The Work-Life Balance

I'm sure you have noticed that I tend to draw from real life. That is happening here again. This time it is directly related to balancing work and life at the same time because, well, sometimes that stuff merges, and managing them can get difficult.

As a matter of fact, nothing causes it to merge more than working from home. You are literally sitting in the middle of life doing work. How are you supposed to separate that stuff? It takes some work but it is possible.

Finding work-life balance is as easy as 1-2-3.

Not quite, but it is easier than you realize. It is all about barriers. Physical barriers are great, like walking out of a physical building and getting in the car for your drive home, but mental ones also work.

If you have a private office space with a door, that is a physical barrier you can implement in your work life. However, that is not always possible. Sometimes you just have to make due and mental barriers can really help in this area.

If your office is a corner in your bedroom with a desk, raise your hand.

That is exactly where my office is located. I needed to find a way to make working from home work for me, and the quietest space was the bedroom. It is also a master bedroom with a private bathroom. It is great for never having to leave during work hours. It also happens to be just far enough off from the bed and the actual "bedroom" space, I am able to differentiate between the two mental modes.

That is a prime example of a mental barrier. There is no physical barrier. I mentally separate the two spaces by facing away from the bed while I work but also by keeping my workspace at the foot of the bed, so I sleep without having to look at work. My brain has placed an invisible wall between the two spaces behind the one door.

So, how do you replace the decompression during the physical drive home with a traditional 9 to 5?

See, for me that is an important step. I need to be able to set aside the stressors I faced while working before I enter home life. Being I am at home already, I cannot use the car as that medium. I have a routine for that too.

I decompress by walking away from the computer after I shut it off. I do not leave the room, though. As I mentioned the bedroom setup previously, that helps me in this situation. I walk away from the computer and I go sit on the bed. I may play on my phone for a moment or I might just take a few deep breaths with my eyes closed. Either way, I am away from my workspace but not quite in the living area. Sitting on the bed for 5 minutes is my car ride home.

Finding that work-life balance is a welcome challenge. I'd rather be home working than anywhere else.

It is simple. Being self-employed in my own space makes me much happier than physical decompression barriers. I wouldn't change my work life for anything.