How to Manage Work When You Are Going Through Something at Home?

In an ideal world, when we started our work day we could leave everything in our lives behind. And when we left work, we could truly leave work behind and simply focus on our lives at home. But unfortunately we are human and the lines aren’t as defined as we would like them to be. While you’re at work you have to take care of things for home, and vice versa. So how can you manage work when you’re going through something at home? And how can you minimize the effect it might have on your work life? That probably depends on what’s been happening to you.

Take, for example, the death of a loved one. So much about life can feel simply unnecessary when someone close to you dies. It can be hard to maintain any sort of routine, much less devote your mind to things related to work. When you do return to your daily schedule, you can choose to share as much as you want to (or not share as well). You can also turn to a trusted colleague to help you navigate what to share and how you are doing. And it’s also important to realize that you may have wildly swinging emotions, even while you’re at work. That’s OK. Take the time and find the private space you need.

If those solutions aren’t working, you may want to try more active interventions. For example, you can see if your workplace has any interventions in terms of counselors that you can talk to. If they don’t, you might consider whether you want to find your own counselor to work through things with.

Many of us have to maintain a work routine when we end up breaking up with someone as well. The breakup might be after a short- or long-term relationship; it doesn’t really matter as it still is something that you have to work through. If you find that you think about the breakup during worktime, you may have to schedule time in order to refocus your brain and try to relieve those feelings of being upset.

There are lots of different types of personal issues that you might end up tackling and still have to work through the day. Remember whatever happens to you, it’s up to you to share what you want and keep things to yourself if you want. There are also issues of what you have to disclose and what your work might want to try to force you to control. That’s where it might be important to now how to interact with your supervisor. Do you need some more guidance on going back to work after a loss?

This graphic can help you work through how to manage your emotions, get from day to day, and work your way forward so that you can manage your difficult times even while you try to manage your work life, too.