How to Balance Work and Family Life

It is said that love and work are the cornerstones of being human, which is why both are very important in order to gain happiness. However, if one fails to manage these two significant things, juggling the demands of each can be difficult. For instance, as a working mother with children of school age, juggling with their ages, out-of-school activities, and social support needs to be well balanced with the nature and demands of your job, the flexible hours at work as well as managing your own personal problems and struggles in life.

If not balanced properly, conflicts may arise between work and family life. For most working adults, improperly balanced work and family life is one of the most common sources of stress. Most often than not, there is always one that is given more priority than the other.

Hence, achieving a well-balanced work and family life is essential. This may seem to be a very daunting task, however, most people managed to achieve this through by thinking differently. Below are some of the ideas you might want to try. You may try doing these things one at a time. You’ll be surprised how much these little ideas could actually make a huge difference to you and your work-family life.

Connect with People around You

Team up with the people around you so that you may feel supported while supporting them as well. Do not think that only you alone can help solve any problem you might be experiencing today. Always know that in order to get things right, you have people whom you can rely on. Make it a point to regularly discuss family matters and even the smallest life issues with your husband, children and family members. Ask for opinions and objectives at work. Asking for other’s point of views can make your eyes open to a lot of things and can make you aware of your current situations you need to improve and deal with.

Establish Clear Boundaries between Family and Work

Make your limits and boundaries clear. This may not be easy especially in some jobs, however, once you finally establish an effective approach to set limits between family duties and work responsibilities, you may be able to solely focused and work on things you need to deal with. For instance, you may want to schedule a time each week set aside for you and your family to do something together which you can solely focused on without worrying about job responsibilities. Make it a point not to bring all your office papers at home so that you can focus more on your family matters and obligations to avoid distractions.

Have Time for Yourself

Spending a little time and space on yourself can have a great positive effect in balancing work and family life. Focusing on yourself could actually help you realize your current emotional state, your coping ability and boost your energy level. It doesn’t need to be much. One good example of this is by practicing a 10-20 minute mindfulness at least once per day. You may also try to do hobbies and leisure activities you enjoy even if it is just an hour or two every week.

Realize that Imbalance Sometimes is Unavoidable

There will be times when you have to let work and family take priority, which is essentially natural. For instance, you may need to skip work and one family member is sick, or when an important deadline must be met, you might also need to miss dinner at home while working in the office late. You must need to know that there is no easy solution in balancing work and family life. There is nothing wrong with working really hard in order to gain finer things in life, but you should also do not forget the worth of things and the people that really matters to you most. 

If you feel stuck, depressed or anxious about career or life in general, a life coach can help. For more of our life tips and advice, click here.