Today, there are greater opportunities than ever to achieve high levels of professional success. Along with that level of success comes a greater awareness of work-life balance and how it can impact stress levels. Finding a balance is not easy. In fact, as you reach greater levels of success, your stress might rise because you feel out of place as if you are not good enough for the new role you are taking on. Let’s explore some ways to conquer work-life balance and feelings of imposter syndrome by first understanding how these feelings can develop.
Therapy for Executives
Reaching the top of your profession likely involves a significant investment of your time and energy while also requiring a level of personal and family sacrifice. Now that you have achieved your goals, you are likely recognizing the emotional and physical toll that it took on you and your family. My wife likes this new food? My son likes basketball? My daughter is interested in taking care of animals? Unfortunately, these realizations come with not just guilt, but for many, also a pang of regret. Complaints such as “You don’t know us anymore” or “You’ve been too busy working on your career” may feel invalidating–despite everything you’ve sacrificed to get to this point. You may feel like your family doesn’t value or understand the stress you’ve gone through, the people you’ve worked with, or the projects you’ve finished. You may feel like a hero at work, but when you come home, you may feel like an outsider, or in some cases, the villain.
As you carry these experiences with you, you may cope with this stress by working even more, determined to be seen, or to escape. However, as you continue to “work your way out of this situation” (no pun intended), you might start to feel that you are behind the curve, worried that your colleagues will start to believe that you are in over your head and call you out on it.
The result is a greater level of stress, which can end up making the situation even worse. You may not cultivate the close relationships necessary to help you maintain a sense of mental balance and peace, thus elevating feelings of worthlessness, or even purposelessness. Below are four tips to use as you navigate this ongoing challenge.
Work Life Balance Tips
Working to deal with feelings of worthlessness, stress, and imposter syndrome is key to regaining or maintaining your mental and emotional balance. Here are a few ways to help you with that process:
- Separate feelings from facts – Just because you think something does not mean it is true.
- Take note of your accomplishments, write them down, and put them in a visible place – These are a tangible reminder of your successes.
- Talk with others—Connecting with someone you you trust can help reduce stress and feelings of worthlessness.
- Drop the comparison – Focus on measuring your achievements against your own work instead of measuring them against others.
One of the best ways to address these issues is to talk with a therapist. Let’s dive into what therapy can offer as you work toward mental and emotional balance.
Executive Therapist
Therapy allows you to explore the emotional strain of your career and develop greater coping skills. Stress management begins with recognizing the harmful thought patterns that arise at your workplace.
Come work with me and learn ways to set achievable expectations for yourself, establish healthy boundaries (both personally and professionally), and implement strategies to manage your emotions effectively. Working with a me can allow you to find the guidance you need to achieve your mental health goals, including strategies to cope with symptoms of anxiety, stress, and more.
I also believe in helping you develop your emotional awareness and assisting you in attuning to your feelings rather than suppressing them. By exploring what guiding principles influence the decisions you make we can collaborate to create goals that align with your values.
Therapy gives you a chance to step out of your daily routine, giving you a fresh perspective that can help you shift your priorities and re-establish the balance your life needs to reduce your stress and enjoy the success you worked so hard to achieve.
Contact us today to schedule your appointment, where we can determine your therapy goals and structure your sessions around meeting those goals, while maintaining flexibility to pivot as you need. Let’s work together to help you thrive, no matter what your professional situation may be.
