Months and months have passed of many people working from home (WFH), and I have realized that we have not touched base on how are people doing. A few months ago everyone and their mother were talking about WFH tips and tricks, but has anyone checked if these tips are working?!?! sigh...sometimes I think one of the things we forget to do is follow up with our progress and see if how we are doing. Do we need any adjustments?! .... maybe we are cruising it ?!
On that note, let me tell you my story. As the new year high started wearing off, my body forced me to check in with myself. I felt drained, mentally and physically. I was not being myself, and I just wanted to be on the couch. It got me thinking, what is going on?!... Well after some personal digging, it hit me, I was letting work take over my life! It was time for some adjustments, and of course, I am going to share my discoveries with you 😉
Morning Routines - Humans are creatures of habit and routines give us a sense of normality. It helps put our brains at ease which makes us be in a good mood. What has happened to a lot of us with these changing times is that we have stopped a lot of the things that helped us. My recommendation here, add one thing, just one that you can easily fit in your mornings & you know it is going to make you happy. Mine, in case you guys are curious, is grabbing a cup of coffee next to my window, so I can get some sun while I talk to the BF. (🙌 #goals) Once I do that, I am ready to check all my emails and start my day.
Sleep - oh boy!... where should I start. Sleep does so many great things for us. If you ever doubt about it, google not sleeping experiments.😨Try sleeping most days around the same time and sleeping the same amount of hours. This will help you focus, improve your mood and fun fact, make you crave less junk food! Quarantine has made it so hard to feel the pass of time which has facilitated going to sleep a lot later than usual and this constant change of time doesn't let our body recover. As time passes this adds up and you can find yourself feeling chronically fatigued which we don't want. 🙅♀️
Schedule Breaks - WFH is this tricky situation that no one is looking but there is so much pressure on being online. You need to answer ASAP or your boss might think you are slacking. Or you are so in the zone with a task that you don't realize how much time has passed.... either way, your brain needs breaks. Think about it as the time your coworker will stop by and ask if you wanted to go grab a coffee. Sometimes you didn't want coffee but it was a nice time to stretch those legs & chat it up. It was a break. That is what you need. My recommendation is to go for a 10 min walk, open the window and breath fresh air, talk to your partner about your day. These all will help you get re-energized, so we don't end our day feeling done with life. Side note, scrolling on your phone is not a break, try looking away from the screen.
Look away from that screen! - Yap, I know I said it above but I have to emphasize this one more. Your eyes need it. You need it. Look away from the screen!
Eat on Time - Does it happen to you that you want to do one more thing and when you realize it's been 30 min later. You don't want that, your body needs fuel to exert all that energy so it's a must to remember to eat a proper meal. What I do is set a calendar invite that pops-up every day on my screen reminding me. That is my queue to wrap up tasks because I am going on lunch. Don't stress out if you didn't finish something, work will always be there, there is always more to you and your wellbeing is important.
Find an Activity that "Snap you out or work mode" - If you are one of those people that stays thinking of work, this one is right for you. Once we are done with work we don't want to continue to think about it, so what I have noticed is that if I add a Snap you out or work mode" activity, it just makes my transition a lot easier. What is this you might ask... well think of something that will engage you physically or mentally and that helps you destress. For me that will be a walk, a quick meditation, turn up the music. On days I am stressed I go for a run, girl, sometimes you just need those endorphins.
Alrighty, beautiful people... hope this was helpful!
xoxo
Dani
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