If you have a career that you are very focused on and also have a family at home, you already know firsthand exactly how stressful it can be to try and balance both. You may be a workaholic because you like to make enough money to support your family, or maybe you are just really passionate about your job. Either way, work can sometimes be all-consuming, and it is important to remember to make time for yourself and your family as well. If finding this balance is something you struggle with, here are a few tips to help you out.
Consider Therapy
If you are having trouble deciding what your priorities should be, you may want to consider going to see a professional therapist. They deal with people who are trying to juggle a full time job with a busy family life all the time, and may have some ideas you haven’t thought of on your own. Just like ground improvement specialists are hired to make sure a job site is safe and prevent structure failure, a therapist will be able to help you build a strong foundation on which to build.
Have Boundaries
Creating boundaries for yourself, both at work and at home, is a great first step in learning how to balance your work life with your home life in a healthy way. For example, if you tell your boss you cannot work weekends, do not sway on this and say ‘yes’ if they ask you to work on a weekend. If your family is asking you to take too many days off work, let them know. For instance, tell your wife that if you take a day off to go to the zoo with them, you won’t be able to take another day off to go to the baseball game. It will have to be one or the other. If you have trouble with boundaries, look inward and consider why this might be.
Switch Careers
A slightly more radical idea is that you may want to change careers in order to be able to spend more time with your family. These days, there are many jobs where you can work from home a lot, and workweeks that are under 40 hours are becoming more and more commonplace. Think about your options before making any brash decisions, but remember that at the end of the day your family should be more important than your job. If you aren’t able to make it work with your current career, you may just want to explore other options. Who knows, you may find something that will end up being the perfect fit for your work/family balance.
Many aspects of life are hard enough on their own, but when you’re trying to balance them all at the same time, it can feel pretty overwhelming. Try these above tips to see if they can help you!
