7 Tips to Avoid Loneliness When Working From Home
Since COVID forced most people to work from home, many realized there are some amazing benefits to being able to work digitally. No commute, no freezing cold office, and no getting dressed if you don’t feel like it.
But if you work from home, you know all too well how isolating it can be and how quickly you can become demotivated.
Many of my clients work remotely and report feeling lonely, or that their home no longer feels like a calm, peaceful place. If we’re combining our home with our work, it’s like there’s no way to escape! If we don’t make an intentional effort to combat this, it can often lead to feelings of isolation and depression.
Wondering how to deal with loneliness when you work from home? Here are 7 helpful tips:
Table of Contents
Examine Your Daily Habits
Change Your Morning Routine
Keep Your Bedroom Off-Limits During The Day
Take Lots of Little Breaks
Create a Boundary Around When You Work
Get Out of The House Regularly
Connect With Other Remote Workers
Bonus: Create a Pro/Con List
Tip #1: Examine your daily habits
It's important to start noticing how working from home is negatively affecting you and if any of your habits are contributing. Here are a few questions to consider?
Do you start your morning answering emails in bed?
Do you stay in your pajamas all day?
Are you easily distracted by watching TV or surfing the internet?
Start examining how a typical workday looks for you and think about how you’d prefer your day to look.
Once you begin to examine your habits, you can decide what needs changing. We typically want to start with changes in your environment because this will often have the quickest impact and these kinds of changes are usually the easiest to implement.
Tip #2: Change your morning routine
Your brain needs time to wake up before problem solving, so even if there is a crisis email waiting in your inbox, you won’t be able to effectively handle it immediately after waking up.
There’s really no point in seeing something you can’t address right away. It’s much better to set aside some calm, peaceful time first thing in the morning to give yourself some space. Use whatever time you’d normally be commuting to make a cup of tea or coffee, put on some relaxing music, or do something else enjoyable.
If you normally keep your phone on your bedside table, trying moving it across the room so you have to get up to turn off your alarm. This also has the added benefit of removing access to your phone if you’re having difficulty sleeping.
Tip #3: Keep Your Bedroom Off-limits during the day
If you find yourself laying in your bed or on the couch during the day, it’s time to designate formal office space and leave the leisurely spaces for after hours. This could be in your living room or eating area, a spare room, or anywhere else that can fit a desk.
The one place you should never do your work? Your bed!
It might be tempting to mess around on your phone first thing, checking your notifications, reading your inbox, or scrolling through Instagram. The problem is that eventually your work space invades your personal space and it becomes impossible to escape. You also might be disrupting your sleep!
Once you’ve gotten up, resist the urge to get back into bed and wait until after your morning routine (brushing teeth, coffee, etc.) before getting into work mode. After you’ve left your bedroom, close the door and consider it off limits during working hours. If you need to, put a chair in front of the door as a reminder (or a room divider if you live in a studio).
Need to Set boundaries but aren’t sure how?
Check out my FREE mini workshop: Setting Boundaries That Actually Work. Learn practical strategies to confidently express yourself without feeling anxious, overwhelmed, or mean.
Tip #4: Take lots of little breaks
It’s most helpful to take short, consistent breaks throughout the day in order to avoid burnout and procrastination. The best way to get started is to block out time during the day where you can take 5-10 minute breaks.
Set a timer and decide beforehand how you want to use these micro breaks.
Try taking a walk around your neighborhood, calling a friend or family member to check in, or watching a funny video. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it’s relaxing, re-energizing, and not work-related.
Most importantly, take a lunch break! If you use a shared calendar, block out this time as unavailable so you can unplug and decompress. Our brains are not wired to multi-task and they need regular breaks to work properly.
We don’t want to push ourselves to work at 30% capacity 100% of the time. Breaks give you a chance to recharge and use your time more productively. Take this time to actually enjoy your lunch so you can resume work nourished and energized.
Tip #5: Create a boundary around when you work
It’s much easier to disconnect from work when you leave an office and head home. This is much more challenging when you’re already at home and most likely using a personal computer.
If you find yourself working later than normal, create a firm boundary around what time you’ll finish work and set an alarm. Hold yourself accountable to this time by planning something right after; this could be a walk, a call with a friend, or dinner plans.
Create healthy habits around your evening to ensure you have a complete separation between work and rest.
If you’re feeling obligated to work later or you’re struggling to let your boss or co-workers know you’re not available in the evening, check out my Assertiveness Training post for some helpful advice.
Tip #6: Get out of the house Regularly
It’s crucial that you don’t stay in your house all day and all night. It’s easy to get in a habit of being inside all day, but what typically happens is that it never feels like you’re fully off work.
Now that COVID restrictions are lifting, try working at a local coffee shop or library at least one day per week to have that mental separation. If this isn’t doable, try taking a short drive around your neighborhood after work as though you’re commuting home.
I also recommend being social in your free time to ensure you’re staying in contact with your support systems. You don’t have to wait until the weekend either! You could plan a weekly activity with friends (like Taco Tuesday or a trivia night) so the week doesn't feel so long or lonely.
If you’re concerned about getting sick and need to stay home, try scheduling regular FaceTime chats or online games with friends so you don’t have to completely disconnect.
Tip #7: Connect with other remote workers
Ask your friends if they know anyone else who works from home so they can introduce you. If you get along well, you could suggest working from home together on certain days, alternating between each other’s spaces.
If you don't feel comfortable working out of someone else's house, you could go to a coffee shop or library together.
Alternatively, consider finding a co-working space. There are so many co-working options in Austin that it may be worth checking out if there are any in your immediate area. Even one day a week could make a significant difference, allowing you to be social and potentially network. Talk to your company to see if they'd be willing to pay for it or reimburse you.
Bonus tip: Create a Pros and Cons list
Create a Pros and Cons list of working remotely versus working in an office to get an idea of what’s not working well and what might need changing. You may find there are more pros than cons, but the cons carry a much heavier weight.
For instance, you may love not having a commute, but find that it’s too hard to relax during your off hours. Your pros and cons could help you consider whether you need to make small changes or something bigger.
More and more people are working remotely, but it’s not necessarily a good fit for everyone. Check in with yourself whether working from home is a healthy and sustainable lifestyle or something you may need to reconsider.
For some, making some simple environmental changes can help reduce loneliness and increase motivation, making remote work doable for them. For others, there may be more complicated concerns happening under the surface that need to be examined.
If you work from home and struggle with loneliness and isolation, it could be helpful to increase your support system through therapy and community.
