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My work life balance : Mental Health Trainer Rich

Do I have the perfect work life balance? No and I’m not sure anyone does, achieving a good work life balance is probably an ongoing challenge for everyone.

It means different things to different people, so I’m not going to tell you how to achieve it.  Work and home life can provide important opportunities for connecting with others, experiencing achievement and success, are important for our sense of identity etc. However, they can both have their own stresses, challenges and demands as well. So achieving a good work life balance is a continual balancing act as life changes.

The past few years have been pretty challenging for a number of reasons including buying house and completely renovating it on a limited budget which takes up a lot of my spare time, becoming a dad and having 2 young children which brings new responsibilities and having to learn how to be a good parent on the job. Starting a new job at Community Links in a new organisation which was a slight change in direction from my previous posts. Dealing with the death of my dad and my partners dad which inevitably involves grief, loss and reflection on mortality. However, these experiences have also provided opportunities for learning and growth.

So what has helped me to manage my work life balance? I make sure that I have some time to myself and build this into my daily routine which includes a daily yoga practice in the morning and reading before I go to sleep. Spending time every day with my kids and making sure I finish work in time to able to pick them up from nursery. Eating healthily and trying to have time away from digital devices. Enjoying my job, which probably sounds obvious but when I joined Community Links as a trainer this wasn’t what some people expected as it didn’t follow the obvious hierarchical career pathway. Having a clear boundary between my work and home life is also important for me.

There are also a few things that have helped me in life in general. Having a personal goal or goals to work towards, being able to be genuine with who I am and accepting that nothing in life is permanent. Obviously there are still things that could be better, I’d like to have more family time at the weekend and I’m working on that but generally I think I’m doing an ok managing my work life balance.

Rich Bell