Work-Life Balance: At Home

We should be able to relax at home and unwind after a hard day at work. Unfortunately, this does not always happen. Home has stress of its own, and it seems like the stress from work is constantly waiting to spill over into our home lives. To have work-life balance, it is important to learn how to effectively manage the stress and obligations at home.

Leave Work Stress at Work

Bringing the stress of work home can ruin your family life. Additionally, not being able to separate from work can destroy your balance, increasing your stress level. Luckily, there are a few strategies that will help keep work separate.

Strategies

• Stop on the way home: On particularly stressful days, you may want to stop somewhere for a few minutes and decompress.
• Vent in the car or to a friend. Use the daily traffic jam as a chance to express your frustrations to yourself instead of ranting about them to your family. 
• Enjoy your family: Do not focus on the downside of family life. Find ways to spend time together that everyone enjoys.
• Find outlets: Discover useful ways to alleviate work stress, such as exercise or meditation.  Practicing these will help you focus on the present. 

Turn Your Phone Off

Cell phones have made it nearly impossible to escape the pressures of life. Now there is always a way for someone to reach us. Not only are we inundated with phone calls, but we have emails and social networks to worry about. There is only one way to fix the problem and alleviate stress: TURN OFF THE PHONE! It is acceptable and healthy to occasionally disconnect. Silencing the phone does not count as disconnecting. It does not matter when you disconnect -- just that you do.

Take Some “Me” Time

“Me time” is essential to a person’s health and well-being. Often, people think that “me time” is a day at the spa or something else extravagant that they cannot afford. Actually, “me time” is much simpler. It is anything that you do just for yourself. There is no set expense or time frame that you have to follow when taking “me time.” It can be as simple as taking a walk. The only imperative concerning “me time” is that you actually take it.

Until next time... 

 

Sheryl Tuchman, SPHR, SHRM-SCP