Are you that friend who is always missing in action? No one sees you at school reunions or family functions. You are out of touch on any news that is unrelated to work and can hardly even spare time for breakfast with the family. Are you that one whose favourite tune is the chime of email notifications? Constantly brooding over targets and KPIs and making little time for yourself.
Early mornings, late nights, no breaks- this is the story of many young people. Yes, you love your job, and building a flourishing career in that field is a dream you live by. You put in the work and invest time honing your craft. However, one important question to ask is if you can still carve out time to take care of yourself, breathe and just balance your life.
Self care is important if you want to maintain a healthy work-life balance while building a career. It is possible to get carried away with the hustle and bustle and forget to take care of yourself. Investing all your time in your job does not only impact your social life negatively, but it can also be detrimental to your health. Not only will your friends get tired of inviting you to hang out with them, but you will also feel a lot of mental pressure and stress.
If you need to be further convinced about why work-life balance is extremely important, here are five good reasons why you should make time for yourself:
Work-life balance helps to maintain your physical health
An unhealthy balance leaves you prone to mental pressure and stress. Constant exposure to stress increases your risk of significant health problems like heart disease and obesity. Having little or no time for yourself may cause you to neglect your well-being, begin to stress eat and cultivate other unhealthy habits that will be detrimental to your health.
When you have a healthy balance, you can allocate time to activities that enhance your health, like going to the gym and cooking healthy meals.
It helps to increase your productivity
Employees will be motivated, and productivity will increase when they are happy. Placing pressure on workers and having them devote all their time to work hardly ever yields the desired result.
If you can make time to do other things in your personal life and engage in your favourite hobbies, it will improve your creativity, refresh you, and make you more likely to perform better at work. Work-life balance also helps minimize the risk of frequent burnout.
It gives you general fulfilment
One of the most important reasons to maintain a work-life balance is for your fulfilment, peace of mind and happiness. When you can maintain a thriving personal life, you will feel in charge of your emotions and ultimately happier.
Work-life balance helps you maintain your mental health
Spending too much time working can leave you with negative emotions like sadness, depression, anxiety and irritation that you may not even have time to process. These emotions remain bottled up and can cause your mental health to deteriorate pretty quickly.
Balancing your work and personal life helps improve your relationships
Maintaining relationships requires time and effort. Spending most of your time working implies that you have less time for your family, and these bonds may suffer due to your tight schedule.
Building personal relationships and spending time with them makes you happier and helps you de-stress. You will feel much better after spending time with your family or just catching up with the guys on the weekend.
Do you now see how work-life balance can help your career progress and keep you happy? You do not have to sacrifice your time for your job. Learn to prioritise your tasks and know your body’s limits so you do not push too hard.
Build firm, healthy boundaries too. Remember, your health is of utmost importance, so do not forget to visit your doctor regularly to get checked out. If you feel stressed and require medical attention, speak to a doctor on Doctall for advice.
