Don’t Let Work Stress Ruin Your Family Life

Stress is a very big word in our dictionary today because of the fast paced lifestyle that we live in today. With a mobile phone, your work is with you 24/7. With the internet, you can never completely get ‘away’ from the excruciating demands of your office life. Is there any wonder that the stress of work can potentially destroy, not only your own health, but also your relationship with your loved ones?

Even if you think that you’ve tucked all the pressure of work away in a drawer somewhere in your office as you drive home, you’re still, literally, carrying home some of the work stress with you at home. And sometimes, the stress that you subconsciously experience affects others around you without you having to scream, shout, bang some doors, throw some kitchen utensils or gnaw the window pane away. The stress resonates from every living cell in your body and the moment you step into your home without the ‘honey, I’m home!’ routine, the tell-tale signs of stress is sending your kids and partner scurrying off into a dark corner of the living room.

It’s called body language, my dear friends.

A sit-down chat on the sofa with your honey, talking about what you’ve been through at work is not necessary because your body language is a big bluster of the truth.

According to some experts, the lack of eye contact is one of the biggest tell-tale signs. When you walk into your room, the first thing that your partner tries to look at is…your eyes. And if they don’t see anything positive, worse yet negative signals resonating from your peepers, they’ll run for cover. And then of course, there’s no cheeky smack on the behind, no kiss on the cheek or forehead, no playful pinching, etc.

Sometimes, they can tell something is not right just from the tone of your voice. You don’t even have to scream or raise your voice to let on about how you feel. The pitch of your voice is a little higher than normal.

What you can do is to really sit down for a minute, completely alone, and mentally take yourself away from work. If left alone, the stress will only mangle up your relationship with your loved ones…and that’s a sadly devastating but avoidable trap.

Value your life, value your work, value your family, value your friends. Most of all, value yourself by consciously removing yourself from the work that remains inside of your head by purposefully closing that ‘mental drawer’ labeled work.

About the Author
Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based freelance writer with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing.