BALANCING FAMILY & WORK PART THREE

​Over the week we have covered a few different topics that play into creating a healthy balance between work and family life. There is however still one more element that should be considered and that element is YOU. Your mental health and physical health are very important factors when it comes to balancing work and family life. When feelings of stress arise they can also bring along the feelings of being overwhelmed, tired, and guilty. If you find yourself feeling one and or all of these feelings it might be a sign that there is a lack of balance between your work life and your family life.

​Stress
Stress alone can cause an assortment of physical and emotional issues. It can even lead to you developing other concerning issues like feeling burnt out or feeling depressed. There are of course a few things you can do to help alleviate stress. Exercising is at the top of my list. Hitting the gym, hiking, or taking a brisk evening stroll all should help to alleviate some of the stress you might be under.

Overwhelmed
When feeling overwhelmed it can be hard to plant your feet firmly on the ground. One major move that I would suggest you learn how to do is learn how to say no. As well as try to develop some kind of schedule. With a schedule in place you will not feel as if things are toppling all over you. Remember that it is okay to tell people no. Take the right amount of time for you to figure out if a task is something you can handle at this moment or if it would be better broken up.

​Tired
Trying to be everything to multiple people can be exhausting for anyone. You might start to feel lack of motivation or simply feel as if you are no longer interested in certain things. You might also start to notice that you are procrastinating more and/or moving around in a more sluggish manner. All of these could be the cause of you being tired. Being both tired in the literal physical sense as well as tired in the nonliteral mental sense.
Now the question remains. What do you do when you are feeling tired?

1. Power Nap
​Take a nice 15-20 minute nap. While it might feel like your wasting time. You are actually preparing yourself to become more productive, by giving your body a chance to relax and recollect its energy.

​2. Brisk Walk
Never under estimate the power of a quick walk outside. The fresh air will help reawaken you. Making you feel more alert and feel like you have a significant amount of more energy to get you through the rest of your day.

3. Water
​Staying Hydrated is the most simple and obvious key at bettering your health. Although I will admit that because it is so obvious it can be sometimes overlooked. It you find plain water hard to drink. Try adding mint leaves, lemons, or berries to make your water more appetizing.

​Guilt
When the feeling of guilt overcome you, it can be hard to discover the root of the problem. Although while it is hard and is never fun, it is necessary in order for you to find a solution.
When the guilt sets in for me I like to first look at everything that needs to be done. Then I pick and chose which ones are the most important and proceed to accomplish those task.

​Everything can not possibly be perfectly placed into a schedule. Life just refuses to follows those types of rules. We do however know that in order to balance work and family we must, Discover our Values, Create Boundaries, depend on our Support Network, Schedule, and Take care of ourselves.
​The most important thing to take out of our short series is to enjoy the life you have. Smile often, laugh lots, and share the love with those around you.