Working smarter all about finding the balance

Lifestyle and Wellness Consultant Marian Shanley believes working remotely has its benefits for life balance, but human interaction is essential for wellbeing and needs to be prioritised. She added:

“I think as humans we need to go out and interact with other human beings it is so important for us to sustain our enthusiasm and confidence and also, we learn as we interact with others whether that is over a cup of tea or going into a tech hub.

“People need a balance and I think that maybe one thing that Covid has done is made people realise that they can manage doing both.

“Most people now are exhausted, frustrated and lack motivation working from home so having options to work from the office some days and from home or a hub is a great idea.”

The pandemic has allowed people to revaluate their lives according to Marian who said:

“I think a lot of people who are benefiting from the current situation are people who were already stressed pre-Covid, they were exhausted getting up early and commuting, constantly on the treadmill.

“I’ve spoken to people who are working from home now who are so happy to see their children, they have found a balance where they have been forced to find short cuts to find a way forward with their businesses or their workload, they have had to think outside of the box.

“As a nation we are very hard workers, but I think that the pandemic has brought a value on the quality of time and people are reassessing their jobs and their careers right now.

“A lot of people have re-evaluated their health and wellness over this, there is going to be a lot of changes to careers, there are a lot of people who might not go back to the old way ever.

“Even the trend of people starting to walk and exercise and get on their bikes whereas as before they didn’t have that extra energy because they were exhausted driving up and down the road. There is definitely a flow of energy now because of this change.”

The Navan-based lifestyle and wellness consultant has encouraged people to dig deep and keep the faith to get through this extended lockdown.

“We are very resilient as human beings.

“Give yourself credit for the fact that, you are still here and standing tall, there is always hope.