Tea at Four - Is a good work/life balance impossible?

Episode Date: February 16, 2024

The girls are back for a Quick Cuppa, and this week they're chatting about whether anyone can actually achieve a true work/life balance. How do we prioritise our personal time when our work takes up so much of it? How does Stormzy do it?

hi guys welcome back to seat four i'm lauren and i'm christy and today we're having a quick cuppa where the fuck's the tea then um sometimes no sometimes we don't even need the tea the tea is us we are the tea we're the juicy tea sis that's what's going on today yeah but it would be nice to have you know a bit of liquids how'd you get your tea uh lauren how'd you like your tea it's a it's a very easy question sorry sorry you're looking into my soul i'm thinking what's the right thing to say yeah i'm having uh sweetener to plop plop tip tip yeah and then uh i like unsweetened almond milk how about you um peppermint tea i'm a herbal tea why are you so british i can't do i can't do milk and i can't i don't mind oat milk but then sometimes i feel like the consistency just kind of like it's just

a bit curdles yeah that's the word i don't like it so i just go for a green tea herbal tea come on come on my mom i'll tea yeah peppermint to be fair peppermint tea is good for your stomach and it settles your stomach and tell you what you what, I need that right now. I feel sick. Why? I feel sick to my bones. I'm fucking ill. Can we get her a bin, please?

A bin? You need to throw up. You need to say a bib. So why are you sick, Lauren? Right, so if no one's got any context, it's my normal day job. Yeah. Basically, there was a situation

where I've ordered in these 1940s perfume vials from north carolina usa now i've been trying to get these vintage perfume things yeah um via four different ebay sellers and it always gets sent back when it gets to customs yeah which probably just says how dangerous of a toxic gas this is i'm trying to get into uk yeah um and i basically managed to get my hands on them and I was snapping them open for a video today and I've been pouring them all on my neck and wrists and I feel

you know when they say try test it in the area before no they say don't even try it at all I'm just incredibly committed to what I do so can I get a pay rise before I die but you know there's like asbestos and like all those ugly things like leads and stuff they used to put in things in 1940s and here i am just

so how do you feel right now this is the real lauren i'm talking to you yeah i'm not sure i think i'm gonna pass away in fucking five minutes but it's all right because it's a quick cuppa anyway you'll be all right yeah so how's the beginning of your 2024 i was gonna say five been then sis you're you're fast forwarded relax relax um it's been good i feel like january was amazing we had a great campaign that we spoke about girl literacy right i'm not me for getting what we spoke about yeah girl literacy maybe start again with your chest yeah so um january was actually quite exciting insightful and very wholesome we had girl

literacy where we spoke on four amazing topics self-pleasure contraception fertility and periods periods yeah period period i feel just from that episode alone i am like full-fledged woman now yeah i don't know what happened in like my puberty or when i was growing up that i seemed to miss out that information but like i feel empowered i feel like what i enjoyed and what i took from what we spoke about is where you're like it's going back to basics and i feel like those basics has basically those basics has basically those basics has basically so going back to those basics has enabled me to like set the routines in my mind to like always think on these certain topics yeah um and then also what am i doing for myself for the rest of the year in regards to contraception fertility

yeah period being a bit more intentional yeah man because information is power and i feel like i don't know about you but i'm such a look to other people what they're doing kind of girl and i wouldn't really care about what's going inside my own body so amazing responses from everyone right yeah i love the conversations and i feel like i find myself going back to like the tiktoks and the episodes re-watching it and just reading what people are going through yeah it's nice to know we all are going through the same thing and we can speak about it like you see how you said the lowdown was like a forum for the vagina yeah now we've created a forum for women to become better women know themselves don't you think i just love it oh love it yeah honestly so i think from those conversations it did kick start me into you know thinking about those healthy

habits and being more intentional with my day okay but it's also mixed with this absolute conundrum that i'm currently having i just i personally feel like the concept of work-life balance is a myth so it doesn't exist i'm not saying it doesn't exist i'm thinking only a small group of people in the world can achieve it and no one in my immediate circle i'm looking at thinking god smashed it they've got that balance of personal time versus their everyday job yeah i just don't get how in a society where we're working five days a week we have two days for ourselves yeah it should really be free what's what what's balanced about that what's work work life balance about question what would be your ideal work life like work life balance like run me through your ideal

