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The Rise of the ‘Uni-Moon’ and the Decline of Work-Life Balance

Topics: Current Events

When married couples cannot even take their honeymoon together because they are unable to coordinate time off from work, something needs to change. This rather disturbing new trend is called a “uni-moon,” and it is not helpful to work-life balance.

unimoon

(Photo Credit: CWA Union/Flickr)

Melissa and Bill Powers were unable to sync their schedules after getting married, so they opted to take separate vacations to celebrate their nuptials, according to The Huffington Post.

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“A uni-moon is one of those terrible modern trends of taking individual honeymoons attached to work trips,” said Powers, in an interview with HuffPost Live‘s Nancy Redd. “So she took hers in the Dominican Republic, and I took mine in Paris because we couldn’t coordinate our honeymoons together because of over-scheduling.”

If we can not take time to spend important moments with our dearly loved ones, what is the point of getting up to go to work every day?

Work-Life Balance

Work-life balance is not so easily defined. It’s rarely 50/50, or as simple as X hours of work for Y hours of leisure. It may also mean different things for different people. The key to achieving work-life balance is to have a healthy ratio of achievement and enjoyment.

Achievement applies to the “work” part of work-life balance. The need for achievement answers questions about why you need to work, or why you may need a bigger salary. You need a bigger salary to afford a larger apartment so you can have children, for example.

Enjoyment encompasses more than simply having leisure time, as important as that is. Enjoyment is also the pride we may feel after an accomplishment, as well as the joy we feel in life and the love we share with others.

Boundaries

In order to have both achievement and enjoyment, we must have personal boundaries. This means knowing when to say “no,” and knowing how to say “no” in an appropriate fashion. Many people would feel that it was time to draw the line when they discovered that they were unable to take a honeymoon together with their new spouse. Sometimes, you need to tell work, “No. We need a few days off together.”

Bill and Melissa did decide to change a few things in their lives in order to enjoy more and feel balanced. They chose to downsize so they did not need to make as much money; they got rid of some belongings and moved into a smaller apartment. Working some hours from home also improved the enjoyment in their lives, and they report that the quality of their lives improved when they were able to spend more time together.

Know your boundaries, and be willing to make changes in your life if you do not experience the enjoyment that must come alongside achievement.

Tell Us What You Think

Do you have a good work-life balance? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.


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Charlie Birch AKA Burnout Banisher Recent comment authors
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Charlie Birch AKA Burnout Banisher
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Charlie Birch AKA Burnout Banisher

Oh wow… this makes me sad. I personally don’t really like the term work/lie balance, I prefer to think about it as integration! However, turns out I dislike the term Uni-moon even more!!

Charlie Birch
Burnout Banisher
http://www.CharlieBirchProjects.com
@BeingHumanAlly

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