If work-life dancing is an Olympic sport.. 🥇
Where do I even begin, Reader. 😮💨
Work-wise: A lot has happened at work over the last 1 month. Company leadership restructuring, staff member resigning, conflict resolution-ing, business tripping, brand sponsorship and networking, strategic and big picture thinking.. You get the idea.
Personal-wise: Things have been cruising and bumping along at 180 kmph—faster than I’ve ever dared to drive our Porsche.
We’ve squeezed in a rugby tournament, a random mid-week camping trip, plus the usual chaos at home that comes with 3 kids under 7.
Picture 2 exhausted adults being outnumbered by 3 kids deep in the jungle where every creature was met by “DOES IT FLY??!?!!” 🦟 (both hilarious and unnerving at the same time)
Long story short... I’m in this strange place where I’m living my dream life—everything is fun—but my body is struggling to keep up with the pace.
Coming from the background of a miserable medical doctor, I’d like to think I've got a degree of financial freedom and time freedom.
But apparently.. There’s also this elusive concept of... energy freedom?
For example, our youngest, Emma Rose, just turned two.
She’s talking up a storm, even snitching on her brother, “Isaac baaad maaaan.” So, naturally, I thought it’d be fun to take her camping with her brothers. 🏕️ And it was fun—right up until 3AM when she demanded milk in the middle of the jungle, using the most effective method she knows: screaming her tiny head off.
Cute? Yes. Tiring? Oh, you bet.
There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I can match that energy in life, let alone at 3 in the morning. 😩
So yes, work has been a lot of fun. My strategic-visionary role in our education business is fulfilling, my coaching clients are thriving, our lake house renovation is almost done. 🏡🥰
But when it comes to my personal life, sometimes it feels like I’m constantly trying to keep up.
Some might call it a guilt, mom-guilt, (ever heard of dad-guilt? No? Yeah me too 😒), but I'd like to see it as a serious case of FOMO.
🦷 Noah lost his front two baby teeth this week and is learning some tough life lessons about lending money—because 7-year-old math is... well, 7-year-old math. ➡️ remind me why I want to venture into money education for kids!
🧱 Isaac is asking deep philosophical questions like, “What happens when you put effort in life and then it drops?” as we build Lego together. ➡️ how do I teach the concept of play-to-win to a 4-year old?
🌹 And Emma Rose, bless her, is blossoming into a little human with big feelings and a very clear way of expressing them. ➡️ Adam is amused at how alike Emma and I both are and I'm both proud and scared a the same time.
Wow they DO grow up fast. 🥹
With all that, there’s this undeniable urge to savor every moment with them at this age, hence the camping trip that felt more like a Viper Challenge.
Exhibit A: 2 defeated parents in the jungle
If there's 2 things that I hope you'll take away from this email, it would be this.
1️⃣ DITCH THE GUILT.
Guilt puts you in a helpless position that could spiral into self-deprecating talks. It's not helping anyone. Not you, not your kids, not the person you feel guilty towards.
I choose to reframe it into a case of FOMO (fear of missing out) instead, because it puts me in a position of the driver seat of my life.
For example, I'm very aware that my career choices mean that the way I spend time with my kids would look different than, say, a doctor working 9-5 at a GP clinic. Instead of feeling guilty about it, I choose to make the most out of it by taking them on a mid-week camping trip. (because FOMO, right?)
You might not get to control the things that happen in your life, but you have EVERY RIGHT to choose how to see it.
📦 (coming down the soap box now)
2️⃣ Dance through your work-life.
Stop juggling or balancing. These are hard works. It's a constant second-guessing act if you're doing enough in your work or life.
Like what Nadd commented on my IG,
"It's not a competition."
Let that sink in. Your work and life IS NOT COMPETING EACH OTHER.
(yes that high achieving brain of yours can chill now 😌)
Side note: Nadd was my housemate in Uni of Leicester, UK back in 2016. We were both melancholic medical students who eventually found our path separately - myself in entrepreneurship and life coaching, while Nadd a general surgeon working with Doctors without Borders, travelling around African countries.
TALK ABOUT CAREER FULFILLMENT! 🥰
Now on to you, Reader,
How are you dancing through your work-life these days? Do you find yourself feeling a lot of FOMO, or perhaps you’ve been balancing too many plates in the air?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, challenges, or even victories, big or small. Hit reply and let me know how you’re navigating it all—I’m here to support you in finding your own way. 💃
Cheering for your (good kind of) FOMO, 🥰
Bella
PS. Speaking of competition.. I'd like to think that if work-life dancing is an Olympic sport, I'd be a gold medallist already. How about you? 🥇