work life balance um well i saw a tiktok the other day actually of this guy saying about how perfect it would be if we just worked nine to two i'd happily work five days a week if i could do nine to two yeah and then just have the rest of the day free ain't that like what we did at school right was it nine to two we finished at three and then you've got to do homework and shit. But if I could just go home and just scroll on TikTok for an extra couple of hours, it would be great. I do feel like what's,

nine to two. Could I do nine to two? It's weird because now I'm questioning. I was like, do I want that much more time in my hands? What? Let me land. Let me land. God, they've got her.

The government have got her. Let me land. There's someone in her brain going. No, no, no. Let me land. Let me land let me land god they've got her they've got the government i've got her there's someone in her brain going no no let me let me let me land because i feel like yes it's good to have time but then when you have too much time you don't know what to do with that time that's then's the problem don't you think so you'd rather no no no i would love the work-life balance like being able to spend time with your family going home because when you come back from work as soon as i get in have my dinner i'm going back to bed sleep eat repeat yeah 100 we do need that kind of um that break in between or like i don't know what i do get what you mean though about like what would i do with my free time i know that work gives us a lot of purpose and it really does fill the day yeah but like i think it's i think

it's a weird a weird world we live in because i feel like someone for example stormzy uploaded his day in the life the other day and he went to the gym like 17 fucking times in one day and he had and he had nutritionists he had like um personal trainers and he was and he was spending all this time working on himself which is amazing but i think that kind of wealth gives you that special kind of time yeah whereas in our realm of like young professional nine to five yeah by going up the ladder you're then given more responsibilities which gives you even less free time so am i just gonna like i just don't time is just a currency that i don't think is ever gonna get better for

us i feel like it's one where you need to know what you want for yourself and kind of like value obviously we value work we value our free time so where do i put them how do i schedule that within the time that i have so for instance with me like i've told you oh this girl she's a fucking bionic bunny early riser so i'm at the gym 4 a.m right mad so gym at the 4 a.m that that is for me that's personal growth personal commitment it makes me feel happy if i don't start the day in the gym my day is over it's finished wow so do gym at four um i'll be back home by like five five i have a nap i have a nap five mental wake up at 6 6 30 start getting ready for work you know shower relax listen to music check on what's going on social media then eight i'm at

work eight nine i'm at work we worked on about four or five yeah five go home have dinner chill a bit watch um watch a couple episodes i even read and i go back to bed i'm in bed by 10 forget beyonce's 24 hours a day christy's having fucking three 24 hours in one day i just know i get it that's incredible and you you have to be very disciplined to be like that yeah and to be that productive as well but i when i just see those tiktoks of those people like here's my five to nine for my nine to five relax relax i in my opinion yeah sleep is so important yes it's regenerative like why would i get up and start walking on treadmill when the birds nature god's green earth hasn't even woke up yet they're not chirping yeah sorry kids so so why would i start my day trying to trying to do all these things you know increase my productivity when nature doesn't even want to do it okay so then i do feel

like question to you yeah when do you start your day when do you have time for yourself within your day what do you do for yourself within your day here we go really valid question chat to me chat to me um um well there's there's that couple of minutes on on the train when i'm commuting um oh no no and then i log onto my work slack earlier than i need to um and then there's my lunch break oh wait i don't take that because i just always want to skip my lunch because i want to be productive at work and then there's that time that i go home and then i have a shower and then i cook dinner yeah i guess that little bit at the ends for me i don't know i get it i i guess maybe my opinion is just that i feel it's really irritating yeah that if i want to have time for my own creativity for my personal

growth i have to do it on the weekend no yeah on the weekend but like in this five to nine scenario i have to wake up when it's dark do all this before my normal job and then also have an evening and then what to go bed earlier so i can do all that stuff in the morning i just is this life do you know what i think what's made it i think what made people what has made people think about it more is post-covid so you see how now we've got hybrid working some people work remotely yeah i feel like the the option of having that has enabled people to think about their work-life balance because before i don't think we'll be having this conversation it's just normal like you go to

