Introduction

Taking care of your mental well-being is one of the most important steps to take when working from home. With higher rates of anxiety and depression, remote and freelance workers are familiar with the day-to-day struggles of working alone.

More and more of us have adjusted to full-remote work or part-time working from home since the start of the pandemic, but how has this affected us? A recent study suggests that 79.05% of us feel more stressed now, proving that we need to take proactive steps to settle into this new way of living.

While remote work comes with a unique set of challenges, there is a large range of tips and tricks you can implement to make your life easier. Looking after your mental health when working from home is essential to help you thrive in your career and personal life too.

Keep on reading to find out the best work from home tips!

The Importance Of Being Proactive

When it comes to looking after our mental health, a proactive approach works better than a reactive one. This means you should start creating healthy habits now to prevent burnout or anxiety later! Make sure you’re frequently checking in with yourself to see how you feel.

A proactive approach to mental health includes awareness of how you’re feeling, time away from work to focus on your wellbeing, and additional health activities integrated into daily life. When you take time to nurture yourself daily, you’ll have a better capacity to handle stress and the problems that arise when working from home.

If you aren’t taking a proactive approach now, don’t worry! It’s easy and simple to get started on your mental health journey. Taking these steps are some of the best decisions you’ll make for your mental and physical health in the long term.

The Top 10 Ways To Put Your Mental Health First

Ready to update your mental health resources? Here are some of the best ways to manage anxiety and stress when freelancing or working from home.

1. Set Clear Boundaries

One of the most important tips for freelancing life, in general, is to always set clear boundaries with clients. When you’re working and communicating with clients, you need to make sure that they don’t overstep your boundaries and cause you to feel overwhelmed and burnt out.

This means you should avoid replying to clients after work hours. Though late-night emails are usually harmless, some clients may take your responsiveness as a signal that you’re available at all hours of the day. Working late sometimes is okay, but being available 24/7 will take its toll on your health. Try to only reply to work-based emails after the workday if it’s necessary or urgent. Otherwise, consider getting back to the client at the start of the next day.

It’s also important to be transparent about your rate and realistic about how much time you can commit to a project. It can be tempting to take on extra work when you’re freelancing as you can work late, however, short deadlines and low pay will leave you feeling anxious and your quality of work will start to suffer. Make sure you thoroughly consider whether you have the time to take on a new project and always make sure the client is willing to pay your standard rate too.

2. Don’t Ignore Physical Wellbeing

Good physical health will always affect your mental health. It’s hard to have good mental well-being if you’re not looking after your body. With this in mind, start making time to get active and eat well when you’re working from home.

We understand how much easier it is to quickly eat some chips or junk food at lunch! This saves you time and it tastes great too, but in reality, this isn’t fueling your brain and it’ll leave you feeling not-so-great in a few hours. Instead, you should consider creating a meal plan for the week that you can stick to.

If you don’t have time to cook a nutritional meal every day, you can also try batch cooking a dish on the weekend. Freeze this dish and then you’ll be able to eat a portion of it daily without spending time cooking. It can also be helpful to invest in healthy snacks like nuts, fruit, and whole-grain chips instead of unhealthy options too.

An additional tip to keep your health in check is to make sure you’re hydrated. There’s no shame in admitting you struggle to remember to drink water, however, getting those 8 glasses a day is important. Swap to herbal teas without caffeine if you want more flavor with your hydration!

3. Create A Good Sleep Schedule

Another tip that will change the way you work is getting at least 7 hours of sleep. We all love to sleep, but why do we so often deprive ourselves of it? When you’re stressed or overwhelmed at work, your sleep can often be disrupted or non-existent. Luckily, there are a few methods to help you get the rest you need.

A top tip for getting your sleep schedule back in order is to set a bedtime and stick to it. It can be difficult at first as your body is used to staying awake later, however, if you remove screens and phones for an hour before bed your body will adapt to this earlier sleep time. It can also be beneficial to read or listen to calming music before bed.

If you want to invest in a better night’s sleep, try these tools:

• An eye mask
• Silk or satin sheets
• Lavender oils
• Blackout curtains
• White noise machine

Going to bed earlier and waking up early will leave your mind well rested and you’ll be ready to face the day. A good sleep routine decreases stress and boosts your mood.

