Work-Life Balance Strategies
Methods for achieving a healthier balance, between professional and personal life
Resolving Family Conflicts
Finding balance in life is the key to finding happiness. Let’s face it. Many of us are working a full day juggling career demands and then come home and work all over again. Extracurricular activities, school events, and space for family time becomes all the more overwhelming.
The push-pull strain makes it easier for relationship conflicts to arise, and if you have an adolescent juggling the complexities of their development with career advancement can be extremely taxing. Here’s the thing; there are ways you can heal your relationships, and not feel guilty about wanting to succeed at work.
You can strike a balance between career success, personal growth, creating time to fill your cup, and flourishing family relationships.
Work-Life Balance Strategies
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Transform family conflicts and build stronger bonds with our free resources for growth here. Read our blog to receive weekly insights and support designed specifically for parents. Resources to help you reconnect and maintain the emotional clarity that keeps you moving forward.
Who I Am
I’m Pamela Williams – PhD pursuer, psychology & sociology graduate, Relationship & WorkLife Balance coach, mom to a college freshman and wife to a sci-fi geek; who has helped 1000+ career professionals find balance and emotional clarity. This guide is based on my hard-earned experiences learned including shared mistakes you won’t have to make. Read more here!
“Communication is key. Kids want to know you see them. It’s quality over quantity.”
Love is the most important emotion and sedates stress.
Notable insights
Important lessons to take away from this blog post.
Main points:
Time management for parents: Optimizing your time creates structure, efficiency, and healthy boundaries to build trust for deepening connections.
Stress management techniques: Manage your time and prevent miscommunication.
Family bonds: What really matters in life are the connections we make and the bonds we create. Nothing physical leaves with us when we die.
Finding balance between life and work is important.
Why is it so important to
strike a balance between work and home?
Finding balance in life is essential for living a healthy life. Everything runs off balance. The Universe being the largest example of balance and alignment. Think of a total eclipse. Christ the creator in His infinite wisdom shows just how in tune and in balance our solar system is. All planets working together in a gravitational field of push, pull, holding, and distance.
Their sizes an essential function of this process. For the moon to drift in between the sun and our beautiful marble planet for a few minutes casting us into a temporary night-fall they have to be - as large as they are - the exact diameter and distance apart so that we can view this magnificent spectacle. Perfection!
We are no different. Nature often shows us how to live. It is an ultimate teacher, but with the rigors of life we often overlook this wonder and free resource we have at our disposal.
Here are three simple strategies you can start using today that will introduce balance to help build family bonds and prevent parental burnout.
Time Management for Parents:
Optimize your time: Learning to optimize time is an essential tool as a parent because it introduces efficiency and structure. Although at times it seems to be something there isn’t enough of, when you change your perspective to “there’s 24 hours in a day, what can I schedule during this time” you’ll find a way.
When I was a single parent, time was a tool for me to get things done. I worked 4/10s - including being on call - as a social worker, and coached boys soccer a few nights during the evenings plus weekends we had games. So I had to plan and organize in order to complete tasks to ensure my son's needs were met and he received quality time.
Making time work for you creates:
Efficiency
Adds structure
Prevents miscommunication
Communication is key. Kids want to know you see them. It’s quality over quantity. When everyone in your households knows their role, and which part they play it runs more smoothly. Structure helps build healthy boundaries and creates trust within the unit.
When people know when and where they are supposed to be and what they are doing it fosters trust, and elicits discipline. Being informed also helps to keep everyone on track!
Remember, completing tasks brings a sense of accomplishment, a win you can celebrate which boosts well-being, and helps you regulate your emotions.
Implementing a to-do list helps you stay organized and celebrate little wins.
2. Stress Management Techniques:
Filling your cup: Finding ways to relieve stress is a function that is the difference between burning out and finding happiness. Stress occurs from two sources: external or internal. An external perceived threat, encouraging you to act, and how you think of that threat even after it’s passed–internal.
This stress is caused by destructive beliefs that distort the way you view your circumstances, obstacles and challenges. Breaking the cycle involves recognizing the belief perpetuating negative reactions and replacing it with a renewed perspective. A technique I call “Catch n Change.”
Here are simple practices to relieve stress:
Meditation
Mindfulness
Creativity
The ability to meditate brings a sense of calm and clarity. It builds new neuro-pathways regenerating your brain, (a process of which stress hormones interfere with). And limits the malfunction of the fear center (left amygdala over-reacting). Tuning out noise from the outside world to go inward jump-starts healing through rejuvenating the cells to provide maintenance. Our bodies have the ability to heal themselves through meditating and fuel consumed as food. It also facilitates connection to Christ and reconnecting to people.
Developing a mindfulness practice is vital as it helps you live from a space of gratitude. In July 2020 I became a published author writing my memoir How Do I Find Love After Heartbreak? That process helped me develop the Ramoni Method, a 7-step healing framework that builds resilience, emotional clarity and ultimately creates balance. Mindfulness is at the core of the Ramoni Method and a practice that nourishes the body, mind and spirit.
Creating space for creativity brings peace by helping you stay present.
Finding a creative project to sink your teeth into alleviates stress because it stops rumination. When you’re aware of intrusive thoughts they can not keep you stuck. Instead keeping you present, while providing a sense of accomplishment. Learning new things keeps your mind sharp and your memory fresh. Again, building new neural pathways for optimal brain health.
Remember, a self-care routine should encompass activities that nourish the following areas; the body, mind and spirit. It is imperative for overall health and well-being.
Creativity helps you let-go. Just be yourself.
3. Building Strong Family Bonds:
Communication skills development: Communication or the lack there of is what typically leads to the downfall of relationships. Being afraid to have courageous-conversations is a relationship killer. The ability to have difficult conversations and set healthy boundaries comes from being in a safe environment, and having the ability to articulate your needs and wants without fear.
Keeping lines open:
Create time to check in
Practicing empathy
Schedule activities to connect
Being able to check-in with your teen and be in their space is vital to the success of the relationship. At their age their focus centers around social acceptance and fitting in, their focus isn’t about what bills needs to be paid, home functionality, and traveling arrangements for activities.
Check-in time builds healthy relationships.
They’re stress is different and what’s important to you from your perspective is equally as important to them from their perspective, and that’s grades, work (if they are), competitive sports, girls/boys (sorry–but it's true!)
Their security needs being met and you seeing them (their emotional needs) is what keeps communication lines open, even when they naturally enter the pull-away developmental stage to gain their independence. Knowing what is at the center of their world helps to build empathy to understand what they are going through. It gives you something to talk about, because remember you were once there, so sharing that experience success stories and failures will strengthen the bond.
When you schedule activities to connect do something that is different from the norm. It helps help them open up. Food is always a great ice breaker, so why not schedule time to connect by going to a favorite spot. If that’s not your cup of tea, what about a walk in the park? Or hiking at a scenic spot?
Making time to connect strengthens family bonds.
Ultimately the choice is yours. The beauty of life is that we all have the power to make choices, and it begins with our mindset and what we believe.
Seeing your children, and communicating your own challenges at work and home is important as they begin to learn what it’s like being an adult. Just be tactful.
Have a self-care practice that fills your cup so you feel energized and can manage stress. Because ultimately it makes you a better parent and leads to harmony in your relationships with your children, spouse, loved ones and coworkers. To create and maintain bonds is a blessed life.
Make a choice today to create balance in your life through personal development by learning something new, by setting firm boundaries and showing up for yourself, like you do for the person you’re working for.
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