The balanced diet approach to life: A new way to think about work-life balance

A lot has been written about the balance between work and personal life. Typically we see this concept portrayed graphically as a seesaw, literally balancing work on one side and life on the other. The obvious implication here is that anything less than 50-50 spells imminent disaster. We must maintain a steady balance between work and family at all times — or else everything slides off the seesaw.

If you think about work-life balance in this way, you’re bound to stress yourself out, because this model does not allow room for flux, for the natural ebb and flow of life. The fact is, sometimes you’re going to have periods where work takes up more of your focus, and other times your family is going to take precedence. It’s not a perfect 50-50 balance all the time. (Although fortunately, being a Juice Plus+® representative is one of the best ways I know of to achieve that elusive balance!)

In a recent blog article on the Huffington Post, author Scott Behson, PhD encouraged us to think of balance in our work-family lives not as a seesaw, tightrope, balance beam, or other inherently unstable metaphor, but the same way we think of balance in our diets — flexible and forgiving.

While you may aim to eat a balanced combination of protein, carbs, fiber, and fat at every meal, the chances are great that you will not. So if you splurge and have a carb-heavy dinner of pasta, bread, and butternut squash one night, is your whole metabolism going to go out of whack? Of course not. Would you do well to cut back on simple carbs the next day and eat more protein and vegetables? Absolutely.

If you think about it, Juice Plus+ is based on this flexible concept of balance: There is what we should eat, and what we do eat, and Juice Plus+ helps us find balance by filling in the gaps. Juice Plus+ Complete also helps us maintain a balanced diet in the midst of a hectic lifestyle. Because it provides a balance of nutrients in every serving, we don’t need to sacrifice any time preparing food that could be focused on work or spent enjoying the company of friends and family.

The point is, balance in our lives happens in chunks larger than 24-hour increments. As Behson explains, “Sometimes we need to prioritize one over the other and temporarily slip out of balance — there are inevitable ebbs and flows in both home and work.”

And it’s important to realize that just like a balanced diet, which is composed of many foods groups, a balanced life is made up of many elements: work, family, social, and personal. It’s not an “either-or” situation. In fact, spending time with your family can make you more effective at work, and, if you like your job, working can make time with your family more meaningful.

I am intimately familiar with the work-life dilemma. My New Year’s Resolution this year was to carve more time out of my life for the things I love to do — artwork, social get-togethers, and finding the perfect swimming hole — and to spend less time working. I still haven’t achieved the perfect balance, but I’m making inroads.

How about you? How do you achieve work-life balance? Is it something you struggle with too? Is Juice Plus+ helping you in that regard?