Upasana Singh - Work Life Balance Is the State of Equilibrium in Which Demand of Personal Life, Professional Life and Family Life Are Equal (Psychologist From India)

 

The journey I have completed till now is self made because my parents couldn’t support me in this field of psychology and never motivated me to do something good in my carrier. This is due to the mental stigma they are having about psychology.

1. Tell us about your background and journey?

Hey Upasana is here, from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. I have completed studies from Dehradun itself. I am post graduate in Psychology, I am eldest daughter of my parents, I have three siblings, my parents are working, and both are the servant as a private employee in Dehradun.

Basically my parents wanted me to join the government sector as well but when I was in graduation, I opted psychology as one of my main subject, from then onwards my interest was developed in this field after this I have completed post graduated in Psychology too. On this way I worked as an intern or trainee as Doon Psychotherapeutic Center at ONGC Dehradun.

While I was doing my internship, I got an opportunity to do work in a school as a school educator for about a month. After this presently I am working in a school, where I was appointed as a school counselor. So far, in my journey I have done some other professional certificate courses, workshops and attendant some seminar related to psychology.

Recently I have joined as a psychologist in New Direction Service. Apart from this, I am an influencer in counsel India network working on mental health. Now I am pursing certificate course in cyber psychology and further I wanted to do specialization in cyber psychology.

I wanted to add, this in my answer that the journey I have completed till now is self made because my parents couldn’t support me in this field of psychology and never motivated me to do something good in my carrier. This is due to the mental stigma they are having about psychology.

2. What led you do take up this carrier path?

First time I have studied psychology in my graduation before that I never knew that there is always a reason behind every action of the human being. From there on ward, my interest developed in the study of human behavior I started liking it. In the beginning, I just study the psychology to answer my own question regarding the behavior I do, and what I get.

I was very curious to know the fluctuation in the behavior of a human being. I used to think why the behavior of a person changes and why every other person behave differently. And these curiosities lead me to take the psychology as a carrier option too. I remember, since childhood I wanted to be a helping hand for the society for what every reason and now I think being a psychologist I can help the society in a better way, because today are society is suffering from many mental issues.

3. What are some common myths in a society about psychology?

In a society basically peoples are not aware about the goal and the aim of psychology. Not only the rural population but also a part of urban population doesn’t know about the psychology. Some time when we interact with the people and they just asked that can you read my mind or can you know what going in my mind?

People really don’t want to listen and take it seriously on a large scale. The first and the for most myth is psychology will tell are thought running in mind or they will find the psychologist as a face reader. And secondly people link the psychology with mentally retarded once. And another common myth of the society still doesn’t know the complete difference between the psychiatrist and psychologist/counselor.

4. How can people practice mindfulness?

When we talk about mindfulness, one should be aware of his or her own thoughts, feelings, body sensation and surrounding environment. Mindfulness also involve self acceptance because when we don’t accept our self as we are be never practice any type of mindfulness activity. No one needs to force our self or anything. For practicing mindfulness, one should be aware of his goal or if he is not aware of that must lift his goal.

There are lots of mindfulness exercise which includes:-

 A. Stretching. 
 B. Try bringing awareness to the daily activity. 
 C. Let your mind wander.
 D. Learn to meditate. 
 E. Yoga. 

5. What are your tips for people who want to practice this profession? 

As we know psychology is all about human behavior. They must be aware there action and behavior. You need to clear about the first question why you want to do it. Because all these course are directly related to human being. 

While practicing as a psychologist/counselor according to me here are some suggestion I will give:- 

A. Do some essential reading. 

B. Stay up to date with current affair. 

C. Always keep your eyes and ear open. 

D. Learn from everyone around you.

For me an important suggestion is that one should have empathy instead of sympathy for a client and should follow the codes of conduct.

6. I work life balance a myth or reality according to you?

Work life balance is the state of equilibrium in which demand of personal life, professional life and family life are equal. According to me work life balance is a myth to some extend because I have never seen a person who I balancing his work life and personal life equally. Now a days I have seen many parents who are working and do not pay enough attention on their children due to which children has to suffer from some psychological issues.

A sentence that brings the idea of work life balance to the point is “work to live, don’t live to work”. Young people do not believe work life balance is possible and think it is dangerous to build a life depending on another when relationships are unpredictable they are looking for partners to share the house work and family work together. Men and women believe that women should have jobs before considering marriage, for better life and to be happy in marriage.

7. How according to you can one manage stress?

Stress is often related to life event that is important event such as losing a loved one, going through a divorce, losing a job or falling ill. The amount of stress that a person can handle is largely related to his or her thinking and coping styles and to his or her social skills. According to me simple but effecting advice of managing stress are it can be good idea to write down how you feel when you become stressed.

Next, make a list of situation in which you feel that way. For each situation on your list think about one or more strategies that you can use to avoid it or make it less stress full. One common and effective strategy called “Deep breathing”. Other general strategies that you can used for reducing stress include listening to classical music, taking a hot bath, reading a book or surfing the internet, calling up or meeting a friend, practicing yoga or meditation and playing sports.

Life style changes can help both to reduce stress and to increase your ability to go with stress.

- Upasana Singh

Interviewed by - Rahul Kumar Gupta