Faith Over Burnout/Create Work Life Balance
A Healthy Work-Life Balance is essential to prevent burnout caused by not prioritizing mental health over job responsibilities. It’s important to practice self-care and take time to enjoy life. If you’ve had a busy week take time to relax and recharge, and don’t feel pressured to say yes to every invitation. If you struggle with mental health disorders, you must be sensitive to this. Creating a healthy balance may not look the same for everyone, but it’s a goal we should all strive to achieve. Exercise, setting manageable goals at work, and taking a break from social media are great ways to start. You should also seek help if necessary, which is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it’s a sign of strength. Finally, you should do whatever you can to maximize your quality of life!
Working long hours for extended periods can harm your mental health, so time management strategies are crucial. Unfortunately, anyone can let work take up an unhealthy portion of their life. It doesn’t matter if you’re an entrepreneur or on the payroll at a company. There is always more work to be done because the grind never stops. However, if your mental health requires you to take a break, it’s up to you to take one!
Mind and Body Connection
Sometimes your body and mind need to rest, especially when battling mental health disorders. Suppose you are dealing with a chronic illness alongside a mental health disorder. Too much stress on the body can weaken the immune system, which creates an environment for diseases. For example, heart disease and cancer mortality rates are higher among people with depression. People with schizophrenia are at higher risk of heart and respiratory diseases. In addition, according to WebMD, sleep problems such as insomnia or sleep apnea are present in 50-80% of people with mental health disorders. The mind-body connection is strong and will affect us positively or negatively. So we must do what we can to help combat any stress we may encounter at work.
Work-Life out of Balance
While Americans are known for working long hours and not taking vacation days, in some parts of Europe, they FORBID employers from working their employees for more than 48 hours a week. You read that right; they FORBID it! Could you imagine being banned from working more than 48 hours a week? The typical workweek for an employee in those countries is usually between 30-39 hours. As Americans, most of us can probably relate to working nine to ten hours a day. I’ve never worked ten hours a day, five days straight. However, working from 7 am, leaving at 5 pm, and returning at 6:45 am the next day is exhausting.
Work Hard, Play Harder
In Itay, the workers make time for leisure and personal activities, with only 3 percent working 50 or more hours weekly. In comparison, 10.4 percent of Americans work more than 50 hours weekly. The Government mandates employees in Australia to use the four weeks of vacation time they receive. If they remain with an employer for ten years, they receive additional time, which equals three months of paid leave. Could you imagine?? How many people would stay with their employers if they had three months off at a time to relax and decompress? Most Americans can’t even fathom having that much time off a year. Most teachers don’t even have three straight months off.
The Burnout
The U.S is at the bottom of all the surveys regarding paid time off. I’m sure no one is surprised by that statistic, but some U.S.-based companies have been paying attention to the needs of their employees. They encourage employees to take time off, not check emails and utilize their implemented wellness programs. These companies see these programs as beneficial for their employees and realize they benefit when used. EAP (Employee Assistance Program) or wellness programs help reduce healthcare costs. They can also help with job performance and productivity and result in a higher retention rate. In addition, the company could save about $1,071, the projected average cost of training new employees in the USA. I can’t think of a company that doesn’t want to save money, so this is a win for everyone.
The pandemic changed the structure of traditional work environments. People were going into the workplace, while others worked from home. They were meeting on zoom and transforming living spaces into offices and classrooms. Social distancing occurred, along with restricted access to goods, wearing face coverings, and a government shutdown. It was a strange time with many people losing loved ones or just being sick from Covid-19.
Work-Life Balancing Act
People were furloughed and laid off, and the unemployment rate in April 2020 was at its highest since the 1930s. The Government issued stimulus payments and put extra money in unemployment checks to help ease the financial burden. As a result, some people received more money during this time than when they worked. People viewed this as an opportunity to learn new skills and hobbies or revive old ones.
As the lockdown continued and people had more time away from the workplace. Many began to question why they had been working so hard at a job they hated in the first place. The result was the Great Resignation. Because a sense of “normalcy” was lost during the pandemic as the days turned into weeks and months. People were putting things in perspective, focusing on the things that brought joy to their lives and wanting to get rid of what didn’t. The gravity of life and how short and fragile it can be sparked a change in people. So, it should be no surprise that some people started handing in their resignations. After all, it was the perfect time to reinvent yourself.
No Work-Life Balance, No Peace
My focus began to change when I was lucky enough to be furloughed in 2020. My company sent out a survey to determine the percentage of employees that would take leave if offered. I couldn’t send my YES back quickly enough. By this time, I had been with my employer for 12 years. I was a lead technician and had every intention of retiring from that company, mainly because I couldn’t fathom starting over again. I also didn’t want to give up my multiple weeks of vacation and all the perks that come with working somewhere for many years. There was also a group of amazing women that I didn’t want to leave. I felt blessed to love the majority of my coworkers. We considered ourselves a “work family” and had created such a bond that would make it sad to leave.
A Change In Perspective
There were days I could get away with it not working hard. For instance, the doctor had a lighter schedule of 65 patients instead of 95. The trade-off would be those 95-plus patient days, with us running from room to room. I worked hard and often felt unappreciated and undervalued. The funny thing is, I had no idea how mentally exhausted I was until I had that time off. I knew that I was physically exhausted because we saw a lot of patients, but I didn’t realize I’d been in a mental fog.
According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. From April 2021 to April 2022, 71.6 million people quit their jobs. That averaged 3.98 million people leaving every month. Some industries got hit harder than others, like hospitality and food service, which are still affected. We all saw how hard doctors and nurses worked throughout the pandemic—fighting to save lives and keep their families safe. Many had limited PPE or days off to destress. So it’s no wonder many people began questioning how they wanted life to look after the dust settled.
A Shift In Work-Life Balance
I had not considered leaving until then. However, on a few occasions, events transpired that made me think I should seek other employment. But I knew the grass wasn’t necessarily greener on the other side, and practically every adult I knew was also complaining about work. So besides reconnecting with my “work family,” I wasn’t excited to be back in the office. I had been keeping in touch with my coworkers while furloughed, and I knew the doctors had adjusted their schedules to help with social distancing. So when the furloughed staff returned to the office. The doctor’s schedules were back to capacity, and we saw our regular number of patients.
My anxiety was becoming hard to manage, especially since there were additional tasks to do at work—daily temperature checks for staff and patients. We found ourselves arguing with patients who didn’t want to wear a mask or wanted to bring someone to the appointment with them. Patients became irate if the waiting room was too full and needed to wait downstairs. It was exhausting, along with the rampant staff shortages throughout the practice due to people testing positive for Covid-19 or coming into contact with someone who had it. During this time, I began dreading going to work every day, and even my awesome “work family” wasn’t helping to brighten my mood.
New Year, New Balance
So in January 2022, my 13th year with the practice, I resigned. My husband, who was honestly tired of hearing me complain and come home cranky daily, convinced me it was time to go. Following my resignation, I felt a freedom I hadn’t felt in the last few years, and the anxiety that’d started to drift back into my life quickly faded.
During my leave, God reminded me of my love of writing, and when I resigned, my creativity began to flow. I’ve since started a new job, which is not perfect since no workplace is. However, I can work a flexible schedule and leave early on Fridays. It’s another medical practice, but so different than my previous one. Honestly, I’m not sure how long God will keep me there, but I look forward to allowing him to direct my path.
