What Meaningful Work Looks Like to Me Now

Work has always been part of my life.

I grew up in a household where work simply wasn’t optional. My dad was a farmer and my mum was a nurse. Long hours, physical labour, night shifts, heat, dust and early mornings were normal. My brother and I had our own jobs too. As we got older, the list grew.

There were weekends helping Dad pick stumps so he didn’t have to bend his back lifting them all himself. There were walks up the highway with black garbage bags collecting bottles and cans for pocket money before family holidays.

Hard work was simply how life functioned.

But over time, my understanding of work changed. Especially after becoming a mum.

And these days, what meaningful work looks like to me is very different from what I believed in my twenties.

When Work and Motherhood Collide

Before I had children, work filled most of my life.

Accounting runs in cycles and deadlines. Clients trust you with their businesses and often their entire financial story lives partly in your head. Workpapers help, but there are always conversations and details that never quite make it onto paper.

Walking away from that full time after my daughter was born was harder than I expected.

Not because I didn’t want to be a mum. Quite the opposite.

I always wanted children and I wanted to be present in their lives. But stepping away from the professional rhythm I had built took adjustment.

Something had to give.

Family came first.

Over time I found a rhythm that allowed me to continue helping clients while still being the mum I wanted to be. I might be the last parent arriving at school pick up some days, but I am always on my way and I know my kids are safe.

That shift taught me something important.

Working harder is not the same thing as doing meaningful work.

The Kind of Work That Matters

For me, meaningful work has always come back to helping people.

Accounting might not look glamorous from the outside, but small business owners carry enormous pressure. Running a business is rarely a simple nine to five job. It is constant decisions, constant responsibility and constant change.

There are staff to support, wages to manage, technology updates, government changes, maintenance, competitors and of course a mountain of tax obligations.

My role has always been to help carry some of that weight.

If I left a small country town to get qualified in something not everyone could do, then I wanted to bring that knowledge back and use it properly.

Helping someone understand their numbers so they can focus on running their business feels worthwhile.

But meaningful work is not limited to accounting.

Creating something small and handmade that becomes a gift someone treasures also matters. Teaching someone how to care for their skin properly matters too. Even something as simple as reminding women to check their skin regularly for changes can make a difference.

And lately, writing these blog posts has become meaningful work as well.

If sharing my thoughts and experiences helps even one person feel less lonely in the world, then that is work worth doing.

Learning to Balance the Scales

For a long time, balance was not something I was very good at.

In my early working years I said yes to everything. I worked full time during the day and waitressed at night. I joined committees and volunteered whenever I could.

I never wanted to let people down.

But working until seven at night every night is not healthy. Saying yes to everything eventually catches up with you.

Having children forced me to slow down.

Even though it took a while, motherhood eventually taught me that I simply could not do everything. Something had to give.

The one thing I worked incredibly hard for was my university degree, so the extra committees and obligations gradually had to stop. I needed to focus on doing the work I was trained to do and doing it well for the people who depended on me.

That realisation helped rebalance the scales.

Why Structure Matters

These days I think about balance in terms of structure.

Just like the human body needs a spine to support it, life needs structure to keep things steady.

Your structure will look different to mine and that is perfectly fine. But we all need some kind of framework to hold everything together.

For me, the balance starts with looking after myself first.

That might sound backwards for a mum, because traditionally we are taught to put ourselves last. But I have learned that when I take care of myself properly, everything else works better.

Once I know everyone else's routine, I start filling in the gaps for myself.

That might be my daily walk, my weekly team call, meal prep for the week ahead, weekend laundry, or tackling the corner of the house that has not been touched in five years.

Taking care of my own wellbeing gives me the energy to support everything else in our household.

And when things do get out of balance now, I feel far less guilt about it.

Stress helps no one.

Work to Live, Not Live to Work

One belief about work has changed for me over time.

I am firmly in the work to live camp.

Work should be meaningful. It should challenge you and keep you learning. It should be appreciated by the people you do it for.

But work should not consume your life.

It should not cause constant stress or pain and it should not take you away from the people who matter most.

Meaningful work sustains you.

It does not drain everything from you.

The Many Forms of Hard Work

Labour Day always reminds me that hard work comes in many forms.

In Australia we often draw a line between blue collar and white collar workers, as if one type of work is somehow harder or more valuable than the other. But the truth is we all bring different skills and abilities to the table.

Some people are built for physical labour. Others are built for analytical work, creative work or caring work.

None of it is right or wrong.

Society works best when those different skills support each other. Farmers grow the food. Nurses care for the sick. Trades build the homes. Business owners take risks. Accountants help keep the numbers straight.

Each role holds a small part of the structure that keeps everything functioning.

And when those pieces work together, the scales begin to balance.

A Quiet Reflection

Meaningful work today looks very different from the version I imagined years ago.

It is helping where I can.

Creating when I feel inspired.

Sharing what I have learned.

And remembering that work should support life, not replace it.

That balance is something I am still learning. But these days, the scales feel a lot steadier.