6 Signs Your Work-Life Balance Is Out of Whack
All work and no play can have a serious impact on your mental and physical health. Find out how to re-establish a healthy work-life balance.
Just about everybody goes through stressful times at work. Projects pile up, you stay late and take work home with you — but the flow of emails doesn’t slow down. When this becomes the norm, it’s time to re-evaluate your work-life balance — and make some healthy changes to avoid job burnout.
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How do you know when it’s time to examine how your job fits into your life? Here are the telltale signs.
You’re staying up too late or having trouble staying asleep. You’re sitting all day and not exercising. You’re getting most of your food from a vending machine or drive-thru window — or not eating at all. You have a nagging pain or health concern but don’t feel like you have time to go to the doctor.
You’ve started noticing signs of anxiety or depression. Are you feeling angry or irritable? You may even experience dread, restlessness, hopelessness, panic attacks, mood swings, and maybe even thoughts of suicide.
Your work no longer feels meaningful. You don’t feel connected to your colleagues or clients. You’re just going through the motions.
No matter what you do, it feels like it’s never enough. You’re always behind and the quality of your work may suffer. You worry constantly about your job performance. You fear (but maybe also secretly fantasize about) being fired.
You’re working longer and longer hours. You can’t take time off without getting calls, texts and emails from work. You feel like you have to be available around the clock.
Although you may have people around all the time and you’re constantly connected electronically, you no longer have the time or energy for meaningful interactions with family or friends. Your relationships begin to suffer.
If any of this sounds familiar, don’t despair. Psychologist Amy Sullivan, PsyD, offers the following tips for taking control and getting things back in balance.
Although hard work is prized in our culture, you don’t have to let your job take over your life. It’s OK — and necessary — to take care of yourself first.