuals with a college education have the opportunity to travel the world and live a more luxurious lifestyle than any previous generation. However, salaried employees in the business world work longer hours and are expected to perform at higher productivity rates. Competition for top jobs is high, forcing compliance with the standard. This kind of workload does not leave much room for a personal life.

Speed dating, cohabitation and other low commitment social behaviors may provide a short term relief from biological and psychological imperatives; however, they definitely do not coincide with the traditional notion of "having it all" - a loving family with a bustling career along with an active social life. As there are only 24 hours in a day and 12 of them are spent at work, two in the gym and six sleeping, it seems that one of those things has to give.

As a matter of fact, there is a way for the modern sophisticate to create a full life without giving up any of the three major components. However, it requires a slightly different mode of thinking. In order to have a fulfilling life in work, in love and in society, something still has to give: The individual must give up the traditional definition of a full life.

Along with changes in society come changes in the desires of its citizens. In surveys conducted by many publications and educational institutions, the people who are the happiest are the ones who are able to adapt their definition of a full life to the one that they are living. No longer do men have overwhelming societal pressure to make money over everything; no longer do women face the judgment of society if they are not married by age 30. There are exceptions, of course, but there are also communities around the world in which this behavior is the norm.

People who want a life that may be impossible in today's lightning fast society are quickly finding themselves forced to adapt. Non-traditional families now account for around one fourth of the population of the United States. Fifty percent of the nation is living single. Adoptions are up. Perhaps the way to have it all is to let go of the traditional path to love and success and take advantage of the new pathways that have opened up.