Although you separate your personal relationships from your professional life, something as significant as divorce can quickly blur the line between them.
If you display disturbing behavior, your colleagues, superiors and other people you interact with at work may start to wonder and formulate theories. Unfortunately, if you do not handle gossip or unfounded speculations about your California divorce, it may become an unwanted distraction affecting your work performance.
How to drown out distractions
Gossip can be nasty and outrageous, especially if you and your soon-to-be ex are in a contentious divorce. So, even if rumors tend to fade naturally on their own, you must still consider a more proactive approach if there is a chance that they already compromise your work.
Thus, you can manage workplace chatter by:
- Communicating with your superiors: Be transparent and advise them of what you are going through. Depending on your company’s policies, you may request some time off, especially to attend to your child or to fulfill other legal duties with your counsel. You may discuss with your boss how to recalibrate your tasks so that you can balance your time and energy.
- Sharing enough to establish your truth: You should never feel obligated to update your co-workers about your family issues. However, you can still acknowledge their concern, disclose just enough details and assure them you are processing things the best you can.
- Finding trusted resources: When emotions overwhelm you at work, it always helps to have a confidant or support system to turn to – a co-worker, a supervisor or a human resource representative. But you must still be wary not to divulge sensitive information.
Ultimately, it is a balancing act. Since your career is a major part of your life, it is also necessary that you adjust your circumstances at work without jeopardizing the status of your divorce.
Why self-care matters
Divorce already consumes so much of your life. If you also worry about what people will say about it, you will only risk your physical, emotional and mental well-being. Instead, it will help to focus on what matters – preserving your parental rights, your child’s future, your motivation to keep advancing in your work and your positive outlook for the next chapter.