It can be difficult to adjust to working from home, especially since your home is where you go to have a break away from work, so here is what you can do to successfully adjust to working from home and be mindful of your mental health in the process.

Top tips for a smooth adjustment:

Having a designated workspace

It is important to have your workspace because this can help with your adjustment from work to home as it will feel similar to the workspace at work and this also helps you to keep your work time and break time separate because you can then walk away from your desk and sit on your bed or on your sofa to relax.  The way you can ensure that you have a designated workspace whether it be big or small, in the kitchen or your bedroom have a clean surface to organize your work things on and have a coaster next to you to place your chosen beverage of the day, preferably water is a good choice to keep you hydrated and alert throughout the day.

Establish boundaries

Being able to separate your work and personal life from one another will ensure that you don’t put too much stress on yourself and this is important because it’s healthier for your mental health in the long run.  How you can go about setting boundaries is by sticking to a routine as you can know when your workday begins and when it ends and by doing this you’re keeping that time at the end of the day for your hobbies and interests so you can wind down and focus on self-care. Creating boundaries can also help you manage your time better because you know what you’ve got to do when and you don’t just have random sticky notes popping up everywhere you look.

Staying social 

You may find that working from home also means less social interaction and the reason why this is so important is that it can cause loneliness that can then have long term effects on your mental health, so to avoid this from happening what you should do is stay in touch and that might involve talking with your group chat or calling a friend, doing something that makes you feel positive or makes you feel more relaxed such as a hobby, seeking support from family or a mental health charity and planning your days so that you’re able to stick to a routine like you would on a regular workday in the office.

Get some fresh air when you can and take breaks 

You should take breaks to feel mentally and physically refreshed and most importantly this is one of the biggest ways to avoid burnout because stepping away from your work allows you to stop feeling so overwhelmed and when you come back to it this can be like you are seeing the task with a pair of fresh eyes and it can allow for new ideas to present themselves as you are thinking logically once again. If you give yourself that much-needed break it prevents your stress from rising to high levels that will cause burnout.

It is also said that employees who take breaks have increased productivity because it makes you feel more focused after having some time away from the task at hand. How you can go about finding the time to take breaks is scheduling time each day to make this possible so even taking a full lunch break can help because you’re refueling yourself through the food you eat and you’re also giving yourself that time to relax and step away from your desk. Getting some fresh air is something that can be part of taking a break as if you’re sitting at your desk 

for too long, it can have your muscles having a bit stiff so you might need to stretch your legs and you can also end up feeling quite tired so getting some air from outside can you wake you up especially in the afternoon when you begin to feel like you’re going to fall asleep on your keyboard.

Thank you for reading my blog post, if you’re currently working from home or preparing to work from home please let me know in the comments what tip of mine do you think is most helpful?

Remember to check out our original blog on Working From Home And Mental Health it has all of our planned posts this month designed to help you this lockdown!

The post was written by Amber Scott

Photo by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels 

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