Tips to Get You Through Self-Isolation | Working From Home

I’m sure I’m not the only person on this planet we call home who is feeling lost right now. We are living in unprecedented times, and that comes with a lot of anxiety and life-adjustments. My biggest adjustment so far has been having to self-isolate. However, I think I’m pretty skilled on the self-isolation front.

Thanks to having asthma (#highriskclub), a severe allergy, and a weird intestine condition, I am used to taking weeks off at a time to work from home or self-isolate. I’ve already spent the whole of February in the walls of my house thanks to said intestine condition, and had two weeks off in October thanks to a chest infection! As such, I’ve got the hang of how to self-isolate whilst keeping entertained, physically and mentally healthy, and generally surviving and thriving.

So for everyone in the work from home, self-isolation, or quarantine club, this post is for you! Let me show you how I manage self-isolation.

• Rest up! This goes for us working from home people too! I know for some people, the idea of staying in the house all day is hell, but use this time to rest and reset. Skip the bra, and wear leggings and a big t-shirt whilst working. Have a bath in the middle of the day for your sore shoulders. Light those candles and plug in those fairy lights. Create an atmosphere that you feel safe in. When will you next have the opportunity to work like this?
• Break the day up. It’s easy to slip into distraction, entertainment, or solid working, and before you notice, the day has passed you by. Make sure to break the day up. At the moment, I have to work from home, so I’ve written a little plan and stuck it up on my wall. I’ve noted down my hours for working, when I’ll have my breaks and what I plan to do in them; like yoga, reading, lunch etc. I’ve also included my cut off point for work. At 5pm, the laptop shuts down and my evening begins. Without setting that deadline, I know I would work all evening, and that’s just not healthy. 

• Start something new! This could be a new project, a game, TV series, a book – the list goes on. Project wise, I think I’m going to get a lot of blog posts scheduled and my wardrobe is gonna have a big declutter. But, you don’t have to start a project or side hustle; chilling is just as important. With weeks of empty evenings ahead of me, no pub quizzes or friends over, I’ve bought Red Dead Redemption II on the PS4. I’ve wanted to play this game ever since it came out, and now I finally have the time (if not by choice)! I’ve also bought plenty of audiobooks to keep me company whilst I work. Speaking of books, if you start one and dislike it – don’t finish it. You may have more time on your hands, but there is no point wasting it on books that you aren’t enjoying.
• Know your needs and act on them. I’m a big ol’ introvert. I like staying in during most evenings, making a home cooked meal, and just relaxing. Just as I need to have time to myself, I do need to have contact with others. Introvert, extrovert, don’t-care-overt; we all need human interaction. Find those people you can call to hear a friendly voice. Arrange a nightly video call with your friends or family. Have watch parties, play online games, sit on the floor and chat to your housemate through their door. Do what you need to do to get by. The same goes for exercise and consuming the news. Do what you need to do that’s good for you. We’re all different.
• This too will pass. If there’s one point I want you to take away from this post, it’s this one. This is a scary time. We don’t know for how long the virus will grind everything to a halt for. But this will pass, and the world will turn again. It may be a slightly different world with new things we’ll have to get used to, but what we know as normality will come back. Just look at Wuhan now. What once was the centre of the pandemic with the highest numbers is now closing down it’s emergency hospitals and roadside tests because they are no longer needed. People are slowly being allowed back to work! Here’s a Sky News article if you don’t believe me. Amongst all the negatives, there are glimmers of the positive. It may take some but if we take care of ourselves and each other, this troubled time will too pass.

Let me know if you are on the self-isolation train, and what you are doing to keep yourself happy and well at home!

Rosie x

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