Written By: Reneé Racioppi
When we physically go to work, the process of ‘leaving our work behind,’ can be much simpler when it comes time to come home and unwind. Some even struggle with taking their work home with them, which can make their lives much more stressful and difficult to manage on a daily basis. As if this process was not challenging enough, now we must face the struggle of working from our homes!
During a time when the line between work and home is much blurrier, those at risk for or struggling with anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues (obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD], anger control issues, family system issues, etc.), may have a more difficult time creating that separation. How can we leave the stress behind? How can we flip the switch and be present for the moment we want to be in?
Our team came up with a list of ideas that will hopefully aid in disassociating your work and home lives even when they are in such close proximity to one another. Our goal is to inspire you to individualize the two again, so that you have a better chance of managing the already challenging juggle.
- Designated Work Space. If you are able to do so, making a spare room in your home into an office is so beneficial. You will be able to physically shut the door once work is over and leave it in the room behind you. This also allows for us to still feel like we are “going to work,” and
- Shutting Your Laptop. Some of us may not have the luxury of creating an entire room for ourselves to work. Especially when there may be multiple people in our families in the same remote work situation, dining room tables are slowly becoming desks. In this instance, when we are done with work, we must shut the laptop. There is no way to separate work and home when we keep hearing emails coming in as we are eating dinner with our families.
- White Noise Machine. While working from home, it may be difficult to pour your entire attention into what you are doing with constant background noise from other family members. Especially if more than one person is working from home, it could be a distraction. White noise machines will allow you to better stay focused and feel involved in your work.
- Logging Off On Time. By working from home, we tend to convince ourselves that somehow our employers think we are slacking or that they expect so much more from us simply because we are not in the office. In order to keep our work and home lives separate, we need to try to allot enough time for both to happen simultaneously. This means not working later than we normally would, because we feel like we need to compensate. Be confident in the work you do during your time on the clock and give yourselves the break you deserve.
- Changing Clothes. This may seem insignificant, but if we were going into work every day, we would be changing out outfits in order to fit whichever role we are playing. If work and home are beginning to blend too much, then this can be something simple to try to create more of a separation.
- Create Separate To-Do Lists. In order to feel less overwhelmed by everything work and home related that we have to do, try creating separate lists for each one. This will allow you to focus on one list at a time and will hopefully give more energy to complete each list as needed throughout the day.
There is the possibility that you may have either thought of these ideas or tried them already and found them to be unsuccessful. It is important that we aim to separate our work and home lives, so that there is some sort of little escape from either one of them. Just taking some time to focus your energy on one task at hand will leave you feeling less overwhelmed.
For some, this may be easier said than done. If you’re struggling with overwhelming anxiety, depression, obsessive thoughts, bothersome behaviors, or anything that is making you uncomfortable, please reach out to us for a free consultation to see if we can be of help to you. Call us or text us at (908) 914-2624 or email us at info@anxietyandbehaviornj.com.