Facebook Pixel

Work-Life Balance

By
 
Rate This

As most of you know I am the mother of twin two year old boys. I love being a mom and love spending time with my boys, but I also love my job and what I do. As a personal trainer I get to go to work and change people's lives everyday by improving their wellness and health. Before my twins I worked 30-40 hours a week personal training and loved every minute of it. Then came my two precious little guys and I struggled with what most mom's struggle with and that is the balance between work and kids.

I finally decided to work only three days a week and the other two I stay at home with my boys. It was a tough decision because I have worked hard in my career to get where I am now and I didn't want to lose that, but I also didn't want to miss my kids growing up. For many moms this work-life balance is a hard one. While at work you feel guilty for not being with your kids, but then at home you miss the adult work world of office lunches, adult conversation, and using your brain for something more than building blocks. All of this can cause us a lot of stress which is not good for our bodies, mind and overall health.

Those of you who don't have kids may be struggling with having some personal time away from work especially if you're married to your job, travel a lot, or just a workaholic. Here are some tips below to help you mantain a work-life balance.

* Keep A Log. Track everything you do for a week. What made you the most happy? When were you the most stressed out? Decide what is necessary and what satisfies you the most. Then make a decision about what you need to do to balance out your life where you are the most happy.
* Check Out Your Options. Find out if your employer offers flexible hours, a compressed workweek, job sharing, or working some from home. I do a lot of my paperwork and computer entries at home while my twins are playing.
* Fight The Guilt. Having a family and a job is OK. I know bunches of kids who turn out just fine being in daycare! Some say they are better mom's if they get to go to work. If you are a stay at home mom, then find something you can do to keep up your knowledge, like take a certification or a class. You can even find work that you can do from home here or there.

If you want more tips and information the Mayo Clinic has a great article called Work-life Balance: Ways to restore harmony and reduce stress. What's important is for you to do what makes you the happiest and to keep this type of stress, worry and guilt out of your life.

Add a CommentComments

There are no comments yet. Be the first one and get the conversation started!

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
By submitting this form, you agree to EmpowHER's terms of service and privacy policy
Lara Price
View Profile Send Message

We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.