Having that perfect routine of work/life balance I'm sure is what we all want, but putting too much pressure on ourselves to be doing everything at once certainly won't be good for your mental health. I wanted to write about this subject as I've recently been struggling myself with this situation. As working from home during the pandemic can be a difficult one to be able to break up your work day with your home life, as a lot of the time, work can interrupt your home life as I'm sure we all feel sometimes. This is where I'll be talking you through what I've been doing to try and get that work/life balance, especially during the pandemic.
Taking time out for yourself & to spend time with loved ones
I am a terrible workaholic I will admit. I have to have every little thing done before I turn the laptop off for the day otherwise I will worry I will forget about it the next day. So what I try and do is (to be honest I don't always stick to this as I'm terrible at being on my phone a lot), have dinner with family with no gadgets or TV and eat at the table together. Me and Adam eat at the table together every meal time, especially dinner and we usually talk about our day and things, or just a general conversation on life at the moment. We (I should say I really) need to put our phones in a different room during this time so we aren't disrupted by work calls or social media notifications etc. This is advice I hope you will be able to use better than what I do as I really should take my own advice at times.
Social media
I feel like social media can sometimes be a massive thing that makes you feel pressured, especially when posting and engaging online. As much as I love to do this, I honestly hate to scroll so much on a screen as it honestly has been hurting my eyes recently. This is where I set screen time for around 1-2 hours a day for my social media on my phone so I'm not on it for hours and hours. It's like my phone popping up and saying "Right, that's enough for one day." So that's a helpful way of having a balance with social media, by setting only a certain amount of time a day for you to be on it.
Go for a daily walk/run
I've been really enjoying this with my partner, it's been getting us out, allowing us to have our time together with no interruptions and we are getting our daily exercise, if it wasn't for this break outside away from work and home life, I'm sure I would of gone mad by now. The reason for me mentioning this in a work/life balance right now is, I tend to leave my phone at home whilst we go out for a run or walk, so that my full attention is on the conversation when walking or just seeing life that isn't through a screen. It allows me to see life properly without the interruption.
Set time each week for a phone free evening
I honestly find it hard to switch off the majority of the time. As my brain is constantly working around the clock thinking of things, creating content ideas in my head, creating lists of things to do etc. If I didn't have my phone I'd be a mess, but I do miss having a diary/planner (I have one but haven't used it since before lockdown). Anyway, completely off subject, something I did not long ago was put my phone on charge, turned the internet off and put the 'Do Not Disturb' mode on my phone so I couldn't be distracted whilst watching a film with my partner. As I'm terrible for having something on the telly and just doing stuff on my phone.
I really need to be less on my phone and more in the moment, but since being in lockdown I've been worse for screen time. But it's been a bonus for my creative side, especially for my blog and youtube, as Instagram has taken a slight backseat for now, but I will be uploading new content on there as I have been shooting some new at home content that I've really enjoyed doing. It's something different, but rather editorial, so that's also helped take me away from the screens. So if you do anything to have a work/life balance, all I'm trying to say is, have less screen time, more you time and time for loved ones. As in reality, we need to live in the moment as much as we can.
Wow, I really went off on a tangent there didn't I? But you get my point. My main problem is screen time, I need to work on doing less of it and more living in the moment. I hope you gain something from this, as I'm taking my own advice from this blog post, lol. Hope you are well & staying safe.
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