For a lot of people, COVID moving their work home has meant a complete breakdown of any work-life balance. Emails come in at all hours, the idea of downtime has gone out the window, and some of them have had to become their kid’s teacher on top of everything. But it doesn’t have to be so hard (or at least, it can be LESS hard).Here are a couple of tips that may help you adjust to the “new normal”:
- Reframe your stress.Bully your stress. Tell it that it’s not as important as it thinks it is.Because it’s not!Remember, stress is partly in your mind, and if you can train yourself to think of it as a challenge rather than a threat, you’ll be able to handle things from your quarantine bunker a whole lot easier.
- Turn Off.You simply can’t be on all the time, and your co-workers and boss need to understand that. If they email you after your shift, resist the urge to answer it. Set some ground rules with everyone and let them know you’ll be happy to Zoom with them after work hours if it's to share a beer, but other than that, let them know you need time away.
- Rethink your schedule.If nine-to-five isn’t working for you from your home office, hit up your boss, and tell them you're making a switch to the schedule. More than likely they will tell you they don’t care when you work as long as everything gets done. You get to sleep in a bit more and they still get your same level of productivity.It’s a win-win.
- No really, turn off.When you’re not working, let yourself get immersed in whatever activity you’re doing. Whether it’s enjoying the outdoors, or a new hobby, shut your brain’s work-mode off and turn on that switch that says “fun.”It might need a few tries to turn on after all the stress from this year, but it should still work.
Source:Psychology Today