With the way our world has changed in the past few years, working from home has become increasingly more common for lots of different industries. All of this seemed wonderful at first, but as we learn more, we’re starting to understand that working from home requires an intentional emphasis on your own self-care.
Working from home can become your worst nightmare
Sometimes, we get so busy caring for everyone else while working from the comforts of our own home, we neglect to practice self-care and invest in our physical and mental well-being. With the importance of self-care becoming more popular, we absolutely need to make it a priority to care for themselves wholeheartedly. This is even more crucial when working from home. You need to ensure that home doesn’t become synonymous with work–which can be mentally and physically unhealthy.
Though other equally important things fight for your attention as you work from home, establishing discipline as a commonplace is challenging but critical. A recent survey has shown that people who work from home still struggle with feelings of burnout, overwhelm, and decreased motivation. We’re going to help you combat those struggles and create a healthy work from home environment that you can manage.
10 ways to include self-care in your day as you work from home
Below are some self-care tips that you can practice every day to be more deliberate about caring for yourselves mentally and physically as they work from home.
1. Create a morning routine and stick to it
Working from home may have severely disrupted your normal routines. Anxiety can easily takeover your thoughts and daily life if you don’t plan accordingly. By maintaining the same habits or routine as you would when you would head to your office outside of home are a simple way to get you back in the groove and more mentally able to take on the day. So, where possible, still start with exercise, shower, have a great breakfast and hit the ground running. Even getting dressed before you start work can help you feel more confident about completing your work goals. A routine is a great way to practice mental self-care and keep yourself motivated and primed to work from home effectively.
2. Get organized
Create a workspace instead of working just on the couch or the kitchen table and keep it clean. This will add structure to how you work, making it easier for your brain to adjust accordingly. An excellent book, Atomic Habits, by James Clear has an entire chapter dedicated to this. He even wrote a blog post about creating designated space for tasks you care about most. You should definitely give it a try if you haven’t already.
3. Practice Mindfulness
It goes without saying that we’re huge advocates in self-care through various forms of mindfulness. Adding a mindfulness practice such as gratitude journaling, meditation, and positive affirmations to your daily routine is a great self-care habit. Spend the time to research different meditation techniques and select the one that helps you relax and adjust as you work from home. If you happen to choose with affirmations or focusing on gratitude, we can definitely help you with that! Check out our app on iOS or Android.
4. Make nutrition a priority
It can be so easy to snack on junk food at your work desk. Making healthy food choices a priority will make you thrive better mentally and physically, and you will feel confident about yourself as you work. A healthy diet allows you to focus and transform your entire work attitude. You’ve eaten well before and have felt the differences in energy. It’s important that you’re feeling great if you’re going to work in the same place you live.
5. Make time to connect with your co-workers
Maintaining work relationships will boost your overall performance as you work from home. This will create a healthy mental space as you relate to how it was at the office. With all the online technology to now interact, choose the one that best suits your personality. Remember, a healthy social life is also a part of self-care. Be intentional, find the time to connect with your co-workers virtually on things that don’t pertain to work. You’ll come to find that working with them gets easier over time from that connection you’ve built with them.
6. Take breaks
If you have this tendency to want to get the task at hand done before you take a break, this is for you! Working from home makes breaks seem unnecessary because you are mentally conditioned still to view your workspace just as home. Make home and workspace separate and grasp the importance of still stepping away from the work desk at home. For example, during your lunch break, don’t eat at you work designated work area. Step away and have lunch somewhere else. When you’re feeling a bit of the midday fatigue, take small breaks to stretch and breathe. Get some sunlight. Give yourself the space to do a quick recharge how you see fit.
7. Stay Hydrated
Drinking enough water daily is often neglected. As you work from home, it is important to sip water throughout the day. When you are hydrated, your brain is clearer, making focusing on your work tasks more manageable.
8. Sleep
Even though you work from home, you must schedule sleep time at night to ensure you get adequate rest. Laying down at night with your eyes closed is different from deciding to go to bed to rest and put today’s task aside until tomorrow when you are rejuvenated. Make an effort to be strict about when you start to wind down. It will work wonders in your daily work life balancing act.
9. Include your children in your work-from-home routine
Staying focused as you work from home comes with its difficulties, and adding your children’s schooling schedule to that equation can become quite taxing. So, it’s important that you create some breaks to get time to work together with your children to assist with school tasks. You can still find time to be with yourself during these breaks. Take some time before or after you’ve helped your children to regather yourself and get back to work. Ensure there is a rhythm to the routine without rigidness to promote consistency without feeling burnout.
10. Set a cut-off time for work
When working from home, it is critical that you set a specific time end work each day. Don’t become stuck in the habit of continuing to work because you can still cook the meal and work simultaneously. The effects of this are not immediate, as it starts innocently and leads to feelings of overwhelm and overwork. Devote your time totally within the hours you set for work and focus so when it’s time to stop until the next workday; you will feel accomplished and organized.
Final Thoughts
Working from home can easily lead to a lack of self-care. It is essential for you to appreciate caring for yourself by building a routine that you can commit to following so you can thrive mentally and physically.