What if the balance between work and life isn’t something to be found-but something to be reimagined?

In academia and other spaces of adult education practice, the boundaries between who we are and what we do are often blurred. Our work shapes our identities, our days, and even our sense of purpose. Yet, beneath the surface of our research lies a more personal story-one of struggle, reflection, and transformation.

This collection of papers, presented at the Transformatiove and Emancipatory Adult Education Network Research Retreat (European Society for Research on the Education of Adults), gathers voices from across disciplines to explore what it means to live and work meaningfully in a world that rarely pauses. Together, these contributions ask: How do we make sense of our professional lives when the line between thinking and being never fully fades? How do moments of difficulty open the door to growth, renewal, or even emancipation?

Blending academic insight with personal reflection, the volume offers perspectives-windows into how scholars, researchers and practitioners navigate the intimate connection between research and life.

Perhaps balance isn’t a destination, but an authentic dialogue-a continuous conversation between the work we do and the selves we are becoming.