For sex workers, finding the perfect work-life balance can be a challenge.
Due to the long working hours, commitments, and lack of personal time, sex work can impact your daily life, and can even be the source of health problems, such as poor mental health.
With that in mind, we’ve provided some tips below that you can introduce to your routine to help you achieve a healthy work-life balance.
1. Understand your needs and priorities
Whether you use an app or take notes on paper, the first step to better understand your needs and priorities is to jot down the most important ones.
It can involve the simplest habits, such as having a minimum sleep time or ensuring you prepare nutritious meals to keep you energised throughout the day. It’s essential to know what works best for you and your lifestyle.
Your priorities must be put first, even if it impacts other things. The benefits of prioritising your needs should outweigh everything else.
2. Put time aside for what you enjoy
Working and making money is, of course, very important. But don’t forget that you must make quality time for yourself for your mental and emotional well-being.
The benefits of “me” time are priceless; it can help you reduce stress and unwind, improve focus and help with problem-solving, reboot your brain to be more productive, and can even improve personal relationships.
Having “me” time doesn’t mean that you have to spend your income visiting expensive restaurants or buying clothes.
Spending a few hours of the day exercising or doing yoga, reading a gripping book, watching a movie at home, making contact with friends, or having personal downtime are just some of the things you can do to enjoy your personal time, stay physically healthy, and stimulate your mind.
The most important thing is to discover what relaxes you and gives you pleasure. This will allow you to take your mind off work and the day-to-day routines.
3. Practice self-care regularly
Self-care involves looking after your hair and skin, eating healthy, drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated, keeping up hygiene habits, and getting sufficient sunlight and sleep.
Remember, keeping your medical exams up-to-date and making sure you don’t miss your routine consultation with a doctor is vital for your overall health and well-being too.
Dental screening, cervical screening, STI screening, getting contraception, ensuring existing health issues are re-examined and not overlooked.
If you provide sexual services as a sex worker, always choose safe sex. Your peace of mind is part of your emotional balance as well.
4. Plan your schedule in advance
Just like how you plan your work schedule, such as meetings with clients, you can organise your week better by planning other aspects of your life.
For example, do you have a family member you need to visit, or need to make an appointment with your child’s teacher? Put this in the diary and try your best to stick to it.
Try to plan ahead in the previous week, at least. Planning ahead can reduce dress and prevent duties and tasks from piling up to the point where it becomes overbearing.
Even if you get last-minute calls from clients who want to make a booking, as tempting as it is to attract all the clients you can, plan such late bookings around your preset schedule.
5. Implement routines and habits
Another tip on how to reconcile personal and professional life is to establish easy-to-follow routines.
For example, this can involve performing tasks and activities in a set order or time.
For example, waking up every morning at 7am, exercising on Saturdays in the evening, or making monthly payments on the last Saturday of each month.
If you prefer to see your customers, for example, at lunchtime, you can dedicate the morning to your work and in the late afternoon to moments of relaxation and leisure.
It’s worth creating habits that are most suitable for your lifestyle. Although routines may seem like a methodical way of organising your life, it helps you to better manage your time and find a better balance between work and personal life.
6. Believe in yourself and your potential
We can sometimes become discouraged in life when we encounter challenges, including people that bring us down about our life choices.
So, for some, it might seem normal to think that we should just work hard and pay bills without deserving moments of pleasure and relaxation. But this is not true.
No matter what profession you are in, you deserve a good work-life balance and the right to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Create a better work-life balance
Finding a balance between your work and personal life is an arduous task for a lot of professionals. So don’t give up if you haven’t found that stability yet.
Stay focused on what you believe can help you achieve an organised life that fulfils all of your needs and priorities for your well-being. And remember, don’t be afraid to say no.
