With all this talk about the importance of having a good work/life balance, how do you
even know it is something you should work on?
While the definition of what a “healthy” work/life balance is completely subjective, there
are some signs to keep an eye out for.

You Are Always Tired
A big sign that your work/life balanced isn’t actually that balanced at all is when you
constantly feel tired, burned out, and sometimes just overwhelmingly exhausted.
Fatigue might be normal after a particularly busy or stressful week, but when you feel
like this every single day, something in your routine needs to change.
It can help to start tracking your moods and your energy levels. Every day, write down
every occurrence when you feel exhaustion, similar to burnout or when you are
extremely stressed. Write down the time, what was going on that brought it on, and how
long the feeling lasted.
You may notice patterns with your fatigue, such as always being tired after talking to a
certain friend, or being exhausted as soon as you step foot in the office. This is how you
know what areas of your work/life balance need to be improved.

You Lose Your Patience Easily
Irritability and moodiness are also extremely common among people who aren’t
balancing out their time properly. When you don’t have a good work/life balance,
everything suffers. You feel a lot of stress because your personal life follows you to
work and your work life follows you home. It feels like everything is compiling and you
can’t escape any of it.
If you are getting moody, snapping at people, or just feel an overwhelming feeling of
irritability, it is time to create some boundaries and figure out how to balance your time a
little better.

You Have Issues With Friends and Family
If you have been noticing a lot of disagreements and problems with your relationships,
including friendships and family members, this could be a sign that you need to work on
your work/life balance.

Having the occasional disagreement is one thing, but constant bickering and fighting is
not normal in a personal or professional relationship. You might notice this happens
when you have a lot of distractions or when work is particularly stressful. Maybe you
have found that your personal life is suffering because of work obligations, so you know
you aren’t spending enough time on your personal life.

You Are Experiencing Problems at Work
In addition to issues with people in your personal life, you might also notice an
increased number of problems with co-workers, colleagues, and supervisors. You may
also notice that your own work is struggling.
Maybe your output of work is slowing down, or the quality of work isn’t your best. You
might be missing deadline after deadline, and starting to experience problems with
supervisors who are noticing your work is suffering.

You Never Do Anything You Enjoy
Apathy is another sign to be aware of when it comes to your work/life balance. When
you are apathetic about life or work, something is wrong. You should not have this
complete lack of feeling and passion, like nothing matters and you just don’t find joy in
anything. Not only is this a sign of your work/life balance suffering, but could also be a
warning sign of depression.

You Are Constantly in a State of Stress
Stress is a normal emotion for anyone, and can’t be avoided completely. But how you
choose to respond to it is what makes the difference between having a healthy or
unhealthy work/life balance. When you have a good balance of time and energy
between your personal and professional life, you are able to handle stress much more
effectively. You know where your time is spent, and can figure out what is triggering it.
But if you feel incapable of handling any amount of stress in your life and like it just
affects everything, then it could be a sign that your work/life balance needs some
improvement.