These are scary times and I know a lot of people who are going into self-quarantine because of travel, isolating due to illness, working remotely all of a sudden, or are simply practicing the very smart social distancing suggestion. That means a lot more time at home, and take it from a work-from-wherever person, working from home can lead to a serious downward spiral for your health if you’re not careful.
Morning yoga
Good for all times, but especially right now when most of us are waking up with our cortisol levels skyrocketing and in a hugely stressed state, getting in some early movement can really help calm your system down by putting that cortisol to use instead of just refreshing Twitter.
Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner
When you’re at home and practicing social distancing, I think it’s really easy to get into snack mode and not eat full meals throughout the day. If you’re normally a grazer, that’s one thing—but I find when I start to have workdays of hours and hours at home, I get a little snack-y and less focused on putting together solid, healthy meals.
Drink water
Put down the coffee pot.
Make an office space
Cheesy advice, but seriously, if you’re working from home all of a sudden, you may not have a designated space for your office. Make one somewhere, whether you have to claim the fancy dining room table as your own, or build one in the basement with a sheet of plywood and a couple of random file cabinets or sawhorses. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it does help to have a place where your stuff lives — and it helps you turn off work mode and get back to family stuff throughout the day.
Keep training
If you’re in true quarantine or have had a doctor tell you to stop all heavy exercise, consider keeping in some gentle yoga throughout the day, or use this time to practice your mental gains by grabbing a book like The Brave Athlete and doing the exercises that are in there. Or, ahem, maybe this is the time to start meditation.
Organize your gear
If your training is limited but you do have more free time, consider using this time to get your gear closet organized, do the bike maintenance you’ve put off, et cetera.
Shower and DIY some spa days
This may not apply to everyone, but for me, while I’ve never loved the edict of getting dressed up to work from home, I also know that I very quickly can sink into sloth-y sloppy habits when it comes to taking care of myself in little ways. So I’m going to try to remember to make time for doing masks and manicures and pedicures and Epsom salt bathes and all of those things—just because I won’t be out in public much doesn’t mean I can’t feel good about how I look!
Set a social media limit
I know, it’s hard to not just keep refreshing the news—I found that especially true as we tried to get home in the safest way possible for us and for people around us. But at some point, when you are home and all of your basic needs are met, it’s in your best interest to not read every single news article 24/7. Set a time limit and get offline for chunks of the day.
FaceTime or Skype your friends and family
I think this is going to be the hardest for me to remember, especially since we’re out of the habit of doing this because we’ve been in a different time zone for the last couple months, but I’m hoping to spend some time online chatting with my family and friends I’ve been missing. I’m not a game night person or anything like that, but I do think you can have some creative fun with trying to play games or have virtual dinner with friends.
Give yourself some grace
Need to take a few minutes to freak out, watch a show on Netflix, read a book or take a nap? If you can, let yourself. It’s a hard time in the world, and it’s completely OK to have trouble getting work done and staying present.
I know a lot of these are ones you’ve heard before, but they’re also hard to follow and bear repeating. Good luck!
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