While living through a pandemic, the term life work balance takes on a whole new meaning. Many people are still working from home, or have some sort of modified work routine where they are working partially from home and partially at an office. Others may have had to work all along and not felt safe. Regardless of your work situation, this life work balance has been upset.

For those of you working at home, how is it going? If you are lucky, you don’t have little ones at home that need help doing their home schooling. For those of you who have to do both, I don’t know how you do it. Obviously it is very difficult to have life work balance when you need to be taking care of kids and working at the same time. How do you put your 8 hours in for work and then teach your kids for 6 hours in your day?

It may be more challenging to concentrate at home, as there can be more things to distract you. On the other hand some people say they are more productive at home as they don’t have other people coming into their office with questions.

Maybe you have had to work all along and don’t feel safe. How does this affect your life work balance? It seems like it would be difficult to handle the stress at work and not have it bleed in to your home life.

Whatever your situation is, my heart goes out to you. Many people are struggling in different ways. I don’t think life work balance is the same for any of us. So the big question is how can we find some way to achieve a little balance, given that all of our lives are stressful?

Ways to maintain life work balance

Boundaries

This means having a separation of work from family. Is it possible to have your office in a room with a closed door? This way it will be obvious to your family members that you are at work and they should not disturb you unless it is very important. If you have little kids, this may not be possible. Is there someone who can help you a few hours a day to take care of your kids if need be?

Family relationships

With the added stress of COVID, you may have less time to put towards your relationships with your kids and family of origin. Is there something you can do to make the time more meaningful? Can you play any board games, cards or puzzles with your family? What about having a videoconference with family members who don’t live with you. This gives them your undivided attention.

Time with partner

Your partner needs attention too. What are some things you can do to maximize your time together. A few quick exercises that I recommend to couples are the 1-minute hug and 20 minutes of talk time. For the first one, lean into your partner and set a timer for 1 minute. You will be surprised how long this really is. When we hug for 1-minute oxytocin is released, which is our bonding hormone. It’s also found in breast milk. For the talk time exercise, sit on the couch and talk for 20 minutes. No TV, phones, or reading material. You will be surprised how long 20 minutes of uninterrupted time is.

Creativity

Do you have a creative side? Do you like any arts and crafts, sewing, or painting? Maybe you enjoy coloring in adult coloring books. Perhaps you play a musical instrument. It is important to honor this side of yourself. That being said, is there some way to spend a little time in this area. It is a wonderful tool to get your mind on something else other than your worries.

Exercise

This is one of the best things you can do to help your mental health. You can even do it with a family member as a way to connect and relieve stress. That way with your limited time, you can kill 2 birds with one stone. Yoga is another tool to help you relieve stress.

Spirituality/Religion

For some this is an important area of life, and for others, not so much. If this is important to you, then try to honor it. Some people watch a church service online; others feel that it needs to be in a house of worship. Others pray on their own. Perhaps you meditate or spend time in nature and that helps you feel connected with others. Whatever works for you, try to honor it.

Mental health

What do you do to take care of your mental health? Do you journal, meditate, listen to podcasts,use relaxation apps or self help books? Maybe you like to practice gratitude or spend time in nature. During  the pandemic, it is even more important that you take care of your mental health.

Life work balance is like the legs on a stool. You can do OK if one of those legs are missing. If two are missing the stool will no longer balance and things will feel out of kilter. Decide what is important to you, and honor those things.

If your life work balance is not working, give me a call at 713-304-6554 and we can come up with a plan to get you to where you need to be.

Take care,

Debbie