Transcription:
Work-Life Balance During Times of Change

Melanie:    Welcome to BayCare HealthChat. I'm Melanie Cole, and I invite you to listen as we discuss work life balance during times of change. Joining me is Tracy Daniels. He's a Behavioral Health Educator and Master Level Practitioner with BayCare Behavioral Health. Tracy, it's such a pleasure to have you with us again. You are just such an amazing guest. Today, we're talking about these unprecedented times we're living in. What are we doing as far as work life balance and how has that changed and affected us during this COVID time?

Tracy Daniels: That's a very good question, Melanie. And thank you so much for inviting me to be on the program to discuss this topic, because as you said, it is one that I believe we are all, really learning how to live through because of what's been thrown at us. And when we look at our balance during this time, I think one of the number one factors that really has affected everyone is that when this COVID started and we were placed into positions in our lives that we had not been placed in before, it got us out of our routines. And I think that was one of the most important things that affected everyone, is not continuing in their routines that they had lived in for so many years. If you think about it, I think we never thought about a routine of getting up in the morning. If I had to be the work at this time, I got up, did what I needed to do either I had breakfast in the house or I stopped along the way. Then I got to the office and did a little work and about eight to nine to 10, somewhere in those areas, I might get up and go for a little walk, take a little break. Then I know the lunch was coming at 11:30 or 12, or in those times, did that.

And then I came back to my work and then got ready to wind down at the end of the day. And then my routine was to go to the gym or something like that. And I believe that is really what has affected a lot of people is when we got out of our routines that we really never paid attention to until now, and I can say that when that routine time of living and style of how we had been doing things was broken, then it really began to affect us and how we were really taking care of ourselves with our self-care.

Melanie: Wow. It makes you think when we hear you it like that Tracy, and as you've talked about what routines, getting up in the morning, our breakfast, what routines have changed. So Tracy then how do we notice those changes? What are some of the physical and psychological and physiological work signs of stress that we're seeing? Because I know that even for my kids, they're sleeping later, going to bed later. I mean, routines have totally changed. So, what are we doing to ourselves and how are we adapting? How are we not adapting? Help us to recognize these things?

Tracy Daniels: So, I would say some of the things to check out as we are processing through this, is am I becoming a little bit more irritated and irritable? Am I now a little less compassionate? You know, these are the things I believe has really affected people is because when we're told that we can't go to work. And so now we've got to work from home. That totally changed our processes too. Why? Because in my office, I had my big desk. I had my workspace where I had my double monitors and had everything lined up, especially if I was a person that really endured control. Now I don't have that control.

So I'm working from my home now where I got all these distractions from pets to family members to you name it. It's there. In my office, I didn't have that. Now at home I have that unless I'm able to establish an area, and my house is big enough where I can do that, but I'm still not in that same type of style. And that has affected. So now am I feeling a little bit more tired? Am I feeling a little bit more fatigued? Am I paying these things attention? Has my stress levels risen because I can't do the same things I used to?   IT, you know, don't even mention IT because I don't have that ability to do the things that I need to do.

And when I'm in my office, I could contact IT and they will be there. Now I don't have that. These things can affect us. And if we're not careful, then they begin to build which once again, takes us into what we call accumulative stressors and those accumulative stressors as they build up over time, can create us to have feelings of burnout.

So these are the things we have to watch for during this time. I believe Melanie, one of the things too that affected us you know, when we talk about our balance, is when I was told to stay at home now, how am I doing with turning the TV off, listening to a lot of news? Have I, you know, stopped doing that? Am I really getting enough sleep because I've been, binge-watching all these programs now. And it's affected me and I haven't really paid that attention. So we gotta be cognizant of us during this time, which helps us come into balance and move us towards an area of success.

Melanie: Well, we certainly do, and part of what you were describing was right there in my basement with me, Tracy. So now it's about being cognizant, as you say, and managing our time and even recognizing whether our job is a good job for work life balance. So kind of tie some of that together. What areas are in need of balance? What do we do to get started to really find that? As you said, we get irritated easily. I am snapping at people much more easily. Tell us how we can stop that cycle and adapt to the new normal that we're in, whether we're working from home or whatever we're doing, help us to sort of stop that negative cycle and turn it around so it is a positive for us.

