Most of us are experiencing a significant change right now, perhaps working remotely for the first time, or not working at all, whilst unable to undergo our usual day-to-day activities and interactions. That level of change can cause an unhealthy amount of stress. Here are our top tips for helping to manage this.
Stay Connected
We have to be physically distant, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still interact with our friends, family and work colleagues. If you have a team at work that are continuing to work remotely, consider putting in regular time on a video conferencing facility, such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, etc, to ensure that you are all still interacting and staying connected. With friends and family, along with regular chats, consider introducing a game element such as quiz nights. At Jukes, we are holding a quiz night for the team next week which could get very competitive!
Stay Active
We all know that exercise has both positive physical and mental benefits. Most of us have been given the gift of time either through not being able to go out or lack of commute time, so try to use some of that time for exercise. As well as exercising outside the home, there are plenty of opportunities to exercise inside as well, perhaps joining (or watching later) Joe Wicks’ 9am sessions on Youtube, or finding virtual Yoga, Pilates and other classes either pre-recorded on YouTube or live-streamed on various platforms.
Keep a Routine
It would be easy to fall out of routine at the moment, to go to bed later than normal and lie-in with either no commute or possibly no work to go to, but try to maintain a routine. If working, don’t work later than normal, take regular breaks and set-up a workspace. Try and have a way of separating work from home, it could be as simple as getting changed as you perhaps normally would, or trying to replicate the time you might have to ’switch off’ with a commute either through exercise or just taking some time to unwind from work.
Stay Focused
There is a lot of understandable negativity and some very real problems that many of us are contending with right now. There is a lot that we cannot directly control, such as the length of time this goes on for. Spending hours following the news, that we have little control over, is only likely to rise anxiety levels. Stay informed through a trusted source, but keep this limited to a daily update where possible.
There is, however, a lot that we can control. If we are not losing ourselves in the news and social media, we can choose to be properly present at home, hopefully with people that bring us happiness. This is not an easy situation for anyone, but there is also a great opportunity to regain focus on the things – or more likely people – that truly make us happy.
