Work-life balance is an ongoing battle and has particularly been so during the COVID pandemic. My business is located out of Victoria however I normally live on the Gold Coast – about 1000 miles north of our head offices. My two eldest daughters live with me up there – they are young adults and largely independent, I do however enjoy spending time with them and watching them embark on their own careers. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions and quarantine requirements, I was forced to stay in Melbourne for six months at one point.
The upside is that I’m spending a lot more time with my youngest daughter who is two years of age – which has been a blessing. I exercise daily and have a gym set up at home and ensure I always access to some sort of training facility whenever I travel. I’m also conscious of eating well and practice mindfulness on a daily basis.
It isn’t always easy striking a balance between work and family. This year, with the pandemic, has been particularly difficult, I’ve been forced to make some hard, business decisions to ensure the viability of Ultra Tune as an entity and some of those decisions have adversely impacted individuals and their families and that weighs heavily on my mind, but they have been necessary, tough decisions to ensure long term benefits to the wider Ultra Tune community.
The older I get, the more I realize (a) how difficult striking a balance between work and family is whilst (b) at the same time, how very important that is. I keep reminding myself that; “I don’t want to be the most “successful” person in the cemetery!” Life is a journey and we are measured by how we treat one another along the way in day to day interactions. I like to think that I’m firm but fair and I always set out to do the right thing by myself, my family, the Ultra Tune community, the broader Australian community. If I achieve that daily I can sleep easy and strike a degree of balance in my life.