Oh James! Your comments really broaden the scope of this conversation from work-life to everything in life. Yikes. It’s true…there are so many things. In a drawing, it would be a long board balancing on a fulcrum with work on one end and personal life on the other and those represented by a bunch of other boards and fulcrums with all the other competing roles. I was only talking about the long board, how if work tips the scale dramatically and most of the time, all the other personal life challenges become even more difficult.

You’re right about family and friends and co-workers being part of the solution. I think along the way we have to keep discovering the particularly helpful strategies as well. There are two professional colleagues I trust entirely to talk through a problem or blow off steam. I walk away from work early one day every month to get a massage. I work out five or six days a week. I’m very available at work but don’t micromanage and don’t obsess about decisions after they’re made.

Something I say to people often is be nice to yourself. You have to be responsible and invested and productive, but really, also make sure you’re being nice to yourself.