I recently listened to a Ted Talk from Gloria Chan Packer titled ‘Work is Not Your Family’ and it was awesome. It’s a quick 15 minute listen and I’d encourage everyone who is interested in work / life balance or mental health at work to give it a listen.
While I won’t give everything away, Gloria talks about how the phrase ‘we are a family’ at the office is actually not a healthy way to think of your job. You wouldn’t walk into your boss’ office and say ‘hey I’ve got this weird mole on my back can you look at it for me’ like you would to your mom right? That’s possibly an extreme way to think about it but it makes a point right. So again, hits it home that, work is not your family.
She also describes that one should think about setting boundaries as identifying, communicating, and taking action on what we need. I like that definition! She goes further and says that delaying or deprioritizing your needs can at sometimes be the best thing for you but sometimes, and the whole reason why we’re talking about it, is that it can shift into unhealthy territory.
If you’ve got 15 minutes or you need a break at work then you should definitely listen to the entire talk:
