When your life is out of balance, you can experience increased anxiety, negativity and depression. However, you should do more than buy anxiety medication during these periods. Instead, you need to find a way to balance your work stress and your personal life. These are some work-life strategies.
Practice Acceptance
First, you need to accept that no one and no situation is perfect. Striving for perfection often causes increased anxiety and disappointment. You will make mistakes personally and professionally, but as long as you see them as learning experiences or steps in the right direction, accepting them and yourself, you can reduce your anxiety.
In addition, you likely will never find a “perfect” balance between your work and personal life. However, you can take steps to increase the balance you experience. Set realistic balance goals, and strive for a schedule that makes sense. You should have time for hobbies, family time and personal quiet time in addition to your work time, but it doesn’t all have to happen on the same day.
Prioritize Self-Care
Your number-one priority should be your health, including your emotional, mental and physical health. Therefore, make self-care a priority. If you feel emotionally exhausted, take time away by yourself to rejuvenate. Work out to keep your physical health in check. Find ways to let your brain relax when you feel overwhelmed.
If you struggle with mental or emotional challenges, such as anxiety or ADHD, don’t feel embarrassed or unprepared. Do some research, seek counseling and find coping mechanisms, such as over the counter ADHD. You are the only one who knows what you need and can care for yourself properly.
Find Work You Enjoy
You will likely never love everything about your job, but you shouldn’t dread getting up and going to work every morning. Your job should be challenging and exciting enough to keep you interested, but it shouldn’t be so overwhelming that you feel like you tread water every day. Therefore, search for something you would do for free every day. Avoid toxic environments and toxic people, especially if you don’t love the job.
Set Goals and Boundaries
You should have both personal and professional goals. Make sure they are SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. They should address what you want to achieve by when in your personal and professional life. You can break them down into manageable steps or benchmarks to make them less intimidating and overwhelming.
Use Effective Time Management
Implement time management strategies. For example, eliminate every task that is of no value to you or your work. Consider your most productive time period, and schedule your most important activities for this time. Turn off distractions, such as email, and put your cell phone away during your work periods. Start your day with a plan that has prioritized tasks on it, and start with the tasks that have the highest priority first.
As you do with your goals, break your larger projects into smaller tasks so you see progress constantly. Avoid multitasking. Your work productivity directly impacts your family and personal time.
Even if you find the best ADHD medication for adults with anxiety, you still need to find a work-life balance that works for you. Consider these suggestions as you pursue balance in your life.
