How To Strike A Balance Between Your Work Life And Personal Life

Your work life is not your personal life and your personal life is not your professional life. Your work is just a segment of your life. Just a slice of a rather vast chart. Now, that’s something that we are forgetting. Our personal life is no more just personal. Nor is our work life just confined to work anymore. They have overlapped with each other and created a chaotic fuss instead.

You might have adapted yourself to the kind of high paced lifestyle where professionalism intrudes your life at home and you’ve accepted it. You couldn’t do a thing to stop it when your work first took a hit at your life outside. And, before you knew, there were no separate terms called work life and personal life for you at all. And, that’s where it turned unhealthy.

We need to understand where our work ends and life begins. More than that, we need to understand what we are missing on in the process of merging both the concepts. And, let’s not forget all the stress that erupts from the imbalance.

You don’t want to juggle between the two relentlessly, causing nothing but degrading performance at work and dormancy, clashes at home. As important as work is for you, so is your personal life, your family, friends and you, yourself. So, find out what exactly are the loopholes and what are causing the imbalance. And, guess what, it’s not a science task, so let’s strike a rhythm between the two!

Manage time and prioritise.

Prioritise your social life just as equally as you do with your work. Don’t merge the two. Reevaluate what’s important, and work on it. Also, as much as you’d like to prioritise your family and friends, make sure you don’t go stale at work. It’s about making a balance between the two. Not being partial to one and kicking off the stability.

Let go of toxicity.

Don’t let toxic people at work or at home cloud your judgement and push you towards a see and saw of disparity. As mentioned earlier, prioritise what’s necessary and that includes even your life outside of work. Don’t give access to people to break that pattern and force you into a balance that catches you off guard. Listen to people around you but learn the difference between toxic and helpful.

Pick a ‘me time’ every day.

If not a few hours, sparing fifteen minutes a day just for yourself is a piece of cake. Trust me, it is. If your work schedule gives no time for your private hobbies and time, pick some right before you go to bed. Read a few pages of the book you’d been wanting to read, journal your day into a diary, meditate. Simply have some private, quiet time for yourself. As absurd as it may seem at first, it’d do wonders once adapted to this routine.

Don’t undermine your health. Mental or physical.

Work is important, yes. And, life is not just colours and such in a ready-made platter. But, nothing is important at the stake of your physical or mental health. Now, physical health is something that makes for a valid excuse.

However, mental health issues are normally hard to comprehend and are usually run over by nonchalance. Minimal stress is a part of it all but if it exceeds the limit and starts interfering with your health more than it should, then it’s time to rethink your priorities.

Take breaks.

Take breaks. As simple as that. Plan a weekend trip or just take off on a week-long tour away. But, take breaks. Maybe now you need a smartphone vacation too.

Set boundaries.

This can’t be emphasised enough. Set boundaries. Know where your work life ends and personal life begins. And don’t cross the set boundaries. Otherwise, you might get end being messed up.

Talk.

Talk to your senior. Talk to your family. Talk to your friends. Talk. It. Out. If the polarity between work and home is bothering you or if it’s just work that’s interfering with your peace of mind, then talk. It won’t resolve the issues altogether. But you’d stumble upon a solution in the process.

Keep a track.

Keep a track, each day of how much time you spend at home with important people in your life. Also, note your stress levels. As mentioned, a tinge bit of stress is standard to your profession, whatever it may be. But if it goes out of hand, take action.

Learn how to say NO.

Learning to say no and setting boundaries are more and less the same. Once you set your work boundaries, you need to learn to say ‘no’ to maintain that boundary.

It’s healthy to be able to maintain both your lives with just the right amount of stress and just the right ease. But, don’t let the juggling clog your time with yourself and others!