You and everyone around you thought that working from home will be like smooth sailing, right? Less stress than your office job, more time with the kids, less money spent on your nanny and more benefits. All this is good and probably true to most people, but just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean that they call come handed to you on a silver platter just because you made that choice.
Working from home requires a lot more organization and discipline than your average day office job. Why? Because now, you’re on your own!
While this is a great relief it could also cause stress due to high expectations from your spouse and even children. What they see is, my wife or mom is at home throughout the day now so I should get more attention and time or some of that daily house work that we paid a maid to do can now be done by my wife.
These misconceptions and high expectations from your family and work can cause stress and there are ways on how you can cope with them.
First – PLAN! Have a weekly plan on how your day will be and how much time you’re able to put into work and home. Get your spouse and children involved and maybe get their help in getting some of the work completed. A good organized mind can always make the difference.
Learn how to say ‘NO’ – If your children want you to make them cookies or your client wants you to do an extra job, if this not seem as something you can commit to without breaking a promise, be able to say NO. Saying no is not always rude if you can construct it in such a way that you are offering an alternative such as, ‘Mommy will make cookies when she’s done with her work’ OR ‘I am unable to do that this week, but if you don’t mind waiting an extra week, I should be able to fit it in to my schedule next week’.
Identify what stresses you and either avoid it or get rid of it. – If a clustered home makes you feel stresses, so much so that you feel like stopping your work to go clean the house, find an alternative. Getting a day maid, who will come during the day to do the cooking and cleaning and leaves in the evening could make so much difference.
Express your feelings – If you feel you’re not getting the understanding and support you need from your family express your feelings in a more understandable manner. Maybe you’ve had an argument and this is not the right time for you to express, but make sure that your feelings are not bottled up inside and that after a considerable time is taken to calm down that you do what it takes to express how you felt and how you feel about what was said. |
