Finding the Right Balance

 

The other day I was talking to one of my colleagues about how hectic work has gotten lately due to WFH ,given the present conditions of an on-going pandemic .Although ideally I should be really grateful for still keeping a job and having the luxury to work at such grim times, instead it got me thinking about how I’ve been spending all my time working.

Given the world we live in, a past faced and an unpredictable one, it’s become ever so important now to excel at what we’re doing. But at what cost are we willing to achieve this?

Before I start ranting about the importance of a work-life balance and how to achieve this (if at all it’s really possible), let’s start with what really is a work-life balance.

What is work-life balance?

According to Wikipedia, “Work-life balance is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal life, professional life, and family life are equal”. So we have it, we just need to find that equilibrium between our personal and professional life, right? But it’s not as simple as it sounds.

Importance of a work-life balance

Maintaining a work-life balance is not only important to our mental and physical health, it ironically also improves our efficiency and productivity at our workplace. I’ve done quite a lot of research on the ill effects of an imbalance in work-life (by research I just mean googling why I feel so stressed out all the time and then watching videos about it on The School of Life (the next best thing to a therapist)) :

1. Health Problems

Ding, ding...ding. This, of course ,is a no-brainer. It leads to an array of health issues (both physical and mental). Well immunity being the word of the year apparently, let’s start with that. Stress causes irreversible damages to our immune system. Also, sitting in front of our laptops for long period of time, causes various problems ranging from eye problems, to hair fall to skin issue. The list just goes on.

 

2. Poor relationships

Well, another problem with a poor work life balance would be having strained relationships with ones friends’ and family. Do you remember the last time you called up your best friend? Or the last time you sat down to have dinner with your family?

This becomes even more important when you’re a working women. Apparently, “working mom guilt” is a legit thing.

 

3. Having frequent burn-outs

It’s normal to feel stressed out from time to time, especially during those major deadlines. But what is not normal is to feel stressed out all the time. Not having the right balance would simply lead to feeling more overwhelmed at work and not being able to work with one’s potential. Also, it does have a huge impact on our mental health. Depression and anxiety have been linked to having a poor work-life balance

How to improve your Work-Life balance?

 

Well, this is something I’ve been actively trying to figure out. If you google it up, you’ll find multiple sites telling you to take multiple breaks or plan your day or something on those lines. Well, easier said than done right?

At the end of the day there’s no fool-proof way to achieve this ideal work-life balance. Nothing in life is ideal. (As I’m already at it, Santa is not real). I know, it’s an anti-climatic and disappointing end and complete waste of time to have read all this only to find out you can’t really find that balance between your personal and professional life, but hold on.

Here are some things that you could incorporate in your daily life to make a difference.

You could start with your daily routine. Just write down how on an average you spend time on your daily activities. While doing this I realized I spend 12 hours a day on an average sitting in front of my laptop (sitting in front of my laptop is not necessarily working). And the rest of my time doing mindless activities like watching random YouTube videos (the other day I happened to watch videos on owls’ sneezing, what has my life even come to?).

Once you’ve done that, you could write down how you intend to spend your time instead. You could still do the same amount of work in a much lesser time if you’re more mindful and less stressed out.

I know there’s no one routine that fits all, but here are few things you could incorporate in your daily routine. Take out fifteen minutes of your time daily to meditate. You could use apps like Headspace or just sit in silence and try not to think about anything. Also, try taking frequent breaks, ideally ten minutes every two hours or so while working. You could use this time to meditate or try journaling to clear up your head.

Take some time out in a day to read, ideally before bed. Because it’s recommended to stay away from blue-light ideally two hours before you sleep. Well, two hours does seem bizarre but you could disconnect from work and your phone 30 minutes before you sleep and spend that time reading that book you’ve always intended to instead.

I know binge watching shows seem so tempting on weekends, but try taking out some time to unplug and connect with your family and friends during this time. As cliche as it sounds, at the end of the day it’s the people around us that matter. You could very well be successful at work, but when you’ve retired, it’s the memories that you’ve made on your way that really matter.

At the end, it boils down to prioritizing the things that really matter to you and making active changes in our lives to achieve them.