Work Life Balance
Our modern lifestyle consists of more options and obligations then ever seen before in history. With the introduction of new advanced technologies there has been an increased invasion on our precious time. Although many of these new technologies have made many menial tasks easier and much more efficient, this technology has also made the lines between work, play, and relaxation blur together. So, as we can see with all new advancements there comes the inevitable drawback.
Compounding on this issue is that our American culture also tends to lean towards workaholism. Our nation was founded by hardworking dedicated individuals that had the freedom to at least take a swing at attaining wealth and prosperity. However, this ambition tends to come with a cost. Pervasive workaholism has had increasingly negative influence on the nation’s mental health as a whole. Anxiety, Depression, and fatigue have all been on the rise over the past several years. The increased speed of the digital revolution over the past few years, that has been due to the COVID-19 epidemic, has further fueled the mental health issues caused by the lack of work life balance that we have in this country.
Although there have been countless benefits that have come out of this accelerated revolution such as digital therapy, digital healthcare, reduced commute time, etc. Our brains are not wired to be able to adapt to the speed at which these modern changes have occurred. I touch on this in the article Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety — Premium Virtual Counseling Services (harvardavenuecounselingservices.com) . Therefore, if we are going to attempt to better regulate our mental health and work life balance within the speed of modern change, we all have to actively work at staying balanced. This can be thought of as how we now need to make a concerted effort to eat right and exercise The Mind Body Connection — Harvard Avenue Counseling Services, PLLC. We now also need to pay attention to the way in which we manage our working life with all the other obligations and distractions we have going on.
One specific technique that I have utilized with clients often is to find all of the dead space that you have throughout the day. Dead space is time such as driving, doing dishes, laundry, mowing the lawn, etc. The goal is to learn how to turn those times into positive rejuvenating experiences. This is where the benefits of modern technology come to the rescue. You can utilize headphones and your smart phone to listen to music, podcasts, books, tv, meditation apps, talking to friends, the list is almost endless. Studies have shown that people that are able to find the dead space throughout their day and make it more productive and enjoyable tend to have much fewer issue with anxiety and other mental health conditions.
Furthermore, it is crucial to do some introspection on how much time you should be dedicating to your work, family, hobbies, and rest. This is the core of mastering your work life balance. Our counselors here at Harvard Avenue Counseling Services have experience in working with clients on mastering this balance and we look forwarding to assisting you.
