Why ' Work-Life Balance' Talk Might Make Us More Stressed Out

Do you snicker when you hear the term "work-life balance?" As if. That elusive Zen zone can provoke anxiety, especially to those of us whose perfectionism tells us if we try harder, we'll find it. After 55 minutes of trying to force myself to relax in last week's yoga class, I finally found almost 6 full seconds of unfocused focus time before my mind snapped back to the 36 tasks still waiting for me the moment I rolled up my mat. The average attention span of today is 8 seconds, so I was close. A good effort, all things considered. Is "balance" a fallacy? Maybe you get stressed at the mention. The term can take on a shaming tone-like it's all just a matter of sheer individual will and not at all connected with our archaic work environments where "quality of life" is just as much a myth. "Balance" becomes one more thing we think we're not on point with. We overlook that our world of work has become risky business for all of us. Work-life risk. Work-life chaos. Work-life spillover. Work-life burnout. More like it. An American Psychological Association study reveals 1 in 5 of us don't realize the extent of our stress until we physically show symptoms. Emergency rooms are flooded with people having heart attacks or pseudo-ones turning out to be panic episodes. In New York and Los Angeles, heart attacks are seen as work related injuries. We're clobbered to the point of serious harm, and often don't realize the severity until our brains and bodies cry "Uncle", and we're sittin...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news