Maintaining Mental Health while Working from Home
Before the pandemic, working from home was a rarity for most of us. Now, post-pandemic, it seems to be the new norm. While there’s definite benefits to having a work-from-home job, it can also come with drawbacks. Since you don’t go into an office, you’re not interacting with people in real life, which can feel isolating. This can make it harder to form meaningful connections with coworkers. Working from home also means you are responsible for keeping yourself on track, which can be stressful. This culmination of things can take a real toll on your mental health. Today we’re talking about some tips to help improve your mental health when working from home.
1. Establish a routine
When working from home, it’s important to have both a personal and professional routine. Having a routine will help you have an outline for the flow of your day which can help reduce stress and anxiety associated with having to figure out your day as it’s happening. A personal routine can consist of things like: getting up at the same time every day, having your morning coffee and reading time before work, and changing out of pajamas into clothing for the day. A professional or work routine can consist of things like: creating a to-do list as the first thing you do when your work day begins, starting your day with emails rather than jumping straight into work, blocking out time for a break during the day, and turning off all work related things at the end of the day.
2. Designate a workspace in your home
Our brains associate certain spaces with certain activities, like our bed with sleep or our couch with relaxing and watching television. This means when it comes to working from home, it is important to have a designated space to do so. If you have a spare room, making it into a home office is a great idea. For those of us who don’t have as much space as an entirely different room, doing something like setting a desk up in the corner of the living room or your bedroom is great. Ideally, this space will have natural light since seeing daylight has a huge effect on our mental health as well. Having a designated space that you can walk away from at the end of the day will also help you mentally remove yourself from work and stop thinking about it.
3. Incorporate movement into your day when possible
Mental health and physical activity are heavily intertwined. One way to help boost your mood and help keep your mental health in check is to stay active when working from home. This can come in many different forms like taking a break every day to go for a walk outside, giving yourself a 30 minute window to do a workout video, or getting a treadmill or walking pad and a standing desk so you can walk while doing your work.
4. Set boundaries for yourself
It can be scary to set boundaries at work. You don’t want to disappoint anyone or have people think you’re a slacker. But setting boundaries is one of the best things you can do for your mental health. Some of the easiest things to do to begin to set boundaries can include: setting a concrete end time for your work day, powering off your work phone or computer after hours, silencing your work email and setting up an out of office response for people who call or email you, and saying no to additional work or projects if you don’t actually have the time to do it.
5. Have “face time” as much as possible
When working from home, seeing your coworkers in person day-to-day isn't realistic, especially since some jobs have you working with people in different cities or states. But incorporating face time can drastically help you improve your mental health and feel less isolated. By “face time,” we mean interacting with other people, whether that’s scheduling a Zoom call with a coworker so you can talk to each other while you work, meeting up with a coworker in person to work together at a coffee shop or just hang out, make time in your day to talk to your partner or roommates, or have weekly check-ins with your team to see how everyone is doing. Interacting with people, even if it is about work, will make you feel much better than sitting in silence by yourself for a whole day.
It’s important to check in with yourself when you work from home. If you don’t, it’s easy to feel isolated, depressed, and anxious. Taking time to do little things to help improve your mental health will make a huge difference in the long run.
If you’re feeling down or isolated from working from home and can’t seem to shake these feelings, it might be time to reach out for help. Book a consultation with us today so we can talk.