Over the years my work-life balance has been somewhat non-existent.
At my first job in London I would be in the office until 11pm in the run up to award ceremonies, fuelled by adrenaline and Haribo sweets. No one – apart from the evening Receptionists – knew this though. Am I recognised for it now? No – and those graduation ceremonies? Deleted from YouTube – so now there’s no public acknowledgement they even existed.
Working in marketing and/or communications, your mind is working 24/7. I started off in my career as a traditional marketer – and I loved it! My manager would take me to printers and we would marvel over paper stock. My drawers were full of samples, leaflets and ideas of what we could be doing with our brochures. Then the world became digital, and for someone working in that industry, it felt like it was overnight. Suddenly we had to learn about algorithms, SEO and PPC. My original marketing qualification, I felt like, became redundant in 6 months.
After a particularly stressful time at my workplace I was signed off sick from work with stress and I went on Citalopram, an anti-depressent – which I had a severe reaction to. There was no slow weaning off that, which is usually advised, I had to stop immediately. The withdrawal symptoms were horrendous and I went through it whilst on a trip with my best friend through Italy. The nausea and emotional responses were overwhelming but actually being in Italy, and doing that trip, was the best situation I could have been in to go through it.
Since becoming ill with M.E/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in 2024, the importance of setting boundaries and making time to rest has been a priority throughout my sessions with my local Chronic Fatigue Service. We calculated that I need 4 hours of rest a day to somewhat function (and probably much more than that if I do want to feel close to normal..) When we think of rest, we think of laying down relaxing, but actually there are all sorts of different kinds of rest. Rest is about focusing on your hobbies, to try gentle movement and learning to slow down. Something that is actually super difficult to do if you’re a multi-tasker, and driven by targets.
My rest comprises of a range of interests and hobbies, most of which had fallen off when my work-life balance got out of control 10 years ago. It was only recently that I actually started listening to music again for fun, I had stopped after using it as a coping mechanism on my way to and from work, which sucked any enjoyment out of it altogether. Writing also went out the window, and recently I’ve found that enjoyment again, to ramble my thoughts online through this blog.
Lego projects have been a big interest for me over the past year. I love using my hands – sometimes I wonder if I should have been in engineering or a similar industry where I love to build things! Diamond painting and paint by numbers helps me to have that creative element, without having to worry what the end result is going to look like.
My other favourite hobby – and this one is a bit unique(!) – is comping! I’ve been comping (entering competitions) on and off for about 10 years and one of my best wins was actually from one of my previous blog posts, where I won a trip to Dubai! I’ve also won other trips within the UK and last year I won a box of socks and books! Perfect for keeping cosy in the colder months. If you’re looking to get started with comping my two go-to sites are Competition Database and MSE Comps. You do need to be quite dedicated it to get any reward and could enter 100s before actually getting your first win but those ‘You are our winner’ messages are so worth the effort every time!
How do you set boundaries? Do you have any hobbies or interests? Let me know in the comments!
Rebecca Thi 