Getting a Work/Life Balance

Tash is a mental health blogger and copyrighter. She shares her experiences of trying not to let work take over her life and finding a balance. You can view more on her blog and follow her on Twitter.

Having anxiety is exhausting. I worry all the time and about everything, and it’s impossible to switch off. A trigger for a panic attack can be just a random thought popping into my head, but unfortunately, worrying thoughts don’t pop out of my head quite as easily. This means that I am never completely relaxed.

Going to work every day is difficult because I use up energy not only worrying but trying not to worry, so I can do my job.

It’s a cliché, but I spend my day like a shaken up bottle of Lemonade, waiting to explode.

I used to get through work in the same way you would try and hold in a wee. Imagine you’re desperate for the loo and have to wait until you get home to have one, and every stop on the bus is one milestone closer to your toilet. That’s how I used to feel at work. My goal would be the weekend, where I would look forward to collapsing.

Obviously I cannot hold my worrying all week, so I would set milestones, which were everyday at lunchtime and in the evening. During the morning I would hold in my worries until lunchtime, at which point, having reached that goal would relieve a little bit of the stress. Then in the afternoon I would bottle up all my worries until the evening.

This would carry on all week until Friday evening, where I would just collapse. It was so exhausting that at the weekend I wouldn’t have the energy to do anything but sit around.

Not doing anything on the weekend meant that all I did was work and come home again; which was demoralising and exhausting. And on the weekend, I had nothing to distract me, so I ended up just worrying about going back to work. And eventually it began to make me feel physically ill.

I wasn't enjoying anything in life and that got me down. As time went on, I found some ways to get a better work/life balance:

• My dad gave me some relaxation tapes to listen to after work. I found them a really good way to de-stress after work. They’re like a barrier, separating my home and working life, so I stress less about work when I’m not there.
• At the weekends I try and walk the dog or go for a run, to get some adrenaline pumping round my body so I can enjoy my days off. It’s strange because I feel less exhausted after exercise!
• I don’t look at my emails or work-related stuff after I’ve finished. It has helped so much. And I’m even starting to enjoy work more.

I’m not over my anxiety yet, but I no longer feel like I’m wishing my life away.

< Return to our blog