For many of us working from home, rather than in an office sounds fab, but can be quite a challenge to keep boundaries between the two.
The distinction between on and offline gets blurred. Taking the time to work out how to stay active and keep healthy can be a challenge.
Finding the best place for new habits, some that you didn’t know you needed! You might complain about your commute to work, but it may have been the perfect amount of time for you to mentally slip between work and home life.
This free tracker has a suggested 12 self-care ideas. It’s often easier to start with something and then create your own, so there is also a blank one for you to fill to personalise when you figure out what it is that you need to do for a healthy day! Maybe you need a few templates for different days.
This self-care tracker is not for creating a rod for your own back and a massive todo list. It’s also perfect for noticing patterns and relationships between activities.
Some are really obvious such as:
- you drink less water and more tea as the weather changes;
- maybe you discover you have time for a stretch or a walk but not both;
There are so many ways to be healthy. Take the time to figure out what works best for you and what you enjoy doing!
You may also enjoy my blog on Quitting for Sucess for some tips on why quitting is not a bad thing!
Subscribers to my newsletter will receive a free copy of ‘Working from Home – Self-care’ tracker. You can subscribe here
12 Self-care ideas for Working from Home
Water
I’ve got the most obvious one first because it’s easy to skip as it’s not very exotic. The easiest way to drink water is to pop a big bottle on your desk in the morning and again in the afternoon. It helps you to avoid brain fog, overeating and fatigue #keepitsimple #stayhydrated
Walks
Working from home is one of the sedentary things you can do. There is no commute, no incidental steps going to the loo or getting a cup of tea. If you are aiming for 10,000 steps then it has to be very deliberately planned into your day.
But First…
What is the most important activity for you to do every day? It maybe coffee! Creating a boundary around it and make you sure others around you know how important it is you.
Out of Office
It is easy to be connected all the time, when working from home. When are you deliberately ‘out of office’? Can you ringfence your lunch hours and mini breaks, so you are definitely off the clock and disconnected?
Breathe
If you have been to yoga class you will know there are lots of different types of breathing. The simplest is just to take a big deep breath into your belly. Work can be stressful at times, not always in a bad way, but we often need to offset the busyness with a big calming breath to help reset
New
If you are working from home, it can feel very Groundhog Day. Can you put a new twist on an old habit or activity? This is a very deliberate mindset and just being able to look at activities differently. Turning left rather than your usual right on your walk is the simplest example of that
Tea Break
In my first job, there was morning break at 11 and afternoon break at 3pm. Most work patterns don’t support that kind of fixed time appointment. So perhaps its an everyday thing to work out where can you put a break in the morning and afternoon schedule. If you don’t pop it in your diary it won’t happen!
Stretch
Can you offset sitting all day with a few stretches? The common hotspots are hips and rounded shoulders. Hip flexor stretches are good; and rounded shoulders so shoulders circles or Pilates dumb waiter. Even just standing for a few minutes and the good old fingers away from toes stretch helps
Dear Diary
Writing or journaling is one of the simplest ways of getting your thoughts out of your head. Sometimes you don’t even realise you have been mulling something over until you are writing pages and pages about it. There is no right or wrong way to journal. I personally write on old school a4 jotters and shred without reading them. I know a lot of people keep their journals and go back to read them.
Empty Chair
When can you stand up and get out of your chair throughout the day? Sometimes it’s really easy such as during meetings or perhaps you have a standing desk. Getting out of your work chair only to sit on the sofa kinda misses the point. Research has shown moving 2 minutes every hour has a massive positive impact on your health.
Grounding
If you are energy sensitive, hsp or empath, grounding is a must to keep feeling calm cantered and balanced as opposed to scattered, anxious and flustered (or you could use this for getting out into nature if you prefer)
Do what you love. Love what you do.
When in your day are you doing activities that you love? It’s the last one but probably the most important! It’s easy to get stuck with your nose to the coal face instead taking time to do something that makes you feel good!
Grab your copy of the tracker
Subscribers to my newsletter will receive a free copy of ‘Working from Home – Self-care tracker’. Everyone loves to tick off their list.
Samantha Valand is a Pilates teacher, Yoga Instructor and Personal Trainer. Who helps women fall in love with exercising again after the menopause. You can find some inspiration over on the blog Samatha has a free newsletter and a fun way to sign up is through my 'Elements of Exercise | Post menopause Quiz' which help you figure out what type of fitness focus to set next using Elements of Exercise framework
