The thought of working remotely is exciting, knowing that you don’t have to wake up early to be in the office on time, put on a suit or even have to deal with direct pressure from your seniors. While working remotely sounds just like most people’s dreams, it has its downsides. One of the most significant changes for working remotely is that social interactions reduce.
A lot of remote workers struggle with loneliness and depression mostly due to the nature of the work environment. If you are considering working remotely, then you ought to be aware of the side effects. You might find yourself working past your set office hours, and if this happens constantly you face the risk of burnout.
This can have detrimental effects on your health and wellbeing, but the good news is that there are ways to overcome them. Should you find yourself faced by burnout or depression while working remotely, here are solutions to consider.
Don’t Always Work From Home
A good trick to help make working home easy for you is choosing a day to work outside your home at least once a week. And the options are many, from coffee shops to libraries and anywhere else you feel comfortable working from. Also, if you know a local coworking space around your locality head there as this gets you out of your comfort zone and allows you to meet and interact with other remote workers.
You can also consider working from the office to help strike a balance between working in both places.
Regardless of whether you interact with other people or not, surrounding yourself with other people makes you feel like part of a community and reduces loneliness and depression.
Make Plans After Work
Not all days will be the same, some days you will feel more isolated than most. As a remote worker, sometimes you find yourself working till late in the night, having no time to socialize, and even worse, getting burnout.
If you are feeling this way, then hit up a friend or family member and make plans with them after work. This way you get time to socialize and even avoid bad habits like working after office hours especially when your office is in your house.
The more you move out of your office to go socialize or commit to other things the lesser the chances of overworking yourself. But you also need to stick to your work schedule to avoid using your office hours for other things.
Eat Right and Move It!
If you don’t watch what you eat or be active, you are more likely to fall into depression and stress. Unfortunately, these mental health problems are also linked to other health problems, so it is a cycle of problems. But through exercising frequently and eating right, you can keep depression in check.
Energy drinks, carbs, and junk food and major culprits for depression, but there are a lot of great fad diets that you can consider. So whether you are eating out or from the house you need to eat right as food influences your mood.
Also, make it a habit to exercise at least 30 minutes every day! It helps to rejuvenate your energy and relieve you from stress.
Avoid Negative Thoughts
The more you allow negativity in your thought process the worse you make your depression. Challenging your negative thoughts is one of the first and most vital approaches against depression since healing starts inside out.
It might not be an overnight success but rather a gradual change, so every time you are faced with negative thoughts try to challenge yourself and find a logical approach instead of taking it too hard on yourself.
To Sum it Up
It is not the end of the road if you are facing mental challenges working remotely, and that does not also mean that you have to go back to the office. You can overcome your challenges and live healthily for as long as you want to work remotely. While working remotely has its dose of negative mental and wellbeing effects, that does not mean that you have to go through them. Develop healthy habits to help you steer clear from depression and feeling isolated when working remotely.