It seems as if a few of my classmates and I are in the same boat. Something about returning to an in-person lifestyle does not seem “normal.” I have been struggling mentally and I am not too sure of the reason. My last blog post showed that I was making progress towards my thesis in regards to beginning my research, but this past week was not a good one. I am always one to stay on top of my tasks and if need by will stay up to ensure everything is completed. Lately, I have not had the motivation to do anything. There are days at work that are exhausting leaving me to shower and sleep the night away only to still wake up exhausted. It’s funny (not really) because the other day I caught myself in bed realizing that I hadn’t eaten dinner. I then proceeded to turn off the light and go to sleep skipping dinner. I definitely relate to Diana when speaking about the laundry build-up. I am at the point where if I still have clean clothes to wear… I’m wearing them until having nothing to wear, but laundry is on my to-do list for this weekend! Speaking of the weekends, I thought last weekend was going to be productive but I was on call and was running sound assisting. This weekend I have to attend Kean’s Homecoming tailgate on Saturday from 12 PM- 4 PM therefore I am looking to get some thesis work completed Friday night. What I envision is doing loads of laundry, cleaning, putting on my diffuser and some music, and getting to work. I would like to continue to dive into researching more about the difference of generations regarding work-life balance as t

Last week Dr. Zamora discussed the importance of narrowing down exactly what I wanted to focus on regarding my thesis. Work-life balance is a broad topic to cover. It’s no surprise that work-life balance is a factor in an individual’s life that many struggle with. Therefore, I must establish what exactly I am trying to shed light on. Dr. Zamora gave me a few interesting starting points allowing me to think and research about how we got here. When and why did the concept of work-life balance become so huge? From the articles I have read, the work-life balance appears to be successful when one is able to have minimal conflict between work, family, and one’s personal life. This term has been around for years, and certain sites mention the term dating back to the 80s when discussing the Women’s Liberation Movement. Women at that time had begun working but were still expected to uphold their duties as a mother and housekeeper. This begins to interest me and has me thinking if there should be a case study on the geriatric population and today’s generation. Is there a difference in stress levels? With the geriatric population experiencing World War II, were they subject to working longer hours? Does this tie into the Fair Labor Standards Act? 

Without this balance, stress and burnout come about. Did you know that it wasn’t until 2019 when the World Health Organization declared that burnout is an official medical diagnosis? This makes me ask myself, is there really a balance? Perhaps, this is why we now also focus on work-life integration.

This past week I didn’t get to do as much research as I intended to do for my thesis, but I can say that I began writing. With my thesis focusing on work-life balance, Dr. Zamora suggested that I keep a journal and write about my days. When writing, I am not thinking about my thesis but simply writing what my day consisted of while including timeframes. By doing this, I am able to see what is taking up the majority of my day, if I am balancing my tasks, and most importantly, what I did right and what went wrong, which ties into work-life balance. As you see, this blog post is being posted the day of class, suggesting that there was no balance this week. This leads me into the discussion that was held last week with the prompts. Specifically, the question “Tell me something that life is asking of you during this thesis process” stuck with me. I feel as if my thesis project is really asking me to focus on delegation, just as Dr. Zamora mentioned the thought of  “time-devoted-to-thesis.” If I do not delegate tasks, I will find myself working nonstop. With a very hands-on job during the week, I believe it’ll be best to carve out time Friday nights or Saturday afternoons to devote to my thesis. 

I touched upon it in my previous blog post, but I am certain that I would like to research the employee’s view and the employer’s view of work-life balance. Employers play a significant role in achieving a healthy balance for workers. It’s easy for one to say to create boundaries, but when one receives the notification of a task that needs to be completed with a short turnaround time, it makes it difficult. There are also just not enough hours in the day. Dr. Zamora brought up a good idea to research the difference between cultures. I had the time to briefly Google something, obviously, when I begin my paper, I must ensure the sites and articles I am using are credible, but the United States was not even in the top ten countries for work-life balance.  I am looking forward to researching how work-life balance is measured in different countries and cultures and what we are doing wrong here.

It is amazing how, without focusing heavily on something, everything will eventually come to you and fall into place. Maybe I shouldn’t admit that I haven’t honed in on my thesis topic as much as I should have, but honesty is the best policy. 

This past week has been an interesting one as I recently received a promotion and am now a full-time employer rather than having a graduate assitancship. I don’t think I have been able to sit back and congratulate myself as I have been with my department since my sophomore year of undergrad and have worked my way up. It is exciting, and I am proud of myself, but there are also worries. I have always struggled with saying no and creating a work-life balance if that’s even possible to do so. Living on campus, working on campus, and going to school all in the same location can be exhausting. The worries of not being able to handle the responsibilities that I will have (I know I can handle them, but I am usually always doubting myself), not being confident enough, and not making time for myself have led me to my thesis topic. When writing last week’s blog, I jotted down the idea of work-life balance as only an idea, but recently I have seen how important it is for myself and my staff. Work-life balance is a topic that every job touches upon, but I feel it gets swept under the rug as the months go on with the number of tasks that need to be completed. Truthfully, as the months go on during the academic year, I also see how one can drive themselves crazy without a balance, and I am one of those people. What does it mean to have a work-life balance, how does one create one, what factors play a negative role in creating a balance, what is the difference between employer’s and employee’s perception of work-life balance? These are all questions that have come to my mind and may appear in my thesis paper or at least get me started. 

I am excited to have found a topic I am interested in, but completing my thesis on this topic will also benefit me personally and professionally as well. It’s a win-win situation as I get to continue learning while conducting my research! Cheers to finding a topic and receiving a promotion!