Being Alone During COVID-19

According to Forbes, “for those who are accustomed to and appreciative of conventional “office life” and a steady rate of social interactions at the office, the shift to remote work as a result of social distancing procedure during the COVID-19 pandemic might cause a surprising, even if relatively mild, deterioration of mental health.”

For those living alone during this time, the combination of remote work and social distancing poses an even greater mental health challenge.

Here are a few tips to help you weather the isolation.

1. Closing Hours: Tune out work-related notifications after meeting your daily targets and allow yourself uninterrupted time to switch gears and reclaim your personal space.
2. Background Noise: It’s easy to get lost in negative thoughts when your surroundings get too quiet. To counteract this, replicate your typical workplace noise by creating a playlist of podcasts, TEDx talks, audiobooks, etc. Check out these ambient workplace sounds to give you that café vibe while you work.
3. Feel Good Content: Be conscious of how you entertain yourself during non-work activities. Keep your self-love language positive and seek feel-good movies, music and stand-up comedies that make you happy while you get stuff done.
4. Netflix Parties: Google has created a free extension for the Chrome internet browser that lets you watch Netflix live and direct with your besties! Click here
5. Meaningful Tasks: Been meaning to declutter that drawer? Now’s the time to do those tasks you haven’t had the bandwidth to do while working. Marie Kondo’s KonMari Method™ encourages tidying by category and only keeping things that bring you joy.

COVID-19 inadvertently presents a rare opportunity to pause and reflect on who we are and what really matters in life. But don’t overthink things too much. You’re doing a great job just by reading this ?.