Human beings are social animals. Undeniably, we are set on a pathway to excellence! While this has some extraordinary benefits of its own, we cannot deny that the rapid pace of life takes a great toll on our mental health.
We often find ourselves caught in the baffling situation of handling our workplace as well as our relationships.
To lead a successful life, we must create a balance between both these aspects. But, it is easier said than done. There are innumerable challenges that stop us from creating peace and harmony in our life. So, to help you comprehend the situation, we have scrutinised our entire information in this article.
Here, we will talk about simple ways that can help us create a balance between both work and family. So, without any further delay, let’s dive straight into it!
Figure out your priorities
Managing our work and family together can easily take a toll on our mental health. While we must pay attention to both these aspects, we must figure out priorities. For instance, we might want to be a supportive parent, an excellent colleague, a reliable spouse, and a trustable relative.
But numerous challenges can make things a lot more tedious for us to handle. In this scenario, we must set our priorities and decide certain boundaries accordingly.
For example, if we want to focus on our children and be available for them, we might want to quit working extra time. On the other hand, if we want to be more invested in our workforce, we will have to delegate our household responsibilities and set aside time for more work.
It is a tough decision, and without a doubt, this is our call. Thus, we must analyse our requirements and prioritise accordingly.
Have a planned schedule
When a person manages a lot of different things simultaneously, they frequently tend to get wrapped in chaos. We recommend you have a planned schedule for your convenience.
Deciding on your responsibilities and tackling them one by one will make life a lot easier for you. When you have to put your mind to several things, managing becomes a lot more difficult. Trust us, and last moment decisions are no fun.
Scheduling your entire week and being aware of your free time will be quite helpful. This is so because you will be able to utilise your free time constructively. You can have a bonding weekend with your loved ones or help your kids with their school projects, or do your research for further studies.
The choice will be yours. But, for that, you must have a planned schedule to help you eliminate all the unnecessary mayhem.
Be present at the moment
One of the biggest mistakes that we tend to make is to dwell on our past or future thoughts. As a human being, it is quite difficult to realise the importance of the present moment.
This challenge becomes a lot more tedious when we have numerous things at our hands. Our mind constantly keeps spinning around the innumerable possibilities of ” what will? And, what can?”.
This mistake robs us of all our possibilities. Our mind gets immensely trapped in the enigma. Therefore, we forget to live in the moment. For example, if your child has a school exhibition and you have an important office meeting on the same day, your mind might be busy thinking about the possibilities of what will happen at your meeting and vice versa.
This will not allow you to enjoy the precious moments with your child. This will add to your emotional burden and trap you in guilt. Thus, try to indulge yourself in the present moment and brush off all the unnecessary thoughts that are not relevant to the present.
Bond with your loved ones
While this is one of the most common things that people say, it is certainly not the easiest. Bonding with your loved ones plays a major role in the entire purpose of your life. If your family, your house is in a state of complete chaos, you will face difficulty tackling all your day-to-day challenges at the workplace.
Without a doubt, this will have a deep impact on your performance. Therefore, it is important to develop a deep bond with your loved ones. A simple way to do this is to be free and interactive about all your thought processes. Encouraging communication will allow your children to verbally express their feelings.
Furthermore, when the constant mayhem of life tries to overpower you in the future, you can easily share your feelings with your spouse or a close family member. Trust us, which will have a major effect on your mode as you will feel light and refreshed, just like visiting escape rooms.
So, the next time when you feel a little overwhelming, make sure to interact and bond with your loved ones.
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Interact with other families
Managing work as well as the family at the same time is, without a doubt, a tedious job. As we mentioned above, it takes a toll on our mental as well as physical well-being. Oftentimes, when we suffer from chaos in our work or personal life, we tend to overthink.
This overthinking and analysing leads to more tension and worries. In this scenario, we recommend you interact with other families and friends that are facing a similar situation. You can interact with our colleagues or other individuals who manage their work as well as family together.
This might be extremely fruitful as you never know what advice they have for you. On the other hand, taking some advice from your loved ones or reliable relatives will be beneficial. Family members tend to know each other a little better.
Therefore, they will be able to give you the correct solution considering the type of people you have in your family. It will not only allow you to gain a different perspective but will also help in changing your dynamics. A third opinion will help you understand the situation more easily and effectively.
Do not forget your couple life
When managing work as well as family together, we tend to overlook our love life. The overwhelming mayhem of our daily life can keep us extremely occupied, resulting in distances between our partner and us. We all are aware of the fact that a busy schedule can easily result in drifting apart with your spouse.
In this scenario, it is extremely important to focus on communication. As much as we emphasise interacting with your kids, you must take some time out for your partner as well. Set a definite time and keep it for you and your partner only
For instance, maybe you can leave your kids home or with a relative and go out for dinner. You can also do most mundane activities like picking up groceries together or having a long drive. This will allow you some space to interact freely and understand more about each other’s life.
Do not guilt trip yourself
One of the most important things to remember is that imbalance is a part of our life. Surely, there are going to be instances when everything seems out of our control. Be it your work life or family life, oftentimes, things can get mixed up and complicated. In these times, we want you to remember that chaos and confusion is a part of our life.
You should not beat yourself down on the thought of not being there. You must understand the importance of every activity that you are choosing over the other.
For instance, if you choose an important office meeting over your child’s playtime, you must understand that it is the important and right decision. Your work is helping you be financially independent. Because of your work, you can afford your child’s education and healthcare. Thus, it is okay to skip their playtime or events that are not very important.
On the other hand, if your child is sick and needs your help, skipping your office for a day can be a more appropriate option considering your situation. Being there for your loved ones should not come with a lot of guilt. Now, we agree that all of your choices will be personal and different from one another.
Thus, we cannot generalise every scenario and then conclude the appropriate solutions. But, one thing is for sure, you must not guilt-trip yourself into thinking that you are doing it all wrong. Remember that you are an individual, capable of making mistakes. But, what’s more, important is to understand its impact and learn from it in the future
Don’t compromise with self-care
Lastly, do not compromise with your self-care. We as human beings tend to get so occupied with making everyone happy that we forget our happiness. Sometimes our responsibilities overpower our necessities, and we forget all about our mental and physical health.
Thus, we deny the fact that this ignorance leads us to a massive blunder emotionally and physically. Therefore, it is important to take some time off for our mental health. Now, we know, having an entire day all to yourself may not be easily possible as per your given circumstances.
But you can surely take a long and warm shower to maintain your peace of mind. Taking time out for some “me activities” that make you feel happy about your life is an extremely important element.
This will allow you to understand the sole purpose of your life. After all, how can we invest our time and emotions in different segments when we are deprived of self-love from within. Thus, make sure to never compromise with yourself and try to respect your choices.
In Summary
Managing our work and family together is without a doubt a perplexing task. Amidst all this chaos, we often overlook some of the most important aspects of our lives. This includes our own mental and physical health. In the hopes of grabbing one opportunity, we get trapped in a vicious loop of dissatisfaction.
Therefore, after carefully researching numerous families and workspaces, we have summarised our entire information in this article. Here, we have talked about simple tips that can help you manage your life and work with utmost ease. We trust that this article will help you set your priorities and focus a little on your health and self-care.
About the Author
Charlotte Lin is a content creator at escaperoom.com. She’s a passionate young woman, mother to an amazing nine-year-old, and an avid reader. Over the years, writing has helped her explore and understand the world as well as her own self. She loves to travel, meet new people, and spend quality time with her daughter. You can find her on LinkedIn.
