BLUSH Winter 2019

BLUSH | LEISURE & LIFESTYLE
4. Eating: Busy schedules can mean skipping meals,
making you feel irritable and sluggish, ensure you eat
regular healthy snacks and meals throughout the day.
Arrange to meet a friend for lunch once a week, or carry
snacks or a pack lunch with you. Try to sit down for a family
meal as often as possible; this is good for your mental and
physical health, and works wonders for family bonding.
5. Overlapping: Laptops and mobile devices
are so convenient, especially with the help of wireless
Internet, meaning much of your work, like replying to
emails, organising your diary and studying online, can be
done from anywhere. Try to avoid crossing ‘laptop time’
over with recreational time; you will not be giving the task
full attention, nor does it count as relaxing or quality family
time. Make a point of cuddling up with a loved one, or
watching a movie with the children without thinking about
work, and with your phone and laptop switched off.
8. Meditating: So many of you would have
experienced mental fatigue as well as physical, as it
is so easy to take home people’s problems or stresses
depending on your area of work. Learn to leave the
emotional aspect of your work at work. If you work
from home, it may be more of a challenge to ‘switch
off’. Ten minutes of meditation after each meeting, or
two minutes after each task can do wonders for your
mind and body, realigning YOU and stopping you from
focusing on the last patient or client or student or
meeting or email, so you can be present and look to the
needs of the next task or customer. Add this meditation
time into your daily schedule and include as part of your
diary dot points. For those of you that work in a busy
environment, avoid getting caught up with internal
politics or gossip, this can be super draining, a waste
of time and energy, and more importantly negative and
nasty.
6. Talking: Work can be all encompassing, and
it can easily eat into unsociable hours, but this doesn’t
mean that when you do have time
to socialise that the conversation
must revolve around work. Many
of you will have a great passion
for your work or the training you
do, but remember to talk about
various subjects with your friends
and family too, as it is important to
enjoy other aspects of life and of
your relationships.
7. Delegating: If you have
work, home, relationships, children,
and your own needs to juggle, it may
get to the point when you feel that
you need help. Don’t be proud: call
upon friends and family to spend
time with the children while you run
some errands. If you are able to allocate the funds, enlist the
help of a cleaner once a week, or hire an admin assistant.
There are plenty of ways you can delegate responsibilities and
tasks, look at where best you need a little helping hand. It
may mean hiring an accountant, or getting a gardener. If you
enjoy tasks like gardening yourself, then incorporate them
with family time; young children love to be involved in potting
plants or safe household chores. If you are doing a mundane
task, like cleaning your office space or dealing with admin
work, put some of your favourite music on so you can balance
the chores with fun. Dance a bit, sing a little, and basically
use it as a way of staying in tune with yourself and with the
pleasures of life.
Learn to leave the
emotional aspect
of your work at
work
9. Morning: Parents, walk your children to
school, or dog-owners take your pooch for walkies
first thing in the morning. This
encourages a routine for those
working from home, and helps
motivate you to get on with your
day upon your return. If you do
not have a dog, or a child, then
have a refreshing shower, get
dressed and walk around the
block before your working day,
or do a stint in the gym, or go
for a run. By having an activity
to start your day other than
work, you are really making the
most of your time, as well as
proving to yourself that work
is not the first thing to jump to
each morning. There will be days
you have early appointments,
but try to manage these morning activities a few times
a week to achieve that balance and overall productivity.
These morning activities also support motivation for
homeworkers, an increasing area for modern work,
not just parents working from home. Self-employed or
contracted staff working in the virtual sphere will also
benefit from this tip.
10. Shifting: Enjoy including these tips into your
life, but don’t feel that big changes need to be made, as
it is consistent small tweaks that are often more effective,
and will ultimately lead to the perfect work-life balance.
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BLUSH | WINTER 2019 43