The question of work/life balance is one that crops up regularly and with seemingly more frequency since the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s important to examine your own situation and think about if there’s anything that you would change in that regard. It’s easy to think that things should be done a certain way due to your upbringing or what you’re used to, but the truth is that there might be more flexibility there than you expect.
This can be quite eye-opening for some people. Constructing the life that you ultimately want means identifying how to make that possible and understanding the steps you need to get there.
A Job You Enjoy
To some people, the idea of a job that you enjoy might sound like an oxymoron. However, that perception might come from your employment history as it stands, meaning that there could be ample room to focus on what you haven’t liked about your previous jobs in order to avoid that in the future. For example, if you’re someone who doesn’t like the idea of being cooped up in a single environment, you might look to a line of work that takes you outside more often. This could be something that actively has you working outside in order to reap the mental health benefits that might come alongside that, or it could make use of one of your interests.
For example, if you’re someone who enjoys driving in some form, you might look to get a commercial driver’s license so that it’s something that you could morph into a career. Not every line of work that involves driving is going to be a candidate, obviously, but that starting point can help you whittle down the options. Eventually, you’ll be pointed in the direction of someone like 247expresslogistics.com, who prioritizes a level of flexibility in their employment approach that can best suit your own ambitions.
Not Taking it Home
What many people struggle with when trying to fine-tune their work/life balance is, ironically, the time spent not working. This isn’t because of how they spend their downtime; it’s just because a lot of jobs don’t limit the mental strain to the time you actually spend working them. Coming home and continuing to worry might be time that’s technically off the clock, but if it interferes with your ability to enjoy your life in other ways, you might not feel as though you’ve escaped it.
This might be something that you look to remedy by exploring jobs that are more focused on the present-tense action of the day but that won’t always align with what you want out of your career. It can sometimes be difficult to tell what the job entails in that regard until you’re actually working it. Alternatively, if you do find yourself in this kind of situation, you might turn your attention to professional psychological help that can alter the way you structure your time and attitude towards work, potentially removing this stress.
When you’re trying to perfect your work/life balance, it’s important to understand that it’s not just about time; it’s about balancing your attention and enjoyment of that time. Having more time spent at home than working doesn’t mean anything if you spend all of that time thinking about work, so ensuring that you have a clear dividing line between the two can often help you to get the most out of both, preventing you from becoming fatigued.
Self-Care
Perhaps stress, in general, isn’t something that you find yourself effective at handling, and while you might want to get the most out of your free time, spending it in a way that makes life in all areas more relaxed and pleasurable might be worthwhile. Practicing self-care can mean many things, and often it will manifest itself in different ways to different people. Taking some time to meditate or practice breathing exercises, for example, can provide you with a mental state that you can return to in times of high stress, putting you in a better position to handle it whenever it rears its head in whatever area of your life. However, it might be that you want to take care of your physical health at the same time as your mental health.
Exercise might then be your answer. It’s known that exercise does have a positive impact on your mental health, too, meaning that you’re free to get creative with the exact form that it takes. If you’re hoping to lean closer to the more meditative examples of earlier, something like yoga might pique your interest. To many people, though, the idea of exercise will be one that simply feels like a chore – not something that you want to spend your free time with. In that case, then, you might turn your attention to group activities that you can have fun with, like cycling or hiking, that can get you exercising in nature while having fun with those that you care about, ticking all the boxes at once.
Affording Your Lifestyle
To those who are content with a more humble lifestyle, it might be easier to curate a career that allows you to live how you want. However, for those with more expensive needs (perhaps due to living in an area where rent is higher, for example) or wanting to afford a more luxurious lifestyle that includes a greater number of vacations, your work is going to need to provide you with more money. This adds a level to your research where you are looking for something that falls into the right industry for your skills while also not being so stressful as to overcome your life and also paying a high enough salary.
It sounds impossible, but you might find that there is a good middle-range where it’s certainly feasible. Another compromise that you could make is a short period of time working a higher-paid, potentially higher-stress job, with the understanding that you’ll shift to something more flexible or even freelance with the experience and money that you make afterward.
