Working from home has so many advantages, it’s no wonder more and more of us are setting up our desks and desktops in a corner of our house. We can wear sweatpants, go to our refrigerators when we get hungry or even just bored. We can leave when we want to go to the dentist or keep a sick kid home with us rather than take a day off from work. And best of all, no sitting in rush hour traffic shorting out our nerves.
But it’s not all Pop-Tarts and Netflix. Believe it or not, burnout from working at home is a very real thing, and there are several reasons why it happens. If you can identify why you’re feeling burnout, you can do something about it. Here are some tips to get you started.
1. You Feel Like You’re Always at Work
This can be fixed by setting boundaries. Your office should be a totally separate part of your home, preferably with a door to make a clear line of distinction. Make sure it’s well-lit, preferably with some amount of window light.
Invest in ergonomically-designed furniture. Often we’re exhausted because we’re under physical stress and strain. An ergonomically-designed chair supports you from your lumbar region to your neck. And a sit-stand desk that gets you up out of the chair helps with your posture and your blood circulation.
Get rid of clutter. This is something we don’t often think about, but having clutter around doesn’t just make it hard to work and get organized — it’s also bad for our mental health, which then impacts our physical health. Move as much paperwork and files to the cloud as you can, and then store the originals out of sight. Next, clean your office using natural cleaning products like lemon and white vinegar to be sure you’re not breathing toxic chemicals.
2. You Feel Pent-Up and Claustrophobic
Get out of the office frequently. Don’t put yourself on such a tight schedule that you don’t leave time to get out of the house several times during the workday. Take a walk around the block when you break for lunch. Sit outside in the sunlight to make phone calls when you can. Bring your laptop out to your back patio or balcony to answer emails. Even a short trip to the mailbox can be enough to get you the fresh air and sunshine you need.
Sunshine ups your serotonin levels, which is the hormone that affects our mood. Sunshine also helps you get a better night’s sleep and even improves your immune system.
3. You Feel Alone and Isolated
That’s a pretty normal offshoot of working from home that you need to find a workaround for. You can have zoom chats with some of your friends who are also working from home.
Even better, try to arrange to have a regular time to meet in person for lunch or coffee. If you put those on your schedule like you would any business meeting, you’re able to look forward to it, which is also a mood-booster. Even if you aren’t able to find time during business hours, get up an hour earlier and meet for donuts and coffee with a friend.
You can match getting exercise and being with people by taking an exercise class like pilates or yoga. If you go on the same days at the same time, you’ll be in class with the same group of people. It’s like your office group but in spandex!
4. You Feel Like You Can’t Escape
Turn off all work emails and communication sites at the same time every day, and don’t let yourself be tempted to even peek. The world will continue to turn while you’re off taking care of yourself.
Take any work communication notifications off of your phone, too. It’s too easy to check and get pulled back into doing some work. Your time off should be sacred.
Getting burned out from work can happen anywhere. Well, maybe not if your office is on the French Riviera, but maybe even there, too. It’s all about balancing work life and personal life. Draw a line in the sand, and don’t let your work take over your home life.
Jesse Clark is a traveler, so she’s no stranger to experiencing wanderlust and that strong desire to travel. She’s already had enough experiences to last a lifetime, but she’s not stopping anytime soon. Visit Jesse at www.soulful-travel.com.
ED A. MURRAY 