
How to Achieve Work-Life Balance After Your Stroke
You have suffered a stroke – we, and of course, you, want you to succeed, so now what?
It’s certainly normal to find yourself making changes to your typical routine. For instance, you may start cutting out certain foods or sleeping in earlier. However, one aspect of your life that may be more resistant to healthy change is work. More so, if you’re self-employed, or a freelancer who feels extra pressure to meet deadlines or provide for family.
Unfortunately, this can easily lead to an unhealthy or lackluster work-life balance. Hubstaff, an HR software company, states that up to 60% of all survey responding professionals from the US don’t think they have a good boundary between their professional and private lives. In line with this, another survey finds that more than 50% of all respondents are willing to take up to a 20% salary cut if that means a better quality of life. This is very telling, considering that the rising cost of living would make it seem like earning more money should be a top priority.
As a stroke survivor, work-life balance is really important because you will want to take precautions to avoid another stroke. And you might want to consider opportunities in the wellness space to blend your healthcare issues with business or professional opportunities.
That said, if you don’t know how to carve out a healthier working approach without compromising your professionalism, here are a few tips from Stroke Recovery Foundation:
Set a definite workspace and schedule
The primary reason why many workers have a hard time balancing their work and leisure lives is because physical lines are often too blurred. Nowadays, it’s all too common for you to take work calls during weekends, or to complete your tasks in your own home, all for the sake of the “hustle.” However, this only serves to muddle sacred spaces that ensure you’re not overextending yourself because you don’t know when one responsibility ends, and another begins. This is especially true if you’re a remote worker. A good way to prevent this is to take a cue from healthy work-from-home habits and start work hours and workspaces. For example, turn off notifications for all work-related apps once you clock off. Additionally, whether you’re working in the office or at home, keep your work on your own desk and don’t let it spill out into other spaces. By doing so, you’re able to better physically and mentally detach from the demands of work. As a stroke survivor, this also leaves you more time to focus on your healing journey without having to be constantly reminded of work.
Be more discerning with your clients
Even if you’ve already set good habits for yourself, it’s not worth much if your clients are putting unnecessary stress on you. As mentioned in our previous article about pursuing self-employment after a stroke, working directly with clients can be stressful and perhaps, frustrating. In many cases, the rejection, attention, and demands can even affect your self-motivation. While it’s impossible to have perfect clients, and you’re bound to experience a few tricky situations here and there, you can do yourself a favor and screen who you work with. If you’re part of a team and don’t have much say over who you work for, then at the very least, you can set strict client parameters from the get-go. This will establish your boundaries, so any client who oversteps can be duly noted and addressed. Alternatively, if you’re a freelancer, you can practice restraint when checking client inquiries. While it can be tempting to say yes to every potential patron, taking the extra time to look into them and their working attitude before formally signing on is a safer approach.
Consider part-time work after your Stroke
A great way to re-enter the workforce or get your own business back up and running is to start out part-time. This is a healthy approach because the stroke may leave you with less energy than you had before you had your stroke. This approach is part of our One-Step at a Time technique that we teach and advocate for. Since we want you to succeed, this approach is lightly to result in success since you are managing your time better. If you are working in an organization, you might want to approach management, or your boss with a plan to re-enter part-time and gradually increase your hours until you have achieved a full-time schedule.
Make an effort to socialize
Finally, don’t forget to make time to socialize personally. When your schedule is packed, it’s usually easier for people to choose their work life over their personal one. That said, although this may seem more practical in the short term, it’s much less beneficial when you look at the big picture. When you isolate yourself, you’re at a much higher risk of developing mental and emotional issues. To elaborate, researchers have linked loneliness to more incidents of chronic disease, such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure, to name a few. Naturally, as a stroke survivor, developing any of these can be more dangerous. On top of this, loneliness has been found to affect cognition, creativity, and focus, so you’re going to feel less productive, too. In addition, over time, this can lead to poor work performance. With this in mind, it’s better to get ahead of this potential problem, and just make time for loved ones as early as possible. It need not be through anything grand either if that’s too hard; even just a little coffee here and there can be a huge wellness refresher.
We want our community of stroke survivors to succeed. We hope that you consider some, or all of these suggestions to create and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Any suggestions or questions – please contact us at Bobm@StrokeRF.org.
Article written by Roane Jenston