Continuing from my previous post,let us discuss how work life influences personal life.

Those interested in reading part one can find it here: The work life relationship 1.

How stress at work affects you and your health

For people, who are very motivated at work, a setback at work can tend to make you depressed and it can spill over in real life. When the work is stressful and you cannot get enough break between one work day and next work day, it not just exhausts yourself mentally and physically but it also builds fatigue, without any way to decrease it. This is why, doctors, nutritionists, life coaches, everyone suggests sports as a way to release the stress, relax and just reset the button. But what if you do not have time to do sports? So many of us spend ten to twelve hours at work and then commute to and from work. What happens then? With a lot of pressure, more pressure and no outlet, it builds up, and you fall sick. Your health suffers as a result and as a result you feel depressed and demotivated.

This is a phase that I also went through. I fell sick because work was too stressful, I could not prioritize part of it and all over I felt lonely taking on an impossible burden. I let my personal life suffer under it. I had almost no contact with my parents during the week, could not find time to talk to them. A large portion of my mental support was cut off. I was coming home at eight pm the day before and leaving at seven in the morning the day after. No one can continue this indefinitely, and neither could I. I was always exhausted. I did not have time to go for a run, go for swim, practise dance. None of the physical activities that can reduce the cortisol, take off the stress and provide a balance was missing. I was sick, I was miserable and it affected my relationships with my family, my partner, my friends. I was always short tempered and fighting with someone or other. It took me an immense effort to turn this around and create a balance that would not let the me overpowered by stress. I will write a separate blog on it.

Effect of work stress on personal life

Work satisfaction or the lack of it also has its effects on life. When work does not give any satisfaction, there is bullying and pressurizing going in work, it is not always possible to keep a calm mind and have patience. If there is no way one can express themselves against the problems, one is just too tired mentally to exercise calm at home. This results in impatience with family members, children, temper outbursts and all together a uncomfortable situation at home as well.

When the work which you are doing is undervalued and you are underpaid, along with the above mentioned issues, there is often a questioning of your professional capacity. What if the my effort is enough, is my work good enough. If you are not noticed by your employers at all and you are continuously passed over for promotions or other forms of appreciations, it is also very difficult to motivate yourself. This also leads to question the different choices in life and general feeling of not going somewhere.

All of these are from the perspective of someone who is employed. Now imagine someone who is self employed. Someone who is working hard for their start-up or someone who is a small time business owner or entrepreneur. Work satisfaction or job is not just about health, physical or mental for them or stress or temper. Often lack of appreciation is tied to the success or failure of their business. In today’s age of social media, a social media presence, followings and traffic are just not measure of superficial popularity, it is also a measure of the business they are able to do.

Work life relationship for a self employed person

For a self employed person, a small business owner, work stress, decrease of work quality has an immediate effect on the revenues generated and sustainability of their profession.

Here work and private life are much more intimately related. Tools of work, like leaving the worries back at work, prioritize or taking time off to have a small distance from the daily nitty gritty of the work is not possible for them. A lot of them in the early stages work from home. They are responsible for everything in their work and therefore they cannot switch themselves off easily or at all. A lack of order for example can throw a small online business into serious financial trouble. A lack of trouble can throw an online professional blog into serious trouble and work and life are more intimately related in these cases.

I can go on and on on this topic. I have decided to write a series on this topic which will hopefully be a good read for you all. Do drop your comment and feedback about your work life relationships and I will try to incorporate them in the following posts.