The coronavirus has undoubtedly changed the way we live our lives. Whether it comes to parenting, socializing or working; nothing is the same as it was before.
Nothing is the same
The coronavirus has undoubtedly changed the way we live our lives. Whether it comes to parenting, socializing or working: nothing is the same as it was before. For many people, the pandemic has meant making a huge shift from going to the office daily to working from home.
While there certainly are benefits to working from home (raise your hand if you have spent multiple Zoom-meetings in pajama bottoms, fuzzy slippers and a business appropriate top), it can be very difficult to find a good work-life balance.
If working from home due to Covid-19 makes you feel stressed and overworked, here are some ways to help you create a better work-life balance.
Create a Dedicated Work Space
When working from home, your house becomes the office, and the office becomes your home. Pre-pandemic, you had a dedicated workspace at your office. The sudden shift gave us almost no time to prepare for working from home, so you might not even have a desk to work at. The kitchen table works just fine, right?
While that might be true, it makes it hard to separate work from home after office hours. Eating dinner at your work desk doesn’t sound very relaxing, does it? Creating a designated workspace will make a clear divide between your work hours and your free time.
A specific room in the house of which you close the door after work and don’t go back into until the next workday starts, is ideal. If you can’t manage that for whatever reason, a designated table or desk in a common area works just as well. Just make sure you create clear boundaries and don’t use that area for anything other than work.
A Specific room in the house of which you close the door after work, is ideal.
(that includes underwear)
Even though we just admitted to keeping our comfortable pajama pants on during the workday, we know it might not always be the best thing to do when you want a healthy work-life balance.
Changing into formal clothing can help you get mentally ready to take on the workday. The pajama pants you spilled some wine on last night won’t.
If you usually wear a bra when you leave the house and it makes you feel good, wear one during work hours at home, too.
The coffee at home might taste way better than it does at the office, but those chats at the coffee machine or the water cooler are irreplaceable and an aspect at working at an office that a lot of people miss. During a regular day at the office, you probably stop and chat with your coworker for a few minutes, get up to get yourself a cup of coffee or leave the office for a lunch meeting.
Moving, especially outside, will beat that sluggish feeling a lot of us get during the day. If that’s not possible, scheduling a phone call to talk about anything but work while enjoying a cup of coffee, can give you that chatting-at-the-coffee-machine-vibe.
Our daily commute is an important part of our routine for many of us. Checking in on your parents (while calling handsfree, of course!), singing along to motivating songs or listening to an audiobook or podcast is a great way to enjoy yourself during a drive without it being unsafe. Now, those things lack from our daily routine, which only stresses the fact that life is different compared to our life pre-pandemic.
At the end of the day, make sure to turn off your computer, as you would at the office, and take another short walk to clear your mind from any clutter that has built up in your mind throughout the day.
Create Healthy Boundaries
with Minou Hexspoor Coaching
Stay on Top of Everyone’s Schedule
Many professionals are also homeschooling their children during these trying times. Having to juggle two jobs at once can be extremely hard. Communication is key in this case. Stay on top of calendars, home-school planners and chore charts and make sure everyone knows what to expect each day. Check in multiple times during the day and make sure your children have a written schedule of times they can ask for your help and times when they will have to wait until you are done with your task or meeting. Make a planning for the tasks your child might need help with and plan those around your own responsibilities. Be clear about your expectations!
Be Kind to Yourself
We all deal with the challenges of juggling our responsibilities each day and it might sometimes seem like there’s no end in sight, but you have to remind yourself that this pandemic will not last forever.
Not everything will go back to the way it was before, but many things will. Make a list of perks of working from home and be kind to yourself. Don’t beat yourself up if you are having an unproductive day. We are all doing the best we can in these trying times.
