Musings of a working woman

Posted on September 02, 2021 by Vanitha Senkurichi, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

A few years earlier, I remember running late for a meeting with my manager, because of the bad traffic. I found it difficult to explain this to my manager and instead tried to make it right by taking up extra work that was way beyond my scope. I was trying to take up lot more assignments the following days to show that I was quite dedicated to my work. Any of you been there and done that?
Today I look back and think of the untold stress. I hence choose to work with women who are going through these phases. Women like me who are trying hard to achieve a Work life Balance. In a survey conducted among 19 countries, which included India, USA, Britain, China etc, 44% of Working women citied Work Life balance as the toughest challenge. It was the second highest concern among women. Another study revealed that women favored working conditions and relationships when it came to job satisfaction.
Every woman is different and so are their ways to achieve work life balance. As the responsibilities at work and home increases, a lot of woman go through mental stress which results in lots of health issues. A few tips that might help
• One of the best tips I got while learning with coaches was to label my emotions. When we are emotionally swamped and we try to ignore the emotion, it makes us jumpy and unreasonable.
On the other hand, if we fester or ruminate these emotions especially like anger, despair etc it tends to increase. The best option at any given time is to label our emotions. This helps us to regulate our emotions and perform better. So if you are a bit pressed for time any particular day you could say it out loud to yourself “I feel rushed or hurried “If you love the feeling then you could say “I feel active or much needed”. Try it and you feel like you are very much in control.
• Try to keep set work timings even while working from home. When a routine is clearly set, we tend to finish the work within the time rather than procrastinating.
• Ask for help when you feel overwhelmed or over worked. We are super woman in our own ways. We don’t have to prove it by over working.
• If you have been working from home this past year or more, then this is for you. Set a timer to remind you after every hour. When it chimes, get up and walk away from your laptops and mobiles. Take a 5 10 min break. Read a book or interact with your kids or pets. We all need to defocus and distract from our computers.
• This trick worked for me and it might work for you too. Whenever I felt I didn’t know how to resolve some issue, I took a walk to the loo. Many have reported coming up with breakthrough ideas while taking a shower. The reason is simple, the brain works better when it is let free. It explores all the various permutations and combinations and arrives at a solution in its natural state.
• Rolling your eyes from one end to the other is a sure shot way to reduce negative emotions and stress. Making a big O by rolling your eyes from one end to the other also helps us to find possible solution to any issues. These are some of the cognitive therapy tricks that are used to relieve anxiety and stress. Some other tips to come up with solutions are to take a quick walk or do a deep breathing exercise.