When I was 13 or 14, I learned a lesson from my parents that I’ll never forget:
If you want a healthy work-life balance you should leave work concerns at the workplace.
Here’s what happened:
One day, I came home from school extremely upset. Something had happened that seriously bothered me, so much so that I couldn’t stop talking about it while helping my mom and sister prepare dinner, and continued to vent throughout the meal.
I was so consumed by that unpleasant moment at school that it overshadowed my entire evening. At one point, my mom cut me off and said, “Leave your school problems at school, and work problems at work. When you’re home, you have to be here with your family.”
Initially, her words only intensified my frustration—I thought, if my own parents won’t listen to their daughter, who will? However, after a night of reflection, I realized that the issue at school was actually quite minor and didn’t deserve the amount of attention, energy, time, and anger I had given it, nor the strain it placed on my relationship with my parents.
At the time, learning this lesson was hard—of course.
But in hindsight, I am so grateful to my parents.
I attribute a lot of who I am today to that one moment.