Surviving working from home in lockdown 3.0

My new wellness practises to get me through the lockdown.

Lockdown 3.0

Firstly, it is okay to feel like shit, not know exactly how you are feeling or to feel happy about the recent lockdown announcement because it will affect us all differently because we are all in different situations and stages of life. Recognise your thoughts and feelings good or bad and take some time to do something for yourself that will bring you joy and happiness. I am going to continue with challenging my inner chef and dinner planner that I talked about in my last post as this is currently filling me with joy and pride. You could cook or bake your favourite dish, take a nice relaxing bath, start reading, do some drawing or painting, watch your favourite movie, show, or simply take some quiet time to yourself in your room, on a walk or just sat outside in your garden. In this post, I am going to share my own personal thoughts and feelings about my situation and hope every one of you can find a little piece inspiring, helpful, informative, or just get some positive energy from a word, sentence, or paragraph.

So, working from home sounds great right getting to stay home, work from your bed in your PJs and eat and drink when you want but for some like myself, this really does not work and makes working seem harder or more tasking. I have come to release through lockdowns that I am a sucker for routine. I like having to get up early, complete my morning routine and setting out for my drive to work – where I have a loud singsong to get my energy and vibration high for my day at work. So, you guessed it, I am going to continue doing exactly this (changing my drive for a short walk with my headphones and internal loud singing) or at least try because this is where my struggles begin. When I know I am going to be working from home my mind slips into this ‘well you're working from home today so what’s the point’ but I have promised myself I will keep going and continuing with my usual routine as much as possible – remembering to not be hard on myself if there is a day or two, I divert from the plan.

Three essential steps I do every morning:

6-6:30 AM

Take Vitamins (This Shreddy product is a new replacement for my tablet form vitamins, its honestly delicious, the texture is not gritty at all like you might expect and its just so much easier)

7-7:30AM

Meditate - a quick ten minute morning meditation to help me concentrate more for the day ahead.

8-9AM

Breakfast - I don't get an instant hunger when I wake up so I have started eating my breakfast slightly later when my body tells me I need it and I wait until then to have a coffee also.

Secondly, I have created myself a workstation not allowing myself to slip into the living room which holds a multitude of distractions, for example, the TV – Netflix, Disney plus and the world of daytime TV I seem to feel I miss out on suddenly when I have not given it any thought previously. The list really does go on and I am that person that is distracted quite easily when doing my creative technician job from home. My creative technician role when I am in the college campus is full of hands-on jobs so when I work from home, I have this weird guilt come over me that I am not doing my job properly or I am not doing enough – when in fact I have a list of jobs each day to still complete just the same as I would if I was on campus. It’s just the focus of my jobs which changes. Although my job feels more hands-on when I am at the campus, I still have paperwork to do, sourcing/ordering resources, creating/updating itinerary, organising equipment for students and organising deliveries big and small. So, when I work from home these types of jobs become my focus. This time around I also thought if there was anything, I could take home with me to do and create a more hands-on feeling. So, I packed my car full of silkscreens which I will be jet washing in my back garden over this period.

Side note: Silkscreens are used for Screen printing a textile process in which you can transfer a print onto fabric or garments. It's one of the elements within the college I am currently working hard to get back up and running for our students.

So how am I going to get rid of this weird feeling of guilt?

Frantically running out to wash screens to hopefully make me feel more hands-on would not really be practical so I will be meditating.

I have been for around three weeks now meditating when I feel I need it most throughout the day (once/twice) simply just to ground myself back to the simple things like my senses and for 10-20 minutes just clearing my mind of all thoughts. Of course, only a few days into working from home I am yet to find out if it will help shift the feelings, I have but over the next couple of weeks the important thing here for me is my the second promise to myself to keep meditating in those moments I feel overwhelmed. You could try this or create an ‘action’ of your own when you begin to feel overwhelmed for whatever reason, go outside for 10 minutes of fresh air, take 10 minutes to just sit and drink some water or stand up a have a little 10 -minute dance or stretch.

Finally, I am letting go of all the things I cannot control and not only because this current situation we are faced with we cannot control but because this is something I am trying to do in my every day life. So, I am focusing on the small things I can do to better my lockdown experience and to try creating pockets of pure joy and happiness amongst the wild wave of emotions we will all experience and that is normal to be experiencing. I am implanting a night-time routine to allow me to let go off any stress that I feel from that day. Unwind, Skincare and Journal a small three-step routine which I will talk more in-depth about in the next blog post once I gather some evidence of its success.

My three key promises to myself heading into Lockdown are:

1. To continue my normal ‘Going to work’ routine (Changing the car drive for a short walk).

2. Meditating in the moments I feel overwhelmed.

3. Letting go of the things I cannot change every night with my three steps night-time routine.

While making sure you are okay remember to give and accept support from your friends and family. Let’s tell our loved ones that we love them and share our support by letting each other know we are there if anyone needs us or making each other aware of the numbers/websites that are also there if they need them.

My DMs and Emails remain open always for anyone who wants to chat or needs advice/guidance. I will share with you my support or guide you in a more suitable direction.

Love R, x

Helpline are below:

Samaritans. -

To talk about anything that is upsetting you, you can contact Samaritans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

You can call 116 123 (free from any phone)

Email jo@samaritans.org

SANEline.

If you're experiencing a mental health problem or supporting someone else.

You can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000

(4.30pm–10.30pm every day).

The Mix.

If you're under 25

You can call The Mix on 0808 808 4994

(Sunday-Friday 2pm–11pm), request support by email using this form on The Mix website or use their crisis text messenger service.

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

If you identify as male.

You can call the (CALM) on 0800 58 58 58

(5pm–midnight every day) or use their webchat service.

Nightline.

If you're a student, you can look on the Nightline website to see if your university or college offers a night-time listening service. Nightline phone operators are all students too.

Switchboard.

If you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

You can call Switchboard on 0300 330 0630

(10am–10pm every day), email chris@switchboard.lgbt or use their webchat service. Phone operators all identify as LGBT+.

Helplines Partnership.

For more options, visit the Helplines Partnership website for a directory of UK helplines. Mind's Infoline can also help you find services that can support you. If you're outside the UK, the Befrienders Worldwide website has a tool to search by country for emotional support helplines around the world.

Numbers and helpline information all sourced from:

Helplines and listening services | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems