Why is it hard to balance Work life and Hobbies/sports?
Strict timetabling? Burn-out? Or just being underprepared?
I believe it is a combination of all of these factors and more, making it seemingly impossible to reap the rewards of two potentially different lifestyles. But with different frameworks, it is definitely possible. Did you know that around 50% of adults stop playing sports after childhood?
Watch this short video to see a prime example of someone who cracked the code and continued to show balance in adulthood when It comes to this topic!
Positive sides✅:
Just how important is it to have a balance and why should we bother to try?
“Regular physical activity and exercise improve anxiety, depression and cognitive dysfunction, reduce stress, and have positive effects on neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and some types of dementia and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.”
Source: https://www.telefonica.com/en/communication-room/blog/advantages-benefits-sport-work-personal-life/
- Social benefits🧏🏻♂️ – Being part of a collective can bring a sense of belonging, as well as a different outlet compared to family, friends or work friends. Giving you a common interest to bond over as well as creating something new as a collective, even if it’s not in a team sport but a hobby such as book club etc.
- Mental benefits💆🏻♂️ – Movement is medicine! Dr Hussian Al-Zubaidi put it perfectly in this 2022 NHS publication. Chemicals such as endorphins are released in your brain when you exercise, giving that feel good factor and making you feel happy regardless If you want ot be or not!
- Physical benefits🏃🏻♂️➡️- Whether Is a low intensity hobby such as gardening or high intensity such as combat sports, your physical health will improve as your body adapts to the new stimuli you expose it to. Building stronger muscles, denser bones and increasing movement throughout your body.
Although there are many upsides, not everything can go as well as it might seem…
Negative sides of poor execution⛔️:
Trying to keep up with numerous different areas of life can be a draining taks and take a toll on both your mental and physical health…
- Burn out🙍🏻♂️ – Effecting your attitude, stress levels, physical well being and many more, burn out is a real life problem that if not managed or aware of can creep up on you and manifest in many different ways. Causing discomfort whether thats shwon in the form of irritability or sleeping problems.
- Relationship stress👫🏻 – The flip side of the social benefits can lead to interpersonal stress with family freinds or just the general public, leaving you with a bad taste in your mouth and a poor a resentment towards people around you.
- Physical health🤸🏻♂️ – By putting too much stress on yourself and operating at extremes, your body will take the brunt of the effects. Leading to a lack of sleep, inability for your body to recover and a weakend immune system, amongst many more. Making sure you are not “Burning the candle at both ends” is key to preventing drops in your physical health.
Although it may seem like this is an impossible task, don’t worry, below is your first steps to get closer to your goals…
How do we do this effectively?
We have to look into and break down the keys to success into manageable sections, but first lets watch a video of a successful young person in this field…
Understanding time management⏰:
Being a university student, you will be given a timetable that will take up specific time each day/week, already giving you a foot in the door with creating your own personal timetable. This gives you the opportunity to take control of the controllables, using the time you know that you have wisely, building upon the timetable you have already been given to then table in any hobbies/sports you wish to do. As well as given you the opportunity to take it a step further and create mid/long-term plans as timetables come out each semester.
Adding your most desirable past times🌅:
The key to keeping to a schedule for a prolonged amount of time is enjoying yourself. Getting what you need to done, and rewarding yourself with enjoyable pass times. By doing this, the necessities don’t feel like chores; less becomes more, and the progress compounds. Once you start feeling like your “Desirables” are draining more than normal, you know It is time for change.
My personal experience🙋🏻♂️:
Managing the “Work life balance” is something I have struggled with and contiunously have to work on, but identifing that flaw was the first step to making improvements. From there it allowed me to make adjustments, find specific patterns that worked for me and help put in different tools to keep myself on track. Letting me reach goals in sports like attending competitions, while managing university work, getting the placement I want and many more. Leading me to the conclusion that I shouldn’t be viewing work In a negative manor and making sure I’m finding parts that I enjoy In everything that I do.
Next steps👨🏻🦯➡️!
As we come to the end of this blog, I hope that the information has insipired you and helps you to make positive change, whether that’s an extra hour a day or creating a new timetable, everyones start place isn’t always the same.
This is a call to action; leave a comment, do your own research, or reach out. To help improve your day-to-day life and introduce some balance!
Thank you.