Welcome to Erebus Growing, a weekly email where I share little snippets of life to help you change and grow into your highest life.

This past week was a week and a half.

I’ve verbally accepted a new position and am waiting for a contract to formalize it.

I’ve also filed my taxes and owe money that I don’t have right now.

But, I’ve started packing and planning for my move back to campus then to a new state for my position.

Once it’s formalized, I’m excited to start the transition and journey.

Until then, I’ll keep moving forward.

👨🏻‍💻 Meditation

I saw a post on LinkedIn last night that reminded me of what I had said during an interview a few weeks ago.

It’s not about work-life balance, it’s about the work-life relationship.

The simple fact is, people, myself included a year ago, focus very heavily on the work-life balance.

The idea that you need to work just as much as you live life.

It’s the guiding principle and what everyone focuses on, interviewers included.

But it’s not a balance.

It’s a relationship.

The reality is, work and life are going to ebb and flow.

One of my coworkers recently had a heart attack. In their world, the focus is very much on life right now, not on work.

I currently work in higher ed, which means that barring major issues, the months of May and August are extremely heavy work months (with not a lot of life) due to the closing and opening of the academic year.

When my grandmother was dying in 2020, it was a heavy life period where my supervisors told me to take whatever time I needed and we would sort it out after.

My Septembers are usually very heavy work months due to a report I need to draft to submit to the federal government on behalf of my institution.

There is no balance, it’s all about the ebb and flow, all about the relationship.

Most people, again, myself included, grew up or started to hear about work-life balance.

I would challenge you to start there because it’s likely that you may not even be thinking about the life portion.

It took me a long time to understand that my life is more important than my work.

I learned to value my life over my work to get myself to a work-life balance, and then I moved further to appreciate that it’s a relationship that will change.

The next step is to incorporate other relationships; that will be something for next week.

📓 Journaling Prompt
Journaling is one of the most important things to do when exploring our own lives. A new prompt for you to use this week is below.

Do you have a work-life relationship (or balance) in your life?

Until next time, I wish you enough and send you off with love and a sense of urgency in your life.