Work From Home Mental Health Tips
By now, we’ve all realized that working from home is no vacation. Well, I guess it depends on your idea of a vacation. If your idea of a good time is bringing your children, your pets, and all your favorite hobbies you enjoy to the office and then trying to focus solely on work, you should be in heaven. However, if you find working from home is starting to weigh on your mental health, know that you are not alone.
There are many ways in which working from home is more challenging than working from the office. An office is a place designed exclusively for working, while your home is more of a reflection of your family and the activities they enjoy. The latter can challenge the focus and mental fortitude of even the most committed worker.
Let’s not pretend that working from home is all bad. You no longer have to commute, which saves some people hours every day. You don’t have to get bundled up for winter or bring a gym bag. You don’t have to pack a lunch, wear nice clothes (at least for your bottom half), or have any unwanted water cooler talk. Working from home gives you back some time that you could use in several productive ways. You could use your former commute and get ready for work time to workout, journal, meditate, or grab an extra hour of sleep.
Whatever you choose to use it for, a little extra free time is a fantastic thing to be gifted as an adult. I don’t know about you, but I did all of my homework during my free period in high school. Since working from home makes all our work technically homework. I recommend you use your extra time for self-care. Generally, when you think of self-care, you think of an Instagram influencer touting the benefits of meditation or kale smoothies. However, as a soon to be middle-aged man who doesn’t want to meditate or drink kale, I like to think of self-care as anything that gives your mind a break from your daily stressors. Sitting outside with a cup of coffee, going for a walk, or reading a book. Self-care is about de-stressing and creating space from the demands of the day.
The real problem with working from home is the muddled line between work time and home time. It can be tough to switch to work mode in the morning, and at night, it can be hard to turn off work mode. If you have a job that can be done remotely, it is unlikely you run out of work to do; there is always more to do. It can be a mentally daunting task to organize your new life, but it doesn’t have to be.
Over the past year, I’ve found many strategies to help keep you sane during these mentally tumultuous times, and I’d love to share them with you:
TOP FIVE WORK FROM HOME MENTAL HEALTH TIPS
1. Don’t start your day with work
This doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon, do all the house chores, and eat breakfast before starting work. It just means don’t roll out of bed and start working. Take some time for your morning routine. Brush your teeth, walk a little, have a cup of coffee. I don’t know your morning routine but make sure you do yours before starting to work. Don’t let the line between work and home become too blurred.
2. Have a dedicated space
Building on tip #1, it is essential for your mental health to create clear lines between work time and home time. A great way to do that is to have a physical space dedicated to work, whether that is the office or the kitchen table, that is the space where you work. Make it uncluttered and separate from your home distractions. If you are working at your kitchen table, take the mail and the newspaper off of it, work only.
3. Commute to work
I’ve seen many work from home tips that include getting all dressed up for work and then sitting down to work from home. If that is helpful for you, by all means. Clothing makes a lot of people feel more confident or comfortable. However, personally given the opportunity to work in sweatpants, I’m going to take it. I see no reason to take extra time to prepare my physical appearance when Zoom only sees my shoulders and up. How I “commute” to work at home is a little silly. I like to fill a travel mug with coffee and then go to my dedicated workspace. The travel mug is bigger than my regular cup and keeps my coffee warm longer :)
4. Make a schedule
Schedules are essential no matter where you are working, but allowing dedicated times for different parts of your life helps maintain your mental health while working from home. Schedule the hours you are going to work in the morning, how long you will break for lunch, how long you are going to work in the afternoon, your ideal bedtime, and the moment you are off work. At 5 pm (or whatever time you prefer), you are done. No more emails, calls, or projects. Tomorrow is another day; you’ll get it done then.
5. Exercise
It would be hard to list all the benefits of exercise in this tip, but it should be sufficient to say that any modality of exercise you enjoy is incredibly impactful on your mental health. If you are struggling with depression or anxiety, at least 30 minutes a day of steady-state cardio is required, or you aren’t giving yourself a chance. For everyone else, any form of exercise will improve your mood, sleep quality, and sex life. You’ve got extra time now that you are working from home; this is an easy win.
If you don’t know where to start with your exercise routine, no worries, I wrote a book specifically for people who spend all day sitting in front of a computer. The Desk Job Survival Guide: Exercise and Nutrition For Those Who Sit All Day is an excellent guide for going from sedentary to strong.
