How to Lead a Social Life When You Don’t Work Nine to Five
If you work outside the traditional schedule with 9 to 5 , it can be difficult to maintain current relationships and create new ones. Here are a few steps to take to maintain a healthy social life despite your job.
Find others with a similar schedule
Finding people with nearly the same business hours (and therefore often with the same non-business hours) is one of the easiest ways to maintain a complete social circle. In addition to having a schedule similar to yours, they will likely have a better understanding of the challenges of your unusual work schedule.
There are tons of places where you can meet people with a schedule similar to yours. Try your job, people in the same industry, or in other industries with traditional unusual work schedules (service, restaurant, hotels, etc.). You can even find groups in your area on sites like Meetup , LinkedIn, or forums .
Maximize the time you have
Of course, you probably also have friends who work from 9 to 5, so you need to find ways to work with that. Manage your schedule better with apps like shifts . This will help you find the time coincidence between your schedule and theirs. Our very own Patrick Allan says that you really need to prioritize cross-over communication as it may not be easy for you to get the hang of it again. You can also maximize this time by doing meaningful activities instead of regular activities, this is especially true if you are trying to get your and your partner’s schedule to work . There are tons of resources to find fun things nearby without breaking the bank .
Use some of your time to prepare so you have more time to socialize when others are available. For example, schedule errands and chores when others are not free. In fact, try to arrange your schedule according to your friends, as they are probably the hardest to schedule.
Know that everyone will have to compromise
Hopefully your friends, family, and partner understand your tight schedule and are willing to make the sacrifices to connect with you. For example, if you work until 9:00 pm and want to chat with a friend who finishes work at 6:00 pm, he may stay awake later and lose a few hours of sleep to see you. This may take a different route – you may have to get up earlier or go straight from work to meet them.
As our own Christine Wong points out, if you are in charge of your own working hours, you will have to tighten up your schedule so you can get back to work. This is especially true for days when others usually have non-working days (weekends, holidays), as they may not realize that you don’t have a full day off. The National Sleep Disorder Foundation suggests that if you have children, create your own calendar. This helps shape their expectations of when you will be at home and be able to spend time with them. You can also schedule a special event every week so your kids can look forward to seeing what they do with you.
Remember the benefits of your schedule
When you work extraordinary shifts, it is detrimental to your health. Jordan Tycher, writing for The Billfold, recounts how his night shift worsened his health to the point where he decided to find a new job:
But I could not ignore what was really going on: a war against the natural impulses of my body, in which I regularly lost. I was buying melatonin pills hoping to fall asleep at 7 every night. It didn’t work. Even after the shift to nearly the proper amount of sleep, I found myself going out with blurry eyes on a clear afternoon, unable to imagine how long I had been awake to socialize, let alone find another job. It turns out that the body doesn’t like it when you get confused with its biological clock. He wants to sleep when it’s dark.
If you don’t have these problems, or want to continue shift work for other reasons, unconventional work schedules have their advantages. Here are some examples:
- It is easier for you to run errands or go out because you can do it on weekdays to avoid crowds.
- You may not have to start your day off early. This is a huge plus if you are a night owl.
- The ability to have a flexible schedule (depending on your work)
- Monitoring your workplace (sometimes)
- Be your own boss (sometimes)
Take advantage of the flexibility and benefits of your work schedule.
A work-life balance is important to your mental, emotional, and physical health. Use the guide above to find that balance even if you’re not working 9 to 5.