Working Professionals In High Pressure Jobs - The Struggle Is Real!
Many working professionals are under constant pressure, have tight deadlines, have to make difficult decisions, need to solve tough problems, and their job performance is under continuous scrutiny. Working professionals employed under these conditions often feel burned out and they want out.
If this sounds familiar to you, you might be a police officer, an attorney, a nurse, a lawyer, a doctor, a counselor, or you work in an occupation that is very stressful to say the least. You are not alone, we are all around you, but often these kind of jobs make it difficult for us to reach out for help. You don’t want to get judged. You don’t want to look incompetent. You might work in a job that requires you to remain confidential. You can’t afford being diagnosed with a mental health condition that would jeopardize your position. But if you are reading this, maybe you realize that you need assistance to find some balance in your life, not only to function better, but also to find joy that you may have lost over time.
Work-Life Balance Is Often Challenging
Work-Life-Balance is such a trendy term that lots of companies like to throw around, wanting to advertise their positive work culture. I would prefer this term would list "life" first, as I feel your life is more important than your work. Hence, the term really should be Life-Work-Balance, but you can see why an employer would like to put the word work first. Employers often offer certain perks or incentives to show “we are about our employees”. These perks might be a free gym membership, free Keurig coffee in the office, attractive bonuses, etc. But the reality is that these perks come with expectations, so to speak the fine print of your job duties. What does this fine print look like? Being virtually available by phone, text, e-mail at any time, including evenings, weekends and maybe even on your days off. Often working professionals have the capacity to work from home or bring their computers and work phones home. Hence, if you got your computer and phone with you at home, well then the boundaries between work and personal life get fuzzy easily. Crossing this boundary in not an uncommon expectation, especially for salaried positions. Once you cross this boundary, it often seems impossible to truly separate work from your life.
If your spouse been waiting for you to take the promised vacation, well it will have to wait a bit longer, because you just closed that important deal and for that you got promoted. You now need to learn your new job responsibilities and you can’t take time off. Maybe there is friction because you come home late and work weekends. Maybe the time you are at home, you are passed out tired because you can no longer do anything, as your brain is fried. Maybe you appear indifferent to your family, but you really just got your mind stuck on that problem at work that you are trying to fix.
Finding a healthy balance is for many working professionals only a wish, or maybe a glimmer of hope for the future, yet not realistic in their current situation. You wait for when things at the job have settled down, wait until you completed a project, or wait until you get a promotion you waited for, etc. But the problem is that the balance will not naturally occur and there will never be a down-time. In fact, the reality is often that if you show you are capable of meeting the demands of your high pressure job, more responsibility is added and expectations rise even higher.
Work Struggles Can Be Damaging To Mental Health
A true Work-Life-Balance can’t be achieved or set by your employer. Your employer’s goal is to get maximum ROI out of you, not to make you feel comfortable and happy. In fact, many jobs deliver the feeling that you are certainly replaceable and someone else can easily do your job at least as good, if not even better then you. This leads to fear of losing your job, fear of failing, fear of not being good enough, etc. All of this is not healthy and productive towards your well-being. In fact, the stress that you are under can lead to serious problems with your mental and physical health. This can lead to depression, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, weight gain, weight loss, hair loss, migraine headaches, loss of stamina, skin conditions, heart problems, just to list a few. Overworked and burned out professionals are at the highest risk to develop one or more conditions that jeopardizes optimum equilibrium. An interesting Forbes article written by Jake Adelstein (link is listed below) talks about the unfortunate phenomenon that has in recent years started to appear in Japan. It describes chronic overwork leading to death. The word “Karoshi” was coined to describe this sad sensation. Hence, working yourself to death is no longer just a saying, it’s actually happening and therefore becomes a factual risk you need to be aware of.
True Work-Life-Balance can only be achieved by you. You are in control of the balance between your life and your work, and this is only established by setting firm boundaries for yourself. Having a good balance between your life and your job can be accomplished in different ways. This uniquely depends on your situation, your home and work responsibilities, your ultimate goals, and your priorities in life. It also depends on your willingness to set boundaries, your willingness to take risks, or your willingness to make changes in your life. Or it might be a simpler solution. Maybe you just need to better organizing your work and learn better time management skills. You may need to learn to leave problems at work, and not checking work e-mails when you are home. Maybe you need to acquire a set of tools to destress in your free time, which will also help you to better productive with your time you spend at work.
I encourage to practice self-care, which is vital in order for you to enjoy your life and to be productive at work. Try to unwind, relax, and spend time with the important people in your life. Work can and should remain important. But your life is more then just work. Instead try to focus experiencing life with family, friends, nature, places, and allow happenstance .
I specialize in counseling and therapeutic services geared towards working professionals who struggle juggling their life and work responsibilities. From my own experiences, I am aware of the challenges working professionals face. I provide a safe and confidential setting that allows you to freely open up about your concerns. Let me help you explore your options to better manage the different aspect of your life. Learn more about how anxiety therapy can help you by contacting me.
Link to Forbes article by Jake Adelstein
