Trying to manage a work life balance that is sustainable has been on my mind for quite a few years, and yet, I haven’t made much progress…some progress, perhaps. At the beginning of this year, I started to question whether work life balance even existed. I used to think if I could manage my work and life evenly and consistently then I would have struck gold; but I have started to wonder whether it’s not as much a goal than it is something that we need to renegotiate over time, depending on what life throws at us at any point. I also wonder if spending so much time dwelling on what work life balance means, has prevented any action to move forward and that the focus has been in the wrong place.

2026 didn’t quite start how I had anticipated and in February, I experienced personal loss through a family bereavement. A loss that wasn’t on my bingo card for this year and one which has hit me hard…the family member which inspired me to start this blog in the first place…my Grandad. It’s early days but as I try to move through the grief, I remember how much my Grandad loved life; how much they loved to travel when they were able to do so, and how they were determined to go on for as long as they could.

Grief can throw up all kinds of feelings…loss, sadness, the rhetorical question of whether we could have done or said more in the time that we had, but often, there is no way of knowing the answer to this particular question. As difficult as it may be to navigate all of the feelings in my heart and in my head, it’s important that I do so whilst trying to move forward and in the spirit in which they would want me to…open to opportunities, saying yes to adventures and working through daily life with a smile.

As someone who reflects on a regular basis, the concepts of time and remaining present become even more prominent in circumstances like this; and whilst I move forward, it’s perhaps time to reframe what ‘In Fine Fettle’ means to me. Rather than work life balance, maybe it’s more about finding a way back to ourselves through the things that make us feel alive. For me, this includes creativity, music, travel, writing and living well in real life.

Over the next few months I will be preparing for something which feels both exciting and slightly surreal at the same time, and I thought I might share my journey here…I think my Grandad would like that.

Is there anything you have done to honour the memory of a loved one? Let me know in the comments.