school routine from like primary school secondary school to college yeah there was a routine work is a routine as well so um yeah it's i guess it's self-discipline and find like literally putting yourself first yes we need to get paid yes we need to make the money but yeah hello hi put yourself first darling no yeah covid was quite good for that yeah well i i wouldn't say that all in one sentence sorry um yeah 100 but i think what it's got me thinking about as well is obviously this is how i feel now yeah but can you just imagine the day when you you're older and you've just done a whole nine to five like you've commuted it might be six or seven o'clock i get in i went to go have that

free time for myself i want to do my little tiktok scroll yeah and then what do you hear what's everyone having for the tea mom what's for tea lasagna will you give me a bath will you put me to bed will you fucking make me um i don't know a world war ii gas mask for my thing tomorrow oh my gosh when you think about that like so do i have to wake up earlier then maybe the gym at three oh my god just to find the time maybe i think we're struggling with time we're fighting with time but yeah we're just struggling with time it is weird isn't it absolutely just just it bewilders my brain how if i'm feeling this pressure now and in in even in like career progression promotion it does end up with you moving up the ladder and having more

responsibilities if that's going to carry on going like how much how you're gonna burn out how do i you're just gonna burn out yeah and i'm just gonna obliterate into fire dust what can we do to kind of like work on our work-life balance i'm thinking about it a lot more yeah just thinking about it yeah what are you actively doing to kind of like because i know one thing for sure us two were guilty of it when it's lunchtime we're still on our laptops this maybe we should go out for a walk you don't want to go out of a walk with me yeah i'll go for a walk i've got almond croissant yes yes yes yes yeah no i i feel you but even in that hour i still feel like the pressure fake free time it's fake fake free time give yourself some graces i know

yeah i know and i could take up a, but then that's my evening gone. Oh my gosh, it's true. Sometimes it's just like to fucking sit and do nothing, Christy. Maybe that's my ideal life balance. I did some research and the top 10 countries that have the best work-life balance. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want to guess? Give me a guess.

Some like Sweden. They have a four-day work week, don't they? Yeah, they are. So they are basically Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark. Yeah. I just had a wave of sickness come over again about the perfume, sorry.

Was it from... No, sorry. I felt ill. Oh, no, babe. Okay, carry on. Denmark, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Austria. And can you imagine london we're not even one of the top 25 cities yeah but manchester is that's true actually maybe it's a different vibe with like cities in all those countries i imagine like in australia when it

hits two o'clock you go to the beach yeah what the hell am i gonna do at at 2pm in London? Roam. Roam the undergrounds. Go to Sainsbury's. Go to Sainsbury's. What's the new one? I can't afford to do anything. 2pm hits. Yeah. Oh my God.

Do you think it's because obviously London is a fast-paced country. Wow, London's a country. Well, London is a fast-paced city. Yeah. So I thought if we lived in the countryside maybe we'd have that kind of work-life balance think about it yeah but like even activities that are on our doorstep like i went i went to london dungeon the other sunday yeah and i was like this is incredible but i've just paid 25 pounds i was incredibly hung over i got picked out of the

fucking crowd every room yeah they're like please madam will you go take this envelope to madam just leave me alone i got put in a cage to be a witch i'm like just let me live just let me breathe yeah it's these little activities i only get to do on like you know on a weekend which are mixed with a bottomless brunch maybe i do need that 2 p.m yeah i just need to spread my wings maybe we need a siesta asleep yeah so you see i think in i don't know if they still do it in paris or in france wednesdays um i think they finish school or work early yes they go for like a siesta that that happens yeah siesta um people have naps yeah sleep is good for you they get they get it right high work can we have a sleep a sleep hour have a sleep pod

yeah sleep hour yeah starting to or even reading time you know back in school we used to read yeah a book oh yeah i love a bit of reading yeah so so i guess we'll finish on the question what could i do to make my time that's not work more intentional yeah how do we and it's not burning myself out either how do we appreciate a nice work-life balance what are you doing for your work tell us in the comments what do you what do you look to what are you up to are you like me i only be more nine to five before the nine to five you said it's nine to five for the nine to five nine nine to five to five five to nine for the nine to five see see see that. See you. That's nice.

So joining us for this week's quick cover. Bye. See you next week.