During the pandemic, while the world was quarantining, many started working from home, including me! It was a big change and came with its own obstacles, especially for those living alone.
Going from an office to your living room, there are no co-workers to talk to. Instead of chatter, the room is now filled with silence. Instead of walking around the office or building, it’s mostly a sedentary day that includes a 10-foot walk to the kitchen or bathroom.
Though many daily habits and the entire environment have changed and this is a big adjustment, this is also a great opportunity to build in some healthy, long-lasting habits. I’m going to give you some ideas on how to build healthy habits when working from home to maintain your mental health.
A huge part of working from home is creating healthy boundaries.
Boundaries
Time.
While working from home, time can blur and become unclear. It’s important to stick to specific work hours. While working from home, it’s easy to work earlier than you’re scheduled by taking calls or checking emails. It’s important to stick to a set schedule and only work within those specific hours. When working from the comfort of your own home, it may not seem like a big deal to work a bit later to get that project done or to schedule meetings during dinner time. Refrain from doing this. Creating healthy boundaries around your time is so important. Which includes-
Lunch Breaks.
I don’t know about you, but when I am at work, I barely have time for a lunch break. It will be 2:30pm and I will hear my stomach grumble and I realize that I never ate lunch!
While working from home, it’s important to take your lunch break. It can be so easy to quickly grab something from the kitchen and continue to work or to bring your laptop to the kitchen and work from the kitchen while scarfing down a quick bite. It’s important to take the 30-60 minutes that you are allotted each day. To help create this boundary, put your lunch hour into your schedule. Mark that hour as ‘away’ on your calendar. Do not take calls during this time. Close your computer. Eat a healthy meal, spend time with your pet or loved ones, meditate, or go for a walk. This is your time. Use it in a way that benefits you.
Dedicated Workspace.
Creating a specified workspace is important. You don’t want to be working from your bed or while laying on the couch. This is a part of work from home boundaries. You
Having a home office is ideal, but not always feasible. If you do not have an office where you can work each day, then creating a space where you work will suffice. Surround this area with things that live you up, like cute statues or an area rug. Fill the area with plants and try to have your space near a window. Make this space calm and welcoming. You want your workspace to be pleasant and inviting.
Sociability
Some days, speaking and engaging with co-workers may be the only human interaction we get, especially if living alone. Isolation and lack of human interaction can cause loneliness and this is a risk factor for poor mental health. In knowing this, it’s important to prevent this from becoming an issue. We are social creatures and thrive off of human connection, even if you are an introvert!
When working from home, it becomes even more important to focus on your social life. Spending time with others has to become a higher priority. Make plans with friends after work hours at least once a week. Two or more times would be ideal.
If you do not have many friends to spend time with or they are not free, look into joining a group or team of some kind. There are endless possibilities when it comes to social events. There is meetup.com, Bumble BFF, Facebook groups, recreational sports teams, dance or cooking classes… If you have a hobby or passion or interest, there is a group out there for you! And if there isn’t one, you can create your own!
A Change of Scenery
One of the benefits of working remotely is that you can work from anywhere. You don’t have to be glued to your workspace.
Switch up your environment. Being home every day can be draining, especially if there are many chores to do. Get out of your home once in a while and change the scenery. Work from a cafe or the library. If you don’t need internet, work from a park or get a hotspot for the internet.
If you are thinking a bit bigger, you can even plan a little getaway. Look at some nearby cities or states, or even countries if you are feeling daring. While working remotely, you can work from anywhere! Don’t limit yourself to your home office or living room. Think outside the box.
If you work from another town, all you need is reliable internet. You can work during the day and explore in the evenings or even work from new cafes during the day.
A change of scenery and being around others can do wonders for your mental health.
Getting Active
If you work a desk job, you were probably already pretty sedentary at work. You would probably get up every so often to speak with co-workers, go to the bathroom, or go to the kitchen or lounge but that was probably about it. Now that you are working from home, you may be even more sedentary than you were before! Being sedentary is bad for our physical and mental health. A conscious effort needs to be made to become more active during the day. Now that you have more time and energy from working from home, spend some of that time and energy on physical activities.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to adding physical activity into your day. You can wake up earlier to get a workout in or go for a run during the day. You may want to invest in some gym equipment like weights, an elliptical, or a stationary bike. Now that you have created healthy boundaries and take your lunch hour each day, you can go for a walk, a bike ride, or even garden during that time.
If you don’t have the space for gym equipment at home, you can get a gym membership. This would also get you out of the house each day.
If getting in physical activity is difficult for you, you can start out easy by walking around your home for 2 minutes each hour, or if you’re on a meeting or a call, go for a walk around your neighborhood. Even getting in a few minutes of walking each day will benefit your mental and physical health.
Schedule your physical activities. Put them in your planner or calendar. This will help you to follow through.
The Benefits of Working Remotely
Though it’s an adjustment and will take some getting used to and some time to build in healthy habits, there are many benefits of working from home.
- Eating healthier- instead of grabbing a quick bite from the nearest fast food chain, you now have the time to make your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pinterest is my best friend when it comes to cooking healthy meals. Also, cooking from home can be much cheaper than eating out everyday.
- No commute- It takes me about an hour to drive to work and another hour to drive home. It’s only a 20 minute drive to work but with traffic, it’s about an hour. That’s 2 hours a day, 10 hours a week stuck in traffic. If you commuted to the office before, you are now gaining back 10 hours a week in your life! 10 hours! And money too! You are now saving money in gas or public transit.
- Exercise- now that you work from home and have gained 10 hours back into your week, you now have more time and energy to prioritize exercise. You can do yoga at home or join a gym with that extra time and money you are saving.
- Spending time with pets- if you don’t have a pet, you may have the time to get one now! If you have one already, you have all day to spend time with your furry best friend.
- More time and energy- When working from home, you save time and energy. These finite resources can be used on yourself and your own wellbeing.
- Drink plenty of water- now that you work from home, you are close to your fridge and sink. Make sure you drink water throughout the day. It may help to keep a huge thermos in your workspace. You can even download the app plant nanny which will give you reminders throughout the day to drink water.
- Getting enough sleep- now that you have more time from not commuting, you can allot some of that time to bedtime. Getting around 8 hours of sleep is ideal. Create a nighttime routine and go to sleep and wake up at the same time each night and morning. You now have the opportunity to create a healthy sleep routine and work on getting good quality sleep.
Making the switch from working in an office to working remotely can be a big adjustment and may seem challenging at first but there are so many benefits to working remotely. With some effort and creating healthy habits and boundaries, working remotely can be great for your mental health and overall wellbeing.
Let me know in the comments below, how you like working from home. Let me know if you are struggling or if you have been thriving.
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