According to CBC and studies in the U.S., more workers are travelling greater distances between work and home.

While we don’t know how many Vancouver staff and physicians commute long distances, we do recognize that some of us face this challenge.

Here, we answer one employee’s question on this matter, and we hope some of our suggestions may be helpful to you, whether you travel from near or far.

Today’s answered question

Q. If I work here at VGH and my family lives 4 hours away, how can I make that work? I live here in Vancouver and I commute home on the weekend. I am tired, stressed and I miss them every day.

A. Your family is very lucky to have you and we understand that you miss them every day. It sounds like you have made this tough decision and that overall you’re making it work despite the fact that it is hard on both you and them. As for what might help, we turned to the professionals of our Employee & Family Assistance Program (EFAP), who suggest ‎ a number of strategies to consider and that may appeal to you.

For regular communication, technology is our friend and there are several options:

• Skype sessions ‎allow you to see your family as well as speak with them daily.
• Instagram pictures sent daily with messages of encouragement or visuals of the latest that happened that day can be fun and easy.
• Facebook and Snapchat are other social media channels you can use to bring your family to you virtually with a click of a mouse.‎

We recognize that these options aren’t the same as being in the same room with your family, but they are options worth considering.

Another strategy concerns how you use your time during the week.  Many people who live with their families 24/7 spend much of their weekends doing chores that don’t include their loved ones, missing out on family time. This is where you could have an advantage. You could consider using your time during the week to respond to your ‎correspondence, pay bills, etc., when your family is not with you. You might also consider hiring out lawn work and/or household cleaning, ‎or having teenaged children do these chores (if your family has reached that stage), so that when you are home you can be fully engaged with your family. Completing these chores when you’re not together opens up all kind of possibilities for the weekends and might allow for you to enjoy each other’s company in a less stressed way.

Speaking of stress, caring for yourself is important, too. Getting focused on your wellness during the week might also help build your resilience to manage both the commute and the separation. VCH and EFAP offer a number of services that could help you with this:

• “Taking Care of Me” workshops, including “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Busy People”
• wellness and health coaching
• WednesdayWALKs for wellness organized by the VGH Commuter Centre
• VGH Fitness and Wellness Centre, which offers yoga and other classes

If you can take a bit better care of yourself during the week, you may be in a better position to have a great time at the end of the week when you are with your family.

It may take some experimenting to find the right mix of solutions for you and your family, but we hope these suggestions are helpful and that you’ll be on your way to feeling better in 2015 soon.

Got a question?

If you have a question, comment or suggestion, we encourage you to email us what’s on your mind at onevancouver@vch.ca.