Working from home: 3 tips to take care of your mental health

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is gradually shifting to a different way of working: working from home. Now that you’re working from home and miss the contact with your colleagues at the office, your workdays can become tedious and a bit lonely. Luckily, we have created a series of blogs to help you make the transition during this challenging time. Overcome the negative influences of working in isolation with the help of these 3 tips to take care of your mental health.

Take care of your mental health 

In these times of uncertainty and social distancing, feelings of stress and loneliness can arise and influence your mental health. Use the following tips to beat these feelings during your workdays at home. 

Tip 1. Take breaks and go outside

Working from home in isolation can easily become boring and make you miss variety in your days. Therefore, take breaks during your workday, and use this time to get away from your desk and go outside! Leaving the house for some fresh air can be the best way to get you out of the daily grind. Especially taking a walk with others who might be in the house, will prevent you from feeling lonely and isolated. Look for a quiet spot outside and avoid crowded places. ?

Going outside is a good way of taking care of your mental health. It makes you use your physical energy, so that you don’t only rely on your mental energy throughout the day. A balance between these two is important for your wellbeing and helps you stay focused.

Tip 2. Reward yourself with fun activities

Suddenly having to work isolated at home can make you miss your normal workplace. A way to motivate yourself is to reward yourself after you complete a difficult task or at the end of the day. Now that you have to miss the company culture at the office, you can create one for yourself. This little boost can make working at home a little bit less stressful and more fun, and keep up your mental health.

Also planning fun things to do in your day, instead of only planning work tasks, gives you something to look forward to. Take care of your mental wellbeing by making time to unwind, for example by reading a book, watching a show or practicing another hobby. Getting your mind off things and doing activities you like makes your days less stressful.

Tip 3. Stay in touch with your team

One of the best ways to take care of your mental health when you work from home, is getting in contact with your colleagues! Miss working together with your team? Stay in touch and plan meetings to discuss your work. You can, for example, use your team scrum board together digitally, or show your agile home task board. Like this, you keep each other up to date about your work.

Talking with other people when working in isolation helps you maintain your good mental wellbeing. Contact your colleagues not only for business meetings, but also for nice informal chats! It lowers your stress levels, and it beats the feeling of loneliness and isolation. A good conversation over a cup of coffee keeps you mentally healthy and happy, which benefits your work results at the same time!

We temporarily have to give up working physically together at the office, which affects our team communication and productivity. Luckily, we’re slowly getting back to working in the office again. By this time, we can effectively work together again and improve project visibility.Workdays will be more fun! Until then, stay in contact with your team and take care of yourself.