Coping with divorce may consume your entire life unless you proactively put boundaries in place. While you will need to address your changing relationship, there is nothing wrong with setting aside specific times to do just that.
Your job may continue to provide stability during this unprecedented time. Carelessly allowing your divorce to infiltrate your professional life may disrupt your focus and jeopardize your career.
Reduce stress
Depending on your role, maintaining job responsibilities can take quite a toll on your physical and mental energy. Given that you now have personal conflicts that need your time and attention as well, do what you can to reduce your stress at work. Some ideas to consider include the following:
- Eliminate divorce-related communication during work hours
- Transform your office space into a personal oasis
- Take adequate breaks
- Inform your boss of the situation and ask for help with tasks when needed
- Temporarily cut back your hours or ask for a modified set of tasks
Maintain privacy
Oversharing the details of your divorce may leave you vulnerable to feelings of shame, guilt and embarrassment. According to Mental Health America, a critical part of your healing requires you to express your feelings to others. However, the workplace is not an appropriate setting for this kind of sensitive content.
You may want to share a summarized version of your story with your boss, as well as with the human resources department. This way you can encourage them to give you flexibility, as well as verify that any company-sponsored retirement benefits receive proper updates to beneficiaries. However, save the detailed and emotional version of your story for close friends and family or a therapist. These individuals can provide more support and reduce your worry about repercussions for saying too much.
Effectively balancing your divorce with your career may take some adjustment. However, your efforts can prevent your job from turning into collateral damage from your divorce.