Capsule Series | Work-Life Balance

Outfit details: Sweater: Brunello Cucinelli // Jeans: AYR // Trench: AYR // Shoes: Freda Salvador

As a small business owner, most of my days are spent in sweatpants and Uggs—especially now in the dead of winter. It’s a luxury I’m extremely grateful to have. There are other perks of working from home, like my 30 second commute—which means an hour more of sleep (#praisehands). Instead of having a coffee break with a coworker, I can throw in a load of laundry or do dishes. I love that I can go to a midday workout class without having a boss breathing down my neck.

But that flexibility also comes at a cost.

I envy my friends who work corporate jobs and are able to leave at 6:00, shut things down, and not think about work until the following day. I wake up with projects on my mind, eat with ideas swirling, go to bed with an ever evolving to-do list. To shut things off is a discipline that still takes a lot of focus and effort. There are countless things I can invest in as a small business owner, and paying for an off-site workspace has fallen behind many other priorities over the years.

But after an especially hard year professionally and personally, I felt convinced that home needs to be home, a place of rest and sanctuary. I wondered if having an actual place to go to would allow me to be more productive and focused, and create a stronger line of work/life balance.

After working from home for the last 8 years I finally joined a workspace in Manhattan last fall. I don’t go every day -- in fact as I write this I’m at home in my sweatpants. Sometimes I struggle with whether it’s the best investment. But when I’m able to come home, unplug and be present to my evening with my computer and phone out of sight, it feels so worth it.

I am worth that investment.

Having rest, balance, and a creative and inspiring place to go to work is refreshing. It’s also been nice to actually get up, get dressed, and throw on some make-up and feel like a grown-up! The space I go to is full of other creatives, and even though we’re all doing our own thing it’s nice to feel like I’m not alone.

A lot of our readers our small business owners and entrepreneurs. How you do strive for work/life balance? If you work from home are you able to turn it off? If so, what are some things you do to make that happen? If you work from an office, what made that decision worth it to you?

XO,

Kat