Working from home is often celebrated as the right kind of mood, with many claiming that it is going to be the end of stress of overworking, but is that really true? In case you’re working from home, how would you objectively assess the change it has caused to your mental health?
If you don’t have an eye for the adverse ways working from home can change your mood, it might turn your normal productivity into incessant fatigue, lack of motivation, and constant grumpiness.
Here are the things you should look out for that tell you working from home is costing you and some tips to help you rescue your mental health.
When you work from home, chances are you may spend many days without talking to another soul. After all, you don’t have to leave your home when you’re working from home.
This has advantages. Sometimes, noisy coworkers can be a distraction. But there are also benefits to being surrounded by people that you will miss when working from home. You may lack someone to have casual banter with or vent to. While there are lots of software tools to help teams chat, Slack isn’t a complete replacement for physical presence.
This kind of disconnect may inspire feelings of isolation, which lead to loneliness, which leads to anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, and even random chronic pain.
Working from home will give you a weird pressure to work 24/7. This is especially true if you’re a freelancer and have to continuously hustle for clients. At first, you’ll constantly be trying to squeeze some work between periods of rest. Before you know it, you might end up squeezing some rest between periods of work. Without taking enough time to unplug and rest, you run the risk of burnout. I have always found the help of a dissertation service and essay writing service UK to handle some of my extra work.
Working from home also requires you to wear multiple hats, again, especially if you’re freelancing. You’ll need to be good at troubleshooting, marketing, invoicing, doing customer service, and also the core skill your work entails. This requires you to play numerous roles in the course of a day, which can wear you out over time.
This is a natural consequence of the other problems mentioned here. Depression while working from home is most likely to set in when you start to feel stuck. If you lack clear career milestones, such as a nameplate on your door or a corner office, or even that clear sense of competition that comes from sharing an office with other hard working individuals, you may not feel like you’re doing much.
There are many symptoms of depression, and while having just a few occasionally doesn’t necessarily mean you’re depressed, having many of them on a constant basis is good enough grounds to visit a specialist. These include irritability, loss of enjoyment in things you normally enjoy, and sleep disruptions, among others.
Fortunately, there are ways to prevent falling into the above mentioned pitfalls of working from home. It does not necessarily have to lead to depression. There are ways to take care of yourself and make sure you reap the benefits of working from home without paying the often steep costs.
One of the things that working from home often lacks that regular work has built into it is a clear routine. A huge part of making working from home work is creating a routine and sticking to it.
While getting to work whenever you want is a great thing, it’s more important that you organize your schedule so you get the most out of your most productive hours.
Set a daily routine and schedule it, with your daily goals and the tasks required to achieve them clearly outlined. That way you have something to work to and are less likely to fall into random rabbit holes of distraction that steal your time from you. Also, don’t forget to schedule breaks as well, where you get away from all screens and give your body some time to relax.
In fact, go a step further and schedule activities you actually enjoy doing as well.
To make it possible to find enough time for breaks, find things you can outsource so you don’t have to wear as many hats while working from home. For example, if writing takes up too much of your time, find a dissertation service to do it for you so you can focus on your core business. You could also hire a virtual assistant to take care of things like invoicing and customer service.
While working from home is great, you should have a home office that actually encourages focus and productivity.
It is important to have a dedicated workspace. If you can make it a whole room, even better! Some things that make a home office perfect for working from home include a comfortable chair, a wide desk, and simple creature comforts, such as a pot for your coffee, a sound system, some good lighting, and so on.
While it seems easy to just remain sedentary, fight the urge as hard as you can. Do regular exercises, such as yoga, going for bike rides, going to the gym, and anything else that gets you active. It’s also good for your mind as it gives it time to recharge.
As often as you can, try working around others. Go out of your home office every once in a while and go to a co-working space. Here you get the office experience without the obligations that usually follow. You can also schedule work dates with friends.
Don’t get so caught up with work that you forget to make time for the people that matter in your life. Carve out time for them. Remember, when you are down, these are the same people that will lift you up emotionally.
These tips will help you make the most out of working from home, and help you avoid the pitfalls. Working from home is supposed to be fun. Working, in general, should be fun. So, above all, have fun!
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