If you are struggling to balance work and family at the same time, understand you are not the only one. You may feel you are going on empty, feeling burnt out. If you are feeling very burnt out, you might even be considering alternatives, such as switching careers or becoming a stay-at-home parent. There are several ways to find balance in your life, with some self care and no matter your situation.

Focus on Your Career

You have already spent long hours on your job, but you may still feel like you are just going through the motions instead of gaining in your career. If you are committed to your career, it can be depressing to realize the hours you put into work are not paying off. That’s why it can be a good idea to focus more on your career.

Take a bit of time every week to focus solely on your professional advancement. It could include connecting with people in your network online or thinking about your next career move. It might be something as simple as taking a professional development course or something as drastic as a complete career shift. If you are considering going back to school, you can take out a student loan to make your education more affordable.

Find an Area You Can Control

While you can’t always be a perfectly attentive parent and always do your best work all the time, you can find an area you can be in control over. Think about a portion in your life that you have control over, whether it is a place, habit, or action. It might be keeping a part of your home perfectly clean and free of clutter, or it might be devoting a chunk of time to a hobby or craft project. You can use Google sheets to stay organized with your goals and tasks as needed if that helps you feel at peace in the process.

You could also take up meditating, praying, or journaling to help you focus on your feelings in the moment. What you do matters less than the fact that you are doing something for yourself. Don’t feel like it has to relate to your kids or your career, since self-care is important to help you do everything. Having this area of peace will help you feel more like you are in control, no matter the circumstances you are in.

Think About the Future

If you have a positive idea of what your future looks like, whether months or years from now, your current stresses may not seem so big now. It will help you feel more like the things you are doing now will pay off in the future. Think about where you would like to be in a year. Maybe your kids are doing well in school and you have received a recent promotion. Or you might have negotiated more flexibility from your current workplace. Of course, your current responsibilities will still be stressful, but you will see them as a way of getting where you want to be, not just big problems to deal with now.

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.