Work-Life Balance: The Key To Mental Health

It is officially the last day of Mental Health Awareness Month, and we wanted to finish it properly. It is a fact that, worldwide, people feel uncomfortable talking about mental health problems. However, mental health illnesses are common, and if you get help early on, it is more likely you will get over them or learn to live with them. Therefore, we would like to discuss ways to take care of your mental health with this blog entry named: Work-life Balance: The Key To Mental Health.

Did you know?

Your mental health is constantly changing. It changes according to your circumstances, the challenges you face, and the stage of life you are living. According to Our World in Data, in 2019, around 1 billion people in the world were struggling with mental health problems. These problems vary from everyday worries and feelings to long-term conditions. Some of the most common disorders are:

Anxiety disorders
Depression
Alcohol use disorders
Drug use disorders
Bipolar disorder
Schizophrenia
Eating disorders

The symptoms of these mental illnesses are either neurotic (intense emotional experiences) or psychotic (interferences with the perception of reality). Although some of these symptoms are common for specific problems, no two people behave the same. If you think you might have a mental illness, do something about it. Concealing a problem does not make it go away. Instead, cope with it to enjoy life to the fullest.

Work-life balance

Reaching a work-life balance is essential for good mental health. Without this, it can be easy to push our needs to the side or make bad decisions for our internal peace. To elaborate a little on that, we will use the following phrase:

I don’t live to work; I work to live.
Noel Gallagher

Well, this phrase portrays two realities: in one, you prioritize your work, and in the other one, you prioritize your personal life. We are human, and although prioritizing our personal life seems like the correct thing to do, we spend a lot of time working (2000 hours a year, actually). Do you want to work solely to get money or to survive in this society?

We believe that life is too short for you to have a job that does not encourage you to get out of bed every morning or that makes you feel less worthy. Find a job that you enjoy (with activities you like doing, a great team, or growth opportunities). Invest your time wisely, and do not miss out on the things life has to offer. Regret is destructive, so do something today that you will be thankful for in the future. Also, along the way, you will make mistakes but learn from them and keep moving forward.

Ways to take care of your mental health:

Find a balance: Make your life as comfortable as you can. It will be hard but worth it. This way, you can practice mindfulness (in other words, you can enjoy your present!).
Stay close to nature: Remember, there are bigger things in this world.
Express your feelings: Recognize your feelings, express them, and manage them (This is very healthy, with no shame, no hate).
Nurture your relationships: Being with your loved ones is the best way to soothe your soul.
Reframe negative thoughts: Thoughts are not facts, and when you have a negative thought, try to make it kinder or more constructive (you have learned from your mistakes!).
Accept yourself as you are: Like J.K Rowling said, “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on…that’s who we really are.” Recognize your light, and brighten your darkness.
Finally, we would like to add that working from home allows you to have more control over your work environment, but there will always be things that we cannot control, and we must accept them.

Remember that you are not alone, we all have struggles, and we do not always have a perfect balance within our lives. At Job Duck, we have a supportive and caring team that is always understanding and willing to help. Therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you that it is ok not to be ok! Life is a personal journey that requires trial and error to find what makes you happy. We wish you the best of luck finding the path that makes you happy.

Let us know what you think about this blog entry, Work-Life Balance: The Key To Mental Health, in the comments. Also, do not forget to share this blog entry with someone who could benefit from it. Finally, remember to live life to the fullest since life is beautiful.