Tracy Daniels: You know, some of the things too, that we have to look at is, how am I dealing with my own self would fear and worry? I believe too, the things that was really unleashed on mankind, I would say as a whole is looking at the fear and worry. If I'm dealing with a lot of worry, am I dealing with that practical worry or the hypothetical worries such as now example, I was told to work from home. I've changed my routine and I'm doing that. Now I'm told I got to come back to the office and now my routine's got to change again. So the factor that's coming into place now is if I return to work, is everything going to be clean? Is it going to be sterile? Am I going to get the virus? Are people going to be coming around me? So that can affect us in our balance of coming back to work. So how do we deal with that mentally? One of the ways is to understand it from a factual standpoint, which means I'm applying factual and valid thinking to things that I know that are what, that are in my control.

I believe that's a big part too, Melanie, as we think about this is what's the balance. So the balance is being able to understand the things that are in your control versus the things that are not in your control, which goes back to hypothetical worries. So a hypothetical worry that we talk about are the things that's not in my control, such as, at the very beginning of the pandemic, I didn't have control over the news. I didn't have control over what the governor was saying or what the school boards were saying. So for a lot of people that affected them, but what I want to concentrate on to bring me into balance, are the things I can control. So I can control my sleep. I can control my diet. I can control my exercise. I can even control if I'm going to send my kids back to school or not.

So these are the things we have to look at that helps us come into our balance because when I have control over those things, that brings me into an area of peace within myself, because now understanding how to transition through this season of change that we're all in, and that's what it's really looking at, or what are the perspectives that I have to live through to understand me during this time? How am I looking at the change of my perspectives and my habits?

And I think as we look at those things, it really brings us into a balance of change because whether we want to agree with it or admit it, Melanie, change is here, we don't have what, a choice in it. It goes back to what I talked about before that it was resiliency. We're all learning to be resilient because that's the season that we're in. So we have to learn how to take new approaches that can help us make the most out of every situation that we're walking in. That is the change agent.

Melanie: So Tracy as you're giving us these steps for how we can process balance and change and how we be cognizant of these changes and how they're affecting us, certainly the worry part and compartmentalizing that worry because I'm right there with you, Tracy. I am one of those people. Do you advise that as we're doing our jobs and trying to maintain this balance and doing our cooking that we'd like to do, getting the laundry, but not neglecting our work. Do you advise that we literally unplug when we're trying to do the home part? Or is keeping up with the news contributing to our worries? Is it helping us to stay informed? Do we unplug? How do we practice that self-care? What do you want us to do to separate those two things?

Tracy Daniels: You know, one of the things too is realizing, okay, we need to get information. It's important to get information, but we have to have a balance in the information that we're getting. If I'm living in my house now, because, guess what? I don't want to go outside because I'm afraid of catching the virus and I just leave the news on 24/7. Then guess what I'm getting, I'm feeding myself, all these things that are coming in that can cause me now to have negative responses and build a negative narrative about what's going on. It's okay to get informed. But what we have to understand is there's gotta be a balance in the way that we're understanding the information that's coming to me.

Because if I'm noticing that all this information I'm getting, it's causing me to change my character. And now I'm starting to live in worry or now I'm starting to live in a lot of different emotional responses to people who say things and right away, I come out with a real snappy or sarcastic, or even an angry type of tone, then I have to step back and understand where is this coming from?

What am I living in fear from? Is it because I'm not understanding me and really getting all this information, the virus is here, the virus isn't here, the CDC says this, or this one says this, you know, how do I balance that? And for some people that is difficult, Melanie, it really is because I want to be informed.

What is the right news agency to listen to? What's not the right one to listen to? All these things are factors that play into us that really begins to shake the foundation of our change. And I say to people, if you begin to notice that the things that you're listening to is now causing you to really begin to build a negative narrative that now comes to a negative outcome, then those are the things that you have to go back and pay attention to. Because now you could begin to live in things that are not prosperous, such as compassion. I believe that's one of the greatest tools we have right now to really live-in compassion. Not only externally, but even internally within ourselves, we gotta be compassionate with ourselves right now.

