How to Find Work Life Balance

September 2024

Balance is not basic

Finding a healthy work and home life balance is an important factor in overall feelings of life fulfillment and happiness. Studies have shown that there is a direct link between our emotion and stress levels and the physical impacts on our bodies. Stress can have massive impacts on heart health and performance. Learning how to set boundaries to assist in a more balanced relationship with work can have long lasting benefits. Setting boundaries with work may be difficult, but your health and happiness is worth it. 

How to get started

It can be hard to determine what balance is appropriate for yourself, as it will most likely look different from those you compare it to. An important first step in this process is to identify the characteristics and values that you hold for yourself and wish to see patterned throughout your life. Some examples of these could include family/parenting, finances, adventure, or health to name a few. Once you have picked one, or a few, of these characteristics, you now have a guideline for success. When creating work and home life balance, it’s very important to prioritize your characteristics, while creating structure to support those goals. With this prioritization can also come the disappointment from turning down opportunities that don’t fit within your goals. That promotion at work may sound amazing and come with a large raise, but those long working hours may also mean sacrificing personal time for rest, rejuvenation, and connection. 

A good first step in beginning to set work and home life boundaries is identifying times within the day and week that are off limits for work. For example, if your working hours end around five in the evening, you might set your boundary at five-thirty or six in the evening. Unless it is an immediate crisis, any emails or messages sent to you will be saved for the start of your work day the following morning. Giving yourself the permission to fully disengage from the pressure of work also gives you permission to fully engage with your life outside of work. Without these boundaries, you are choosing to carry the stress (however large or minimal) with you into your personal life. When you do this, you’re also not allowing your body and mind the rest it deserves to prepare you for the next and following days. Prolonged exposure to constant stress can have detrimental effects to your cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, reproductive, and nervous systems. Many studies have shown direct links between exposure to stress and chronic illness. 

Working from home

Trying to create balance when working from home can feel slightly trickier due to the shared space of work and relaxation. You may find it harder to create the balance due to the proximity of work being just a few steps away. In cases like this, it’s very important to create structure for your body and mind. If you’re lucky enough to have an office at home, you’re already one step closer to achieving that balance! If you don’t have an office currently set up, it’s important that you create as much structure as possible while working from home. Having a designated working spot within your living space that is not also used for relaxation is a great first step. If you are working from your couch or bed, it may be hard for your body to create a healthy relationship between work and relaxation. You may find yourself trying to relax in those spots after work and being bombarded with work thoughts or concerns. This will make it much more difficult for you to fully disengage as you are spending mental energy thinking of work during this time. Although it may not feel like overwhelming stress at the time, every time that happens your body is taking on additional stress which can lead to physical impacts. 

Once you have set up your working location to your satisfaction, it’s also important to look at the end of your work day. Are you trying to cook dinner and answer a few more work questions? Are you coming back to your computer to double check that email? Both of these examples show your brain struggling to identify if this time is for work or relaxation, meaning you probably aren’t being as productive as you’d like to be in either of those categories. The physical boundary setting of closing your computer and leaving your work space gives your body permission to shift into rest mode and leave the stress of work for the following work day. Healthy boundaries between work and rest lead to a healthier you. 

You are worth it, make the time

The internal battle between wanting to be the best in your profession and living a fulfilling life can be difficult. Without realizing it, unmanaged stress can build and create lasting impacts on your body and mind. To live a fulfilled life, you must also find and prioritize time for rest and relaxation. Our nervous systems were not designed to be exposed to heightened and consistent levels of stress for a prolonged period of time. If you don’t find the time for proper rest and disconnection from work, your body may find it for you in ways that you don’t expect. Your current and future health relies on your current stress management. Learning to set and stick with work and home life boundaries is one small step in the right direction. The best version of you, both in life and in work, starts with the most well balanced version of yourself. 

We’d love to connect with you! Do you have more questions about how to find work life balance? Our team at Houston Feel Good Therapy is here to help. To schedule an appointment or consultation, call or text us at 832-966-0214 or email at admin@houstonfeelgoodtherapy.com. We look forward to supporting you on your journey!

Written by: Katy Childs, LPC