Feeling the working from home haze of fatigue? Need a few tips and tricks to enliven your spirit and days? This may be just the information you’re after! The next time you’re feeling a little ‘meh’ during your work from home days, try out some of these working from home wellness hacks presented by wellness expert Abigail Poulton. She has been implementing these wellness tips, daily, to keep her feeling lifted and buoyant despite the current restrictions we’re experiencing.
Make one daily commitment to yourself that you stick to. Start small and come from a place of love and joy knowing your wellness is paramount in these times. This will give you a little glow of accomplishment, no matter what the day brings. For example: 'I will drink a glass of water as soon as I wake' or 'I will get into the ocean/dance or meditate once a day'.
Dissolve 'should' statements. Release the word ‘should’ from any inner dialogue and expectations that you put upon yourself during this time. Instead, play with the word 'could' with compassion. For example, ‘I should be feeling better about things' turns into 'I could be feeling better about things.’ Notice how this creates space for exploration and possibility instead of placing unnecessary pressure upon yourself?
Start your day with gratitude. Gratitude is a transformational practice that can open your mind and heart in more ways than our human brains can imagine. Try starting your day by writing, internalising or sharing with a loved one, three things you are grateful for. For example, ‘I am grateful to have a home’ ‘I am grateful to have a job’ ‘I am grateful for my health’. Allow your messages of gratitude to be felt deeply (in your cells) and to be heard from afar. Notice how it can shift and alter the flavour of the day…
Take pre-meet moments. Before virtual meetups, take some pre-meet moments for yourself. To physically and mentally refresh and realign before meetings, either wash your face, brush your teeth or take 3 intentional breaths before you hit ‘join’. If you’ve opted for the breathing, you could try the ‘calm breath’ before you join each meeting – breathing in for a count of 4 and out for a count of 6. This will take no more than two minutes and can massively alter how you enter each meet.
Learn to meditate or deepen your pre-existing practice. Use this time to understand and maintain your state of mind. With so many things changing that are out of our control, meditation can assist you with regaining control of your inner landscape and how you perceive your circumstances. Getting to the root of our feelings/emotions and behaviours usually lives within the origin and behaviours of the thoughts that run through our heads - unmonitored. Choose to empower yourself by getting to know your mind, working with it to bring about clarity and a deeper sense of connection to yourself. You could start small by picking a song, it doesn’t matter what it is, I’m partial to East Forest myself, and ‘doing nothing’ but listen until the track is up. You could choose to focus on the breath and the instruments/sounds at play.
Set clear boundaries. When working from home, our professional and personal lives can blur. We can find ourselves leaning into our colleagues to bolster our need for community. Remain truthful yet professional with colleagues and share your deeper experiences with friends and family. Set limits for screen-time, family time and working hours and stick to them. Is there something you can do at the end of your working day that signals to the nervous system that you’re moved into out-of-office hours? Perhaps that looks like going for a walk, doing a yoga practice or tidying away your work equipment so your space is neutralised.
Change the conversation. Feel like you’re having the same conversations on repeat and they’re draining the light out of you? You’re not alone. Have the courage to change the conversation, pivot towards the positive. Ask your colleagues or friends or family what they’ve done this week that lifted their spirits or made them smile. I’ve been doing this on family Zoom meetups, and it’s been so refreshing to speak on themes of lightness. You can also say before a conversation with anyone ‘I’d prefer if we don’t talk about …. within this conversation – I’m tired of it’.
Stay connected to yourself and others. Treat yourself kindly and start, or continue, practices that bring you closer to your essential nature (yoga, surfing, breath-work, rituals, meditation, journaling). Make sure to connect with a friend, family member or colleague once a day. It’s easy to lose sight of how important it is to stay connected right now.
Stay Playful. Swap the Netflix binging for a game or two! Play is SO necessary right now, so go ahead and connect to your inner-child and get creative in a bid to lighten up. If you live with others, create a treasure hunt or quiz night or play hide and seek. This has been a highlight to my weeks and has been more needed than I could have imagined. If you are living solo during lockdown, organise Zoom games nights with friends, or put on a song you loved in your teens and rock out to it full volume, full dance moves. I dare you…
I hope that one or more of these wellness tips can be explored and implemented into your days and beyond. Most importantly, I want you to know, like really know, from deep within, that it’s okay not to feel okay. Emotions, thoughts and circumstances are all temporary events. This too shall pass - and when it does, you’ll be so grateful for supporting yourself so beautifully in these uncharted waters.
May you be well, may you breathe deeply, may you live in presence and peace.
As You Are Life School, Founder, Abigail Poulton, is an experienced and engaging Yoga & Meditation Teacher. The As You Are Life School is an online sanctuary where you get to explore and integrate transformative tools and practices that can support your overall well-being. She has been sharing transformative and sustaining practices in public, private and corporate settings for many years. Ready to share her teachings with the wider world and most importantly - YOU - Abigail seeks to provide you with the tools, techniques and practices that will allow you to find stability, trust and contentment from deep within.
Join Abigail virtually by participating in her recently launched ‘Meditation For Absolute Beginners' self-paced, online course. An experiential, engaging and educational course that aims to support and inspire you to start, or to rediscover, your own meditation practice. This self-expanding course comprises 16 downloadable Guided Meditations, 35 Supporting Videos, 25 Insightful PDF’s across 10 engaging topics. You will be warmly guided to explore basic styles and techniques of meditation, in an accessible and practical way. Upon completion you will have cultivated, for yourself, a deeper understanding of why and how meditation can support your overall wellness - today.
Don’t miss out on 40% off current or future courses for the next 6 months using code ‘RB.LOVE’
You can connect with Abigail on Instagram @abigailpoulton, via email at abigail@asyouare.life or via her website www.asyouare.lifeschool.