Many people around the world are still in quarantine, and though many seemed to welcome the time for reflection and rest, others found it even more stressful to stay at home. People who belonged to the latter group experienced more stress as work, domestic life, and even social concerns cornered them in one place: their home. There was no respite from work concerns and social concerns. The distinction between private and professional life blurred, and many of them started to struggle.
And researchers are showing that working from home can indeed create more stressful situations. In China, more couples filed for divorce after the lockdown than at any time. In Europe and North America, parents are struggling to teach school lessons to their children at home. Everywhere else, people are trying to survive unemployment. In some cases, some families struggle with all three. How could you maintain the work-life balance you’ve planned?
Here are some strategies you can use to maintain a happy home life and healthy work-life balance to expand your career opportunities while under lockdown.
Recreate your environment
If you are working from home, you need to set up a home office where you can concentrate. Make this the only place where you do your work, and make sure that once you leave that place, all your work concerns will be left behind. Inform your partner and your children that you wish to be left undisturbed, unless for emergencies.
The same goes for your children. Set up a place in the home where they have the materials they for school. It could be the den or the living room, but make sure they could concentrate and have fewer distractions during their online lessons. If they are using laptops, make sure to remove their access to social media apps at least during their lessons.
Improve your skills and yourself
If you lost your job or your company closed, you could look for online courses focused on self-improvement. You could also expand your skillset and explore other opportunities for career expansion and growth.
You can explore university online courses and attend seminars conducted by famous instructors, but you should always choose a course that broadens your mind and has maximum user engagement. If you want a career change but do not have the time for a full course, you could explore summer courses on psychotherapy or computer science.
Learn to love technology
If there is something we all learned to love during the lockdown, it is technology. Teleconferencing apps, social media app, game apps, cable companies and streaming networks are now a part of our lockdown existence. Your Fitbit helps you monitor how many steps you did today, especially since you only walked around the house. Your company’s cloud database has allowed you to work from home, even if your files are on your office computer. Finally, your social media handles have made it easier to call family and loved ones, and that has made all the difference.
You can still maintain the kind of work-life balance you have designed for you and your family even under lockdown. All it takes a bit more persistence, patience, and organization so everyone can adjust to the ‘new normal’.
