Separating Work and the Rest of Your Life
Using the UB Library Database I was able to find an article that talked about a very similar that I did in my last blog, which was controlling your environment to reduce stress, but in this article, it focuses on a more specific aspect of this, being work. The author of this article, Lowell Lutter, talks about his personal method of managing stress caused by work by talking about making what he calls a firewall. On this topic he says Because our work is such a huge pull on our energy and time, I found I needed to do something to keep me away from my old habits. I found balance by creating a “professional firewall. “(Lurrer) In other words what he is saying here is that we need to completely separate work and the rest of our lives. This actually goes against the philosophy of work I wrote about in my past paper because I talked about how your work becomes part of your identity. This article does a good job of changing my point of view because if work is something that causes you stress even when you aren’t there it may be a good idea to keep it away from your personal life. Lowell talks about specific methods of doing this including arranging you schedule in a way that gives you free time, bringing your work with you on personal time should not happen, a good example of this is waiting for a call while with family, and remembering that your work day should stop at a specific time. These methods are similar to the ones I talked about in the last blog about controlling your environment but this makes it more specifically about work. On this topic I have found a graphic that illustrates what a problem separating work and personal life has become. It shows stats about work flexibility and managing your personal life and stress.
Work Cited
Lutter, L. D. (2006, November). Use ‘professional firewall’ to manage stress. Clinical Psychiatry News, 34(11), 15. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=sunybuff_main&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA155890904&sid=summon&asid=5d540a66cb1c8ac0dc28c3b3d40c3bb3
