WordPress/Life Balance

When work is WordPress, it’s hard to figure out where the balance part is. Sure, I pack up at around 5:00 PM each day and go home, but my interaction with the WordPress community doesn’t end with my workday. So how do you find balance?

I Love WordPress. But I Love You More.

I have made such a wonderful group of friends through WordPress — and yes, as mushy as it sounds, I call you all my WordPress family. It’s gotten so that when I’m reading Facebook or Twitter on my phone and laugh out loud, it’s most definitely one of my WordPress friends (you know who you are) that inspired the laughter.

I eat, breathe, sleep, work, read, and listen to all things WordPress. I’m a true fan. (Admittedly, I’m a little over the top, I guess.)

But I Wouldn’t Have it Any Other Way

You see, WordPress has made it possible for me to make a living LOVING what I do.

There’s nothing like launching a site out into the world for public consumption. When a client calls/texts/emails you that they love how you have created their space for them, your heart swells a little. One client thanked me for finally making them “look cool.” How cool is that? I love messages like those. Who wouldn’t?

And getting asked to speak at a conference, or having a talk selected for a WordCamp is the stuff that makes my heart swell.

Ever since I was hired in a full-time position at GiveWP, and now that I’m full-time as the Director of Community Engagement at StellarWP, I get to help people all over the world. I’m not lying when I say I discovered my dream job. Not to mention, I get to share with you all through Post Status, too!

Are There Days I Don’t Love My Job?

There will always be a day here or there when things don’t go how I want them to. Or something amazing is happening elsewhere in my life that I can’t attend because of deadlines. Or I just don’t feel like getting up and getting into it. (I’ve been public about living with anxiety and depression.)

Sometimes I don’t feel creative. (Shocking, I know!)

And some days I’m reminded that there is more to life than work — no matter how much you love it.

Finding Balance

There is more to life than WordPress. There is more to life than work. Most of you reading this are probably thinking “well, duh! Of course, there is!” But to a workaholic, perfectionist, overachieving, overcommitted, 11th-hour specialist like me…that takes some effort to recognize. 

When my daughter was younger, I had no choice but to force a better balance in my life. She needed to be fed, helped with homework, clothed, and entertained. We enjoyed playing games together and watching television. We liked going out. But then I became an empty-nester who filled her time with work. And liked it.

But 80-hour workweeks stop being fun at some point. You have to find something to balance your life.

Some Things I Love More than WordPress

As a reminder to myself to focus on things other than WordPress and work. Here is a very incomplete list of things I actually love more than WordPress and help me achieve that WordPress/Life Balance:

• My daughter
• My family
• My friends
• Filet mignon (no joke, that stuff is amazing)
• Taking my cameras out for a photo adventure, then sharing my shots
• My cats
• Travel
• LEGO
• And, occasionally, sleeping

I find that if I schedule time for fun and “other” life things (like laundry and car maintenance), I’m more likely to actually do it. And the other things are important. Even if I just block all day Saturday for “nothing at all.” It helps me with the balance I need.

But WordPress is Still toward the Top of My List

Yes, there are things I love more than WordPress. But at the end of the day, it’s my work with WordPress and in the WordPress community that makes the other things in my life possible — time with loved ones, a good steak dinner, traveling, and my cameras, to name a few.

Of course, my favorite thing about WordPress is the community. The people are amazing. As Rich Robinkoff says, “Code is Poetry, but the people are the poets.”

I’ll add, that it’s not just open source software, we’re an open source community.

When it comes to WordPress/Life Balance, what helps you find and maintain balance?