Do you ever feel judged for how you balance work with everything else in life? Or feel that people’s judgments about you – at work or in your personal life – impact your overall sense of balance?
If so, you’re not alone. The subject of feeling judged, and the reactions it evokes, often arises in my blog and podcast interviews.
In this Work, Life, Balance Lesson episode, I explore some of the real-life examples that interviewees have shared on how they have responded to feeling judged, and the impact it has had on their work-life balance choices.
Throughout the episode, I explore three of the most common reactions I’ve encountered to feeling judged:
🏎️ Using it as fuel to assert your decisions and make empowering changes
😕Internalising others’ expectations and views on your choice, leading you to feel stuck and doubt yourself
🦆 Acknowledging the judgements that people may be taking of you without allowing it to influence your decision-making or play substantially on your mind
The episode is inspired by the most recent podcast interview episode I published, featuring Lana Manikowski‘s story of undergoing infertility treatment while working full-time. Lana describes the judgement she both felt and feared from colleagues in her workplace:
I just was really concerned that people would think I wasn’t showing up at 100% in my career if they found out that I was doing all that [infertility treatment]. They might point a finger to something and think that I wasn’t as successful as I could be.
I wish I would have judged myself less and held a lesser value on who I was as a woman related to whether I could get pregnant or not. Because I think I spent a lot of time judging myself and my worth through my ability to have a child.
Quote taken from my interview with Lana Manikowski: “The Pursuit of Balance When Undergoing Infertility Treatment, and How to Regain Balance and Find Purpose in Unexpected Circumstances“
I also draw on some earlier thoughts on this subject, which were summarised in the blog post entitled “Treat ‘Em Mean, Keep ‘Em Keen“, inspired by the infamous recurring scene in the Back to the Future trilogy, where Marty McFly is judged as “chicken”.
The episode invites listeners to reflect on how they react to feeling judged and the root causes of their reactions. And it includes some tips and inspiration about how to be more mindful and deliberate in managing the powerful emotions that feeling judged evokes.
The intention, as always, is to celebrate the different ways that individuals approach their pursuit of balance, and to learn from one another.
Links to all other blog posts and podcast episodes referenced throughout the episode can be found in the show notes, which you can find here. I hope you enjoy the episode!