8 Work From Home Tips to Help Curb Anxiety

People across the globe have grown accustomed to working from home and creating a schedule around the new norm. For people suffering from anxiety, working from home may be a lot to handle if they don’t have the right coping strategies in place that work for them. If you have anxiety and are currently working from home, then this article is for you. This article will still serve well even after our lives return to some sort of normalcy post quarantine. I’ve come up with 8 Tips that I’ve been using during my time in quarantine in hopes this may also help others. Let’s get right into it. Please feel free to share with loved ones or friends who can benefit from this article. 

Log off When you’re supposed to

Do everything in your power to log off on time. It becomes so easy to do more work since we’re home. At first, it felt as if work-life balance was impossible to achieve while WFH, but that’s false. You can have work-life balance while WFH, you just have to develop boundaries. So remember, if it can hold off until the next day, leave the task to be completed the next day. I would even recommend setting an alarm to log off if you have to. 

Take Breaks when you need to

You guys, please do not forget that by law you are permitted two 15 minute breaks throughout the 8-hour workday, use them to your advantage. I remember when I returned to work from being furloughed, I was going nuts! I felt like a working robot. I never took any breaks in between my lunch and didn’t realize that until later. I work in customer service, so I was starting to receive a lot of verbal abuse from customers and it started to get to me. Removing myself from the situation helped, but I had to completely step away from my work area. Be intentional about the breaks you take, write it as a task that you have to get if it’s that important to you to take your break.

Create a To do List

When I go into my workday without a to-do list, I always end up becoming overwhelmed as If I did not get anything accomplished for the day. When I create a to-do list, it allows me to stay focused on my tasks so I can be efficient and finish my work on time. Before you clock into your shift, write a to-do list and stick to it throughout the workday.

Step away from your work area when you take a break 

Don’t actually stay seated in your work area when you take your break. If you can, step away from your work area when you take your break.

Create a Schedule

Start creating a schedule that’s realistic for your lifestyle. Are there any daily habits that you have to incorporate into your day so that you can be the most productive version of yourself? If not, start thinking of a few healthy daily habits that are important to you. I need structure to avoid becoming stressed and irritable. Now my below schedule may not be realistic for everyone as I’m a single woman with no kids. But anyway, take a look below.

-Wake-Up/Shower

-Make some green tea or a smoothie

-Meditate for about 10 min before work meeting

-Log on for 3 hours

-Take a 15 min break and step away from my work areatake my lunch for an hour

-Take another 15 min break to step away from my desk area

-Log off at 5:30PM on the dot!

-Fix dinner

-Take a walk outside

-Read/Listen to Podcast

-Meditate for 10 min before bed

Take a Walk After you log Off for the Day

Practice Self-Care and Actually Do it

Self Care means something different for a lot of people. It could mean binging on a Netflix show or streaming something on Hulu. Take an hour or two to be with yourself and indulge yourself in an activity that brings you joy. Another way to look at self-care is indulging in an activity that will make you a better person or provide some type of value. What does your self-care activity do for you? My self-care consists of facial masks, deep conditioning my hair, reading, and a bubble bath. These activities all bring some value and make me happy.

Journaling

Journaling could be used as a great stress reliever. You can get your mind off of whatever was bothering you for the day.

I hope these have been helpful. These are some tips I’ve been incorporating in my work from home lifestyle that I wanted to share with others. Anything else you’d like to add?