Balancing work, life and exercise

cksongbird
cksongbird Posts: 23
edited September 2024 in Motivation and Support
Is there anyone like me out there; there has to be. I love my work (it's a calling); I love life and I know I have to exercise. How do you balance them. I'm at work as soon as I get up. I need help balancing things and it would help if you could tell me how to get people to understand that just because my office is in the house doesn't mean that I'm not working.

Replies

  • Happyoceangirl
    Happyoceangirl Posts: 1,993 Member
    Hi CKsongbird,
    How awesome that you love your work and have found your calling! That in itself is a definite plus :) I'd love to offer some suggestions, but more info would help first. What does your regular schedule look like? Can you outline your daily routine? Maybe we can help from there....

    I, too, work from home and I'm on-call 24/7 to respond to emergencies - but more or less have figured out how to balance work, life and exercise. I say more or less because there are times when the flow gets interrupted and I get thrown off track. It's always worth it though, to re-establish balance.

    Hoping you get some helpful responses! :flowerforyou:
  • katschy
    katschy Posts: 67
    Depends on who you mean by "people", because I know people who work very successfully from home, and who separate life from work with some success (some more than others - self-employment can unfortunately really blur the lines). I suspect that your issue is that people assume that because you're working at home you can drop it at any time and do what you like. If you treat any interruptions the way you would do in an external office, people will get the picture. Just gently say, "I'm sorry, I'm working, maybe we can do this at [whatever time] when I'm done." In the same way, schedule your exercise around your work hours.

    If you're working from home and particularly if you're self-employed you have the power to segregate your life and your work into chunks of time defined by YOU rather than by a random "standard" of office hours. Good luck!!
  • KeriA
    KeriA Posts: 3,358 Member
    I worked as an artist at my studio for quite awhile and I had to really make a point about not getting together with people during the work day. My husband would drop me off before his work and pick me up after his job. I would aften do accounts at night or go to openings etc. I found out that people would assume that I didn't need to work during the day and think I could just drop eveything and have coffee at anytime. When my son came my time was even more precious. I just said no. I am working. I did worst though when we moved and my studio was at home. I now know I volunteered too much at my kids schools. You need to do a little of that to keep track of how things are going at the school but you have to draw lines. As someone said above it depends on your work. I hope you work it out. Even now I have this problem. I am unemployed and starting to take classes to update job skills. I will have to tell my Mom soon she can not just call me whenever she feels like it. She didn't call me at work when I worked in an office. Unfortunately now I have nowhere to work so can't work at my art now even though I have had the time. Good luck sorting this out. I understand this issue. However I think your work is different from what mine was.
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
    As you can tell from all the comments, finding balance is an ongoing thing. I schedule exercise. It's the only way. If I am working from home, I block a solid 2hours of work, then a half hour of exercise and a drink, snack and back to work. I even set a timer to keep me on schedule, if I don't nothing gets done. For me if I don't schedule exercise, it doesnt' get done.
  • cksongbird
    cksongbird Posts: 23
    My occupation is kind of unique for a woman. My husband and I co-pastor a small congregation in northern Illinois. He also works outside of the house. My day various depending upon the day.

    SUNDAYS--Get up at 6am, teach a class at 9:30, preach at 10:30, entertain at noon (whoever needs a meal), teach a class at 4, attend evening service at 6 and teach another class after service until about 10:30. On the fifth Sunday of the month we have singspirations in other towns therefore the evening service and the classes are cancelled.

    MONDAYS--Are spent with my husband, cleaning house, and generally trying to relax. Monday evening I participate in a kickball league that the church is involved with. If someone has what they consider an emergency we attend to it.

    TUESDAYS-SATURDAYS--Up at 7am, breakfast, news, and exercise till 9am. Go to the office (in the basement), maintain internet connections (such as websites), study for message, prepare to teach classes, and do research for future classes. On Tuesday and Thursday I participate (and relax) in Movie/Game night. On Wednesdays I have a meeting at 2pm and attend (may be in charge) and evening service. On Friday night my husband and I usually do the grocery shopping (sometimes I do it during the day so that we can do something else). Also on Friday my son (who returned home--broken marriage) brings his two kids home for part of the week-end or all of the week-end.

    During the week I also have to maintain the housework and do my laundry.
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