The past few years have led to increased attention on how achieving life balance can improve our well-being. Despite the benefits to our overall mental and physical health, it can still be challenging to create and manage this balance, especially for women.
Life balance and well-being is important for everyone. However, women often face more challenges than men when it comes to balancing family, work, and study1 due to various cultural and societal gender role expectations. Traditionally, women are expected to take on the roles of housewives and primary caregivers for children and elderly parents. Women do not get paid for the work they do at home, even though this unpaid labor constitutes about “10-39% of the Gross Domestic Product and contributes more to economy than the manufacturing, commerce, or transportation sectors”2. To make matters worse, women seldom receive the respect they deserve from society for their work as homemakers and primary caregivers.
In the workplace, many women continue to face gender discrimination, receiving lower pay, less opportunities for promotion3, and a lack of affordable childcare and other resources4. While some men might be in a similar situation, more women than men experience these particular challenges. But there are things women can do to empower themselves.
The following are some steps women can take to start practicing mindfulness for an improved life balance and well-being:
Prioritize self-care: When we prioritize self-care, it can lead to a healthier, happier lifestyle, which in turn can help us take better care of our families and be more productive at work. Making time for activities we enjoy can be good for our overall health. Plus, engaging in regular exercise or a hobby can also help us reduce stress and stay healthy.
Set boundaries and learn to say “no”: There will always be tasks and responsibilities waiting for us, but we need to be aware and accept that we may not be able to complete them all today. As women, we are taught from a young age to take on a lot of responsibilities, take care of everything, and make sure everyone can depend on us. It is true that we can always try to squeeze in more work, however these additional demands and expectations may come at the price of our long-term health and well-being. It is important to set healthy boundaries at work and even with our family members to avoid feeling overwhelmed or experiencing burn out. Prioritize important tasks and complete those first. Identify which tasks can wait until later or tomorrow. Set clear and hard boundaries when you need to stop work and create time for your family.
Ask for help and support: We may need support from others to achieve our goals. Do not hesitate to reach out to your colleagues, friends, supervisors, and mentors to get their feedback and support on overwhelming tasks or due dates. Communicate your needs and expectations clearly with them so you can receive the kind of support you truly need. Also, be willing and ready to give similar support when you can to colleagues who are experiencing life-work balance challenges. If we provide this support to each other, we can set and reinforce a new standard for creating life balance.
Achieving life balance and well-being is a long-term process and it may take time to adjust to a new mindset and daily practice in these areas. Be patient with yourself as you increase your sense of self-awareness and achieve a balanced state of well-being. Given the specific challenges that women face due to societal and cultural demands, it’s especially important for us to make this a priority.
1 The term “study” here means general advancement in learning knowledge and improving skills, it is an extended concept of “being a student in a school”
