I have spoken before about work-life balance and how difficult it is, particularly in a society where work seems to be bound up with identity, to endeavour to make time for family, friends, hobbies etc.    In my work I tend to meet a lot of people who feel the need to work incredibly long hours, and with the economy being very fragile at the moment, this is even more in evidence, as people feel insecure about their jobs.

Work should, at best, be rewarding, satisfying, provide us with an outlet for creativity and an opportunity to interact with others.   Unfortunately in a lot of cases, work can become so stressful, and people feel the need to work all hours in order to make sure that they are doing the job properly, and to keep the boss satisfied.

There is a fine line between being conscientious and doing the job properly, and actually becoming addicted to work, and this can so very easily happen.  With many people now owning a smartphone, we are forever tied to work as we can be contacted at any time.

There are many reasons for work addiction.  It can be that a person works too hard in order to avoid addressing other areas of his or her life that need to be addressed.   For some, it is hard to say ‘no’ to tasks, and then the person very easily becomes overloaded.   Sometimes it stems from a person’s desire to feel ‘needed’, if maybe this is not happening within their private life.   At the base, there can often be a feeling of low self-esteem, and maybe even a ‘voice’ inside of somebody from our past – perhaps parent or teacher – telling us that we are lazy and no good, and we need to work harder.  There is often a need for perfection and control, perhaps somebody who works too hard feels that they have little control over their personal life, but in the workplace ‘they’ are in charge.

Often people who are in this situation realise that their addiction to work is unhealthy, and yet they are unable to become more balanced.   They find that their health, home life and relationships can suffer, and in this case it is really important to seek help.

Hypnotherapy and NLP can help in this respect by encouraging them to look at their life from a different perspective, in order to gain a better sense of balance.  It can also raise the person’s self esteem and make them feel more confident generally, so they do not then feel the need to prove themselves in the work environment.   It can also make them start to relax, and feel much less ‘strung out’ by work demands.

If you feel that you would like to chat about how hypnotherapy could help you with work/life balance, do contact me on 01449 780352 or 0781 7158429, or email me at wendy@wendychalk.co.uk.

All the best,
Wendy