A host of factors, developments, and dynamics have made most industries more competitive than ever. As a result so many of us wonder whether there is still such a thing as work-life balance. We reached out to the community to hear perspectives on finding the right balance.

Valerie Sanjali Irons | Sound Healer, Breathwork Facilitator, Owner Aumbase Sedona

My work life balance shifted dramatically during the covid lockdown, as so many of our did. The prior year, I had purchased a local yoga studio (Aumbase Sedona) from friends and had spent most of 2019 learning the software program and getting up to speed for the actual take-over date of July 1st, 2019. Prior to that, I had been offering sound healing sessions using my Soundwave Bed/Table from home. I had been wanting to expand my work to include more people when my friends offered me the yoga studio. I was reluctant at first, but quickly jumped on -board with the realization that the yoga studio had a grandfathered-in permit to do yoga on the land in Sedona. I was already quite invested in the yoga community, having brought yoga music concerts to Sedona since 2011. It seemed like a perfect fit. But what I didn’t realize was how busy I was going to be. My stress levels went through the rooof and my leisure and downtime nearly vanished. I was in go-go-go mode all the time and it exhausted me. So when we went into lock-down eight months later, I was able to take a good look at my work life and realized that I was too busy. I began to take many things off my plate. One of them was the indoor yoga studio. I did keep the outdoor yoga hiking part of Aumbase and I also continued to do soundhealing and breathwork sessions myself, because I really love my work! A few years later, I had to go on a healing journey which allowed me to cut back even more, keeping my mornings for self-care and my afternoons for work. My life feels so healthy and balanced now. It is such a joy to live this way. Read more>>

Jessica Stricker | Dog Trainer & Dog Sport Photographer

For me, the work life balance took a long time to find a good medium on. While I do work for myself and can create my own schedule, I also work full time on top of it. In the beginning, I worked in dog boarding/dog daycare and then did my training and photography after work or on days I didn’t work. It was hard at that point because my entire life revolved around dogs, from my full time job to my own business for dog training, dog sport photography, and creating dog bandanas/accessories, to my free time being encompassed by dog sports. I ended up finally leaving the dog boarding/daycare job and took a new, work from home job in marketing customer service for a beauty company. For me, this helped take a step back from the burn out of focusing on dogs 24/7. It also helped because it was extremely flexible, I had weekends and holidays off (which I generally didn’t have at previous full time jobs), and I am able to really set specific times aside for my own job instead of it changing week to week. It is always a struggle finding the perfect balance when you are doing something you love as a job, because burn out can happen so quickly and so easily without you realizing it. Now a days, I take specific days off and keep it to myself. I don’t schedule work related things on certain days (unless absolutely necessary) and I make sure I am doing things I enjoy instead of just getting sucked into working 55+ hours a week. I love being able to own my own business, but having the added stress of a full time job on top of it can be difficult sometimes, but I think I’m finally figuring out what is best for me and being more capable of acknowledging when it is too much for me mentally. Read more>>

Linda Ruvalcaba | Bilingual Psychotherapist

When you start out working as a mental health therapist, you are usually encouraged to work at a local community mental health agency. These agencies typically provide clinical supervision for your license and will sometimes offer additional clinical training. However, what these agencies also offer that they don’t exactly announce are massive caseload sizes, unrealistic productivity demands, low compensation, and if you speak Spanish, then you also get the burden of doing other people’s work for them. Read more>>