We got to tell ourselves it's okay. You mentioned unplug. So if I'm unplugging from things that I didn't do at the beginning of this pandemic, and I wasn't doing this last year, now I find myself doing it and it's causing me to have some worry and some fear, then yes, I need to unplug from it because now I'm noticing that there are changes that are taking place within me, that I feel are not healthy. And those are the things Melanie, I believe truthfully, we all have to examine those healthy versus unhealthy narratives that are either pushing us towards success or keeping us in an area that's causing us to feel what, down, sad causing us to feel, anxiety, worry, the things that go into what, negative outcomes. And we know these things. We can tell these things. It's just, how do I not live in them? And I believe that's the biggest factor.

Melanie: And I don't know how anyone listening to this could not see themselves in what you are describing right now. As we wrap up, Tracy, give us some steps that we can start right now today, how we can best challenge our perspectives, habits, attitudes during the season of change, how we can recycle our brain, as it were, to adapt to this new work life balance so that we're not stressing out all the time, picking up bad habits, drinking too much, whatever we're doing. Please give us the steps that we can, right now today, as we wrap up some things that we can do to try and change that cycle and stop the negativity and turn ourselves towards a more positive future.

Tracy Daniels: One of the first things I would say, truthfully is we got to go back and understand that our priorities have shifted during this season of change. They really have. And that to me, I believe, is very instrumental in helping us change our attitudes and how we can see the things that's there around us. Meaning when I'm at work, at home, I have to understand that my mission for how I'm going to do things are not the same way they were last year. Because we're in a new season. So now my mindset and how I'm going to deal with these have got to be different. So now I'm looking at, prioritizing not only my self-care, but I'm looking at setting realistic goals for myself as I progress through this change, because the key thing too is really understanding number one, how do I educate myself on reducing my stress? I believe that's the first thing that as we move through this season, is looking at how to prioritize my self-care and then also educating myself on reducing my stress. So prior to COVID, if I was a type of person that things didn't bother me as much, but now I'm beginning to see that I'm on that little irritable or edgy side, that's the first thing that I want to what, balance, because I know that's not the way that I am. The other factor too, is how am I helping my kids to balance through this season of change? That's why we have to model the behaviors now that what, we want our kids to do, because if we can model good behavior, then that helps us to come into the right way of thinking and also to change our attitudes.

I believe the other one too, is we got to learn how to embrace peace and contentment during this time. And what does that mean? That means I'm going to find a place when things seem to be just chaotic. I'm going to be able to find a place where I can set aside time and be mindful of me during this season.

So what are some other factors? I would be truthful to say that practicing mindfulness. Mindful walking. Some guided imagery are very important during this time to help us come into more awareness of us. Definitely set a self-care plan where you're not only talking about self-care, but you also instituting a plan such as how am I going to deal with my emotional side? How am I going to deal with my physical side? How am I gonna deal with my mental side? How am I gonna deal with my spiritual side? You can write these things down and that's the time to set aside realistic goals and how you're going to balance through this. Even looking at that social side, that we all have had to change because of why, we're no longer hugging people the way we used to. We're no longer shaking people's hands. So those things we have to bring into a balance and believe it or not, Melanie, those things we can see. It's just, how do I recognize them? And I think what's important as we do leave the podcast is being really cognizant of me during this time, that's helping me bring balance to my life as I move forward.

Melanie: Wow. What great advice. We can all hear and you voice Tracy, is also so soothing. So a great way to meditate, listeners would be to listen to this podcast. I really encourage you to share this show with your friends and family. We all need to learn our work-life balance and self-care and resilience and mindfulness as Tracy has so expertly helped us with. Thank you, Tracy so much. What a great guest you are. To learn more about mental health and wellbeing and all the services at BayCare Behavioral Health, please visit our website@baycarebehavioralhealth.org for more information.

That concludes this episode of BayCare HealthChat. Always remember to subscribe and review this podcast but really share it. Because we all could learn from the experts at BayCare together. This is Melanie Cole. Stay safe and take care.