During this time of uncertainty, the majority of us are working from home. While it is a boon for introverts like me but it can be really challenging if this is your first time with kids at home. I received an email from a friend who seemed burnt out while working from home and was looking for some tips to protect her mental health and keep calm during the Coronavirus outbreak.

This reminded me of how necessary it is to take care of our mental health while working from home. It is reported that people working remotely have experienced loneliness or isolation along with being mentally burned out. 

If this is your first experience while working from home, I am sure you would be feeling isolated or over-burdened at times. This is the time where you should be taking care of your mental health the most to remain sane and calm. Here are a few simple tips and tools that I have been implementing to protect my mental health while I work from home.

How to take care of your Mental Health while working from home:

1. Have a positive mindset

We are all run by the power of our thoughts and during this time it is really essential to have a positive mindset. Develop the habit of having no complain day and practice gratitude. We are truly blessed with the work we have where there are thousands sitting around being unemployed. Have an optimistic mind-shift and look out for hope + peace. The world is ruled by our thoughts which then produces high vibrational energy.

Remind yourself that this is not permanent and you are not alone.

2. Stick to a routine

Plan out a routine that works best for you and try to stick to it. Schedule all the important tasks early enough when you are energetic and keep a proper time limit. When things are planned properly, the chances of feeling overwhelmed is reduced. Also, don’t be so strict about your routine that you totally get monotonous about it. We have family, kids to look after and it is okay to slow down at times.

Here is the guide + free printable to make a routine.

3. Take breaks

Consider it normal to have small breaks in between your work schedule. Get up and have a walk around for 5 mins after every 30 mins of your work. This will freshen up your mind and you will feel charged up for the next round.

Set an alarm or timer for timely breaks as we tend to forget to have small gaps as we work from home.

4. Keep your workplace organized and clean

Having an organized and tidy workplace will give you the feeling of working with joy. For someone like me, it gives a sense of accomplishment when I clean up space before starting my work. It shows the clarity in thoughts too. 

Here is the beautiful post on the organization of your home office.

5. Stay hydrated

This one is especially for everyone like me who needs to set a reminder for drinking water. It indeed is necessary to stay hydrated while working from home because we don’t have our office colleagues to hang around while sipping water. Drinking water also nourishes the mental health.

6. Stay connected

As we work from home, it naturally makes us all feel super lonely. This is because we always have our office friends around to share things at our workplace and this sudden change might be too much for a few of us.

It is necessary to stay connected with your friends through teleconferencing or video calling through various apps. Do not just text them or email them, have a facetime call and enjoy doing things together though being separated.

7. Refrain from overworking

Do not overload yourself with loads of work. It is alright to break it down in small gaps and do accordingly. Doing the next day’s work earlier will cause you stress and make you feel burned out. Know how much work has to be done in what time frame. This will help you stay calm and sane during your work from home hours.

8. Take a nap if needed

There is nothing wrong with catching up with a power nap in the afternoon when you need one. And I guess this is the advantage when you get to work from home, you have the liberty to do the work at your pace and rest when needed. However, long periods of naps will make you feel lazy so have a limit on them and see what works best for you.

9. Have some screen-free time

Working from home means continuously sticking in front of our laptop or desktop. It is important to give relaxation to our eyes and brain by having some screen-free time.

Use this time to do exercise or a short walk or simply close your eyes for a while and rest.

10. Limit your news intake

Being over-exposed to the current news update definitely affects our mental health. It will make you anxious and worried. Hence, refrain from checking the news update every next hour.

Set the time of watching news or read the headlines in the noon rather than having them pop-up every single hour.

11. Try journaling

I cannot stress enough how helpful journaling has been for improving my mental health. There are times when we need someone to listen to and having a journal is exactly the same as having a dedicated active listener.

Pour down your thoughts on the page and see how miraculously it works.

Here is the detailed post on journaling + I have listed a few journaling prompts free for you.

There are many challenges that we need to face as we transitioned ourselves into the new environment. We don’t know how long it will take to get things back to normal but we surely can take care of our mental health while working from home.

Here is a detailed post on how to keep calm during the quarantine.

Always remember to stay calm and not to take things too seriously, nothing is more important than your mental health and you need to learn to put it first.

I hope you find this post helpful and always remember that you are not alone. I am sending support mails with all the helpful resources. Join me here if you wish to receive the support mail.

Do take care of your mental health and don’t forget to tell me about your adventures while working from home.

Let’s connect and help each other.