What’s the right balance between work and non-work time? The traditional 9-5 has slowly disappeared with the emails and zoom and texting going far beyond traditional business hours. We asked members of our community to share with us how they think about work-life balance.

Kelly Murtagh | Actor, Writer, Singer & Children’s Book Author

I used to think of “balance” as this mystical destination that maybe I would reach some day after I did ALL the work, which, I of course, never reached. As I’ve gotten older and become a mother, I’ve realized how holistic, fluid and delicate it really is. It feels like a conscious choice of being present, having boundaries, and of prioritizing my mental health so I can show up presently as a mother. The to-do list never ends, work follows you home (or is AT home) and there’s always one more email, one more phone call, or one more load of laundry to do. Read more>>

Ciara Ní Chuirc | Playwright

I moved to New York in 2013 on a graduate Visa. When I first got to the city, I worked two jobs – during the day, I worked as a nanny from 8am to 5pm, and then I worked as an intern with a theatre producer in the evenings from 6pm-10pm. It wasn’t sustainable. I was only able to keep this pace of work up for four months, and then I found a more comfortable but still arts-adjacent temporary office job. I ended up staying in that job full-time for another five years, but continued writing plays in my downtime and seeing them produced in small venues around NYC. Read more>>

Amanda Michelle Brown | Author & Graphic Designer

I’m 90% like my mother, but the 10% that is like my dad is very very strong. Namely, the tendency to be a workaholic. This served me well in school, with small seasons of burnout, but once I graduated college and became a full-time graphic designer I found that I could no longer sustain the go-go-go lifestyle I had once found exhilarating. Evenings usually filled up with my other side hustles (a podcast, magazine, blog, and even small store gobbled up my time at one point) evolved into more focused time working on my debut novel (“The Memory Jumper”) or other chunks of projects. Read more>>

Mariah Kann | Hairstylist

I am grateful I can have work life balance. So many people in this country aren’t given this opportunity. I hope in my lifetime we can progress and implement laws to offer a balanced work life to everybody. Doing hair is flexible, so I take advantage of that. I share my studio so am unable to work more than 4 days. Knowing me, if I had it all to myself I would take clients 7 days a week. This has forced me to take time off and when I open a larger salon one day, I will continue to do so! Work life balance became important to me after I tasted it. Read more>>

Arpita Gupta DePalma, MD | Certified Mindset Coach, Pediatrician, Entrepreneur, Founder and CEO

When I started our medical practice on top of working part-time as a pediatrician, I had this belief that everything that I created had to be perfect because it was a reflection of me and would impact my/our reputation. That led to me working a crazy amount of hours every week, never trusting other people’s work product, and always believing I was the only one who could get things done properly the first time. I realized gradually with mindset coaching that I was creating these false beliefs for myself, and it was leading to me actually becoming more and more inefficient as time was progressing. Read more>>

Wren Lee | UX designer, screenwriter, and director

In college, if you asked me about work-life balance, I would have said, “What work-life balance?” From the second I woke up to the second I fell asleep, I was doing schoolwork, volunteering, or working. Since then, though, I’ve discovered how important it is to take time for yourself. These days, I close my laptop at 5pm sharp and read. I don’t work on weekends; I write and follow my other creative pursuits. Sometimes your creative endeavors bleed into your personal time, but it’s all about mindset. For example, I’m producing a friend’s web series, and we often meet after work hours. Even though it’s after 5pm, it’s less work and more play. Read more>>

Jya Jiahuiyiyan | Concept artist for video games and film

Personally, it still takes courage for me to say “I need a break.” and not feel shamed about it. Since in Artcenter, instead of drawing whatever I want and having fun, drawing for me becomes more about meeting the expectation and adapting ideas. And while turning my hobby into a real career, I know no other way to relax, which leads me super tired all the time. Even though doing something I really like as a job is super lucky, and I’m super grateful for that, I still need breaks and relaxation as human, Read more>>