Maintaining a work-life balance is the age-old challenge of corporate wellness, and it’s hard enough when you do the traditional nine-to-five, but what if you have a job that makes demands of your social hours too? Luckily, Abbie Schneider, a non-profit manager with experience in higher education, is here to help.
‘I work in an industry where evening and weekend work is just part of the gig,’ says Schneider. ‘I have no idea what it’s like to have a 9-to-5, Monday through Friday job. Even though my industry is one with non-traditional hours, and I’ve had my fair share of issues carving a life for myself outside of my work identity, I’ve come to learn that the nuances of my work environment have made all the difference in how I feel about the time I spend working.’
Schneider details how her wellbeing took a hit in her first job after university, so much so that she only spent two years working directly in the field in which she had just invested thousands of dollars’ worth of tuition. ‘There was a lot of work to be done, and I was an eager, energetic new grad ready to dive in,’ she explained. ‘I made the assumption that I needed to do all of it before I left the job, which left me exhausted and suffering a pretty heavy depression. Where a lot of progress had been made, all I saw was how much there was to do, and I felt like I was failing.’
Out of this experience, Schneider learned that it’s a bad idea to start a job with an end date already in mind, as she did, as it boxes you in and may create unrealistic expectations. You can also become impeded in your career if you don’t look after your overall wellness. As Schneider notes, ‘Even if you’re invested in what you’re doing and the work seems fun, if you don’t take care of yourself in the process, you dull the things that make you so great.’
Schneider concludes, ‘Just because you don’t have a partner or kids at home doesn’t mean your non-work life is less important than the lives of your partnered co-workers. At least once a week, make an appointment that requires you to leave the office—dinner with a friend, ballet barre at the gym, etc. I once had a friend who got a dog simply so she would have a reason to go home at night. Whatever it takes to create the life you want to have.’
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