How in the world do you achieve work-life balance when the world has changed due to the pandemic? Your assumptive world has been shattered and professional life has changed. For that matter, so has your personal life. For many, the workplace has moved to the kitchen table. For others, the hours spent in the actual workplace have increased, limiting time spent appreciating one’s nonwork life. Metaphorically, you need to navigate…
A balance between work and nonwork life is essential for job engagement. A flexible working schedule allows for more time with children. Job flexibility involves career breaks (e.g., maternity or paternity leaves). Moreover, part-time employees need flexibility in scheduling, length of work, and location. Studies show that more women request flexible work than men. Although men consider flexible working to develop their organizational commitment, women consider it a way to…
As you pursue work and personal interests, be mindful that work-life balance means different things to different people. Prioritize what is important. Put energy into those things that mean something to you. Here are eight simple ways to manage the stress of work-life balance: Start the day with a healthy breakfast and take a scheduled lunch, as diet management is important for your overall health. Begin work on time and…
As we explore the question of what is compassion fatigue, we recognize that it is not the same as burnout. Compassion fatigue and burnout are two types of stresses that bring about mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. Signs of compassion fatigue are headaches, sadness, grief, avoiding working with certain people, nightmares, and changes in belief systems. They may also experience emotional disconnection from others. Symptoms can mirror post-traumatic stress disorder,…
I define compassion fatigue as a palette of grief® where there is a blending of physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and spiritual reactions due to empathetic engagement with those who are grieving or traumatized while neglecting one’s own self-care. Compassion fatigue can occur after one exposure to traumatic material or many exposures to traumatic material. This can occur whether working with adults, children, or animals. When a person works in a…
Compassion fatigue is the absorbing of another person’s traumatic material. Compassion fatigue is a unique phenomenon to those who work with those impacted by trauma, grief, bereavement and stressful circumstances. Although the experience did not happen to the helper, the other person’s painful experience is extremely felt. Some consider compassion fatigue the convergence of secondary traumatic stress and burnout. However, these definitions are uniquely defined concepts. Burnout, secondary traumatic stress,…
The terms secondary trauma and secondary traumatization are interchangeable and refer to the stressful consequence to working with traumatic material. When you are empathetic, you open yourself up and become vulnerable to internalize the traumatized individual’s experience. This is especially the case when workplaces do not offer enough recovery time between emotional cases. Symptoms you may feel Arousal symptoms from secondary traumatic stress such as irritability, avoidance, and intrusion can…
Where should you start when you want to mitigate the impact of secondary trauma? You may want to immediately go to mindfulness training and self-care techniques. However, first, you need to learn about secondary trauma, risk factors, and symptoms. To fix the problem, you need to understand the problem. Being that the emotional toll of caring can compromise your functioning, this article lays the foundation for your self-care and addresses…
Do you feel as though you may not be strong enough to support your grieving child this holiday season? I recently spoke to grieving parents. They believe that they don’t have the strengths needed to support their bereaved child. I believe they can spiritually nurture their child if they are brave; have a love of learning; are honest, hopeful; have gratitude; are spiritual; and show their love, as they talk…
I am on a mission to survive and thrive. As I brace the wind and the cold, my quick step edges me closer to Broadway. I keep reminding myself that I will be warm once inside the theater. Although it is only mid-November, the weather is surprisingly frigid. Picture this, only a block away from the theater, a frosty breeze pushes the cozy jacket hood off of my head at…
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