Finding a Balance
In our busy lives, it’s easy to get stuck in patterns and over-concentration in certain areas and our work/life balance can be all out of whack! Maybe your life is all work and no play. In order to be happy we need to keep a good balance. In order to keep stress levels low, we need to keep a good balance.
With the recent necessity of working from home it can make the work/life balance even worse due to not setting boundaries between what’s work and what’s your personal, family time.
How do you find a good work/life balance?
Life could be divided into different areas.
There’s yourself and everything you do for yourself.
There’s your family, your children, spouse/partner, parents.
There are the groups you mix with from socialising with friends, clubs and college to work colleagues etc.
Sometimes it’s hard to maintain a good balance between everything but when you focus on the divisions as above it can become clearer where the balance is out.
For example, perhaps you spend long hours at work and miss out on other things such as meeting up with friends, spending time with your family and even taking some time for yourself.
Another example would be spending long hours looking after a family member such as an elderly relative. Or spending morning to night with your children – lovely as they are they require a lot of time and attention and you want to get it right! An elderly relative can require a lot of care leaving you little time for yourself, other family members and your friends and colleagues.
Work/Life Balance
An exercise to do to help you separate out these areas is the following
You:
Write down the various things you currently do for yourself. Anything to do with you and your body and your immediate possessions.
Write down what you would like to do for yourself. This could include, but not limited to, learning a new skill, go to a spa, lose weight, get your hair done, go to the gym or some other form of exercise, reading some books, learning a new skill etc.
Family/Partner:
Make a list of your close family members including your partner/spouse, children, aunts, uncles etc. Write down how often you see relatives and how much time you spend with your family, partner etc.
Write down how you could improve this. Maybe going to visit a family member once a month, or going to the park with your children on a Saturday etc.
Colleagues, Clubs, Social Activities:
Make a list of any groups you’re part of. This would include your work, clubs such as sports clubs/teams, reading clubs, drama groups, groups of close friends etc. Write down how often you spend time with these groups – especially how much time you spend at work!
Write down how you could improve this. Maybe it’s slightly less time at work if that’s possible, locating a local club to join, joining a language class.
Download this worksheet to help you do that.
Now have a go at implementing these changes and see how the balance improves in your life. In 1 month review what you wrote down and make a note of what changes you made and see what else could be improved upon.
Hopefully you will find you now have better balance in your life and you’re happier as a result!