Creating Work-Life Harmony: Insights from a Decatur Therapist on Setting Healthy Boundaries
You wake up with a pit in your stomach. Your thoughts automatically turn to work, and what you need to do today. You reach for your phone to see if any emails came in since you last checked. Maybe as you take a shower you are playing out scenarios that may occur today, or you are making a mental list of the things you need to accomplish. You feel the familiar sensation of dread fall upon you as you think about work. Once you are at work you feel stressed most of the time.
The stress you feel at work is bleeding over into your personal life. At home you check emails and often work until you can no longer stay awake. Even when you are spending time with your friends and loved ones, you never really turn work off.
Does any of this sound familiar to you? As a Decatur therapist this is a story I hear quite often.
Oftentimes, when we don’t develop boundaries between our work and personal time, we start to feel unbalanced and overwhelmed. We often will find ourselves ruminating about work and can even experience increased anxiety, feel lack of motivation, and possibly depression.
By creating healthy boundaries between work and the rest of our life, it can help us to separate the two worlds leading to a feeling of balance.
In therapy I often work with clients in Decatur that are struggling with stress and anxiety because their work life is bleeding into their personal life. We work together to develop strategies to create a work-life balance.
Creating a Routine
The first step to creating work-life balance is to develop routines that allow us to disconnect from work. More than past generations, and even more so since the pandemic, many jobs deviate from the typical 9-5 routine. As we gain more flexibility with our work hours and work-from-home options, we’re losing the boundaries that used to follow the structure of the 9-5 and having our work computers and laptops less accessible.
Therefore, it’s important to create our own routine and a set work schedule that fits our needs. For example, if you tend to struggle with constantly checking your email well into the night, setting a cut-off time and enabling focus mode on your phone is a good way to begin to enforce a rule for yourself.
Disconnecting from Work
When we used to work from the office more, we would have the opportunity to wind down on the drive home. Now, we switch more quickly from one to the other and don’t slow down enough to disconnect. Mindfulness practice is a great way to learn how to switch gears from work to personal.
Mindfulness teaches us the ability to be more present in the moment, which is often what we struggle with when we continue to worry about the upcoming presentation or mistake we made even after the work day is over. Start by setting aside five minutes each day to incorporate guided mindfulness practices. Follow along to a youtube video or an app on your phone so that you can become familiar with the process. Many people like to start their morning routines with these practices. Try them while you enjoy your morning cup of coffee or tea!
Using Self-Compassion and Self-Advocacy
Exploring communication techniques and learning to increase self-advocacy is an important part of creating boundaries at work. Sometimes, we may struggle with low self-compassion and listen to the harsh voice, which also interferes with our ability to self-advocate for our needs at work.
Working on self-compassion is a key component of being able to create healthier boundaries, as we often need to combat the inner harsh critic that puts us down and tells us we shouldn’t speak up. Maybe you find that when you make a mistake at work, your harsh critic says, “You’re a failure. You don’t deserve to be here”. Start by asking yourself - what might I say to a friend who was in a similar situation, or experiencing similar feelings? We tend to be kinder to ourselves than to others. Now try and say the same thing to yourself!
In Conclusion
This article underscores the critical importance of establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries between work and personal life. In a world where the lines between the two are increasingly blurred, especially post-pandemic, it's vital to create routines and practices that help us disconnect from work and be more present in our personal lives. Incorporating mindfulness, setting specific work hours, and learning to use self-compassion and self-advocacy are key strategies in combating the stress and anxiety that arise when work life bleeds into personal life.
As a Decatur therapist, I witness firsthand how implementing these strategies can lead to a more balanced, fulfilling life.
Remember, it's not just about managing our time; it's about nurturing our mental health and well-being, ensuring we're as present and fulfilled in our personal moments as we are dedicated and productive in our professional ones.
Our team of Decatur therapists can help with learning more about these three steps and the tools and skills needed to develop a healthier work-life balance. Schedule an initial consultation on our website to learn more about how to challenge that harsh inner critic, learn how to take the steps to disconnect from work, or explore what a healthy routine looks like for you.
Embarking on a therapeutic journey can be transformative, offering insights, growth, and healing. We at Aspen Grove Counseling and Wellness are here to support you every step of the way. If you have more questions or are ready to take the next step, please reach out. Your journey, your pace. We're here for you.
Click here to schedule your free 15-minute free phone consultation with one of our Decatur therapists.
Or give us a call at 770-954-5476, or email us at info@decaturgacounseling.com, and we’d be happy to hear what is happening and direct you to the right person to help.