4. Spend Time With Friends And Family

When work gets tough, you can always rely on loved ones to be there for you. One of the downsides of working from home is that it can often leave you feeling isolated and alone. With no office colleagues to chat to, many freelance workers often report increased feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction.

One of the best ways to break the cycle of feeling alone is to reach out to friends and family for that all-important social interaction. Humans need to spend time with others, so taking time out every day to call or see a friend will improve your mental wellbeing.

The last two years have left us isolated and at times afraid of social contact, but we can’t stress how important it is to take time for non-work-related interactions. Whether this is through a socially distanced meeting, a Facetime call, or a Zoom quiz, having a laugh will do wonders for your stress levels.

5. Get Moving 

Similarly to eating well, to feel better mentally you need to start moving about physically. We’re not all sports fans and that’s okay – but taking time to get your blood flowing a couple of times a week does wonders for your mental health.

Work from home culture allows us to stop commuting and we can even work from our bed if we want to – but this isn’t great for your body. To stay healthy we need to get exercise and this is hard to do when you’re sitting at home all day. A brisk walk for 30 minutes in your lunch break or a dog walk at the end of the day is essential to keep your mind and body running well.

Some remote workers like to get up early and start their day with a run or some yoga, but this doesn’t work for everyone. You could try gym classes in the evening, or even a quick home workout if you don’t want to buy a gym membership. There’s no fixed way to stay in shape, any movement will benefit your mental health!

A pro-tip is to go for a fast walk whenever you feel overwhelmed. One of the perks of working freelance is setting your own hours, so if you’re dealing with a particularly stressful client, shut your laptop down and go for a walk to calm yourself down!

6. Spend Time On Self-Care

Self-care is a term you hear a lot now, but it really does make a difference for your mental health. In modern life, we spend the majority of our time chasing after others and spending time caring for everyone but ourselves. When you’re feeling overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities, it can be helpful to take some time out to do things that give you joy.

It’s not selfish to take time out of your day to look after yourself. In fact, when you don’t help yourself you can’t help others – so these practices are essential to our lives! Whether you take an evening off or add mini self-care activities into daily life, you’ll see a boost in your mood and you’ll have more mental capacity to tackle big work tasks.

Some of the most popular self-care activities include:

• Watching a favorite film or series
• Learning a new hobby or embracing an old one
• Writing a journal
• Cooking your favorite meal
• Taking time to bathe and do your skincare routine
• Spending time with loved ones and pets

7. Make A Work Plan

While self-care and physical health are important when it comes to mental health, it’s also important that you’re working efficiently too. If your work life is chaotic and unorganized, you’re more likely to end up stressed!

To remedy this, try to create a weekly plan that includes any project you’re working on, admin tasks, meetings, and break time too. It’s so important to take your full lunch break or coffee breaks as these quiet moments will let your brain relax before you continue with any work.

A work plan will also make sure you’re up to date with admin tasks like taxes, invoices, and general communications. This may sound dull, but being up-to-date on these tasks will benefit your mental health in the long term.

8. Keep A Healthy Work-Life Balance

We’ve touched on this idea already, but we want to stress it again. Keeping a work-life balance is so important for your mental wellbeing. When you’re spending the majority of your time slaving away for clients, you’re going to feel bad. Though hustle culture may make us feel guilty for spending our evenings chilling, it’s important for our health that we take time out to relax. Don’t be fooled into working your life away, instead, stop and breathe from time to time!

9. Talk To Other Freelancers

Unfortunately, it’s common to end up feeling isolated and alone when working remotely. If your family and friends aren’t freelance or remote workers, it can be tough to find common ground. If you want to talk to others that relate to your daily issues, it can be helpful to chat with other freelancers.

There are numerous online communities on Facebook or forums or freelancers that are committed to chatting about work-related topics. Whether you get some good advice or solutions to your problems, like-minded people are essential to speak to. You may even make some new friends!

10. Don’t Be Scared To Ask For Help

When it comes to mental health, you should always take your feelings seriously. If you’re been feeling low or anxious for an extended period of time, you should consider talking to a professional. Counseling, therapy, or life coaching are all completely valid ways to get your mental health back on track. If you’re feeling unsure, talk with trusted family and friends to find the best solution for you.

The Conclusion

Your mental health is important, so make sure you’re taking steps to protect it at all costs! Whether you’re freelance or working remotely, frequently check in with yourself to ensure your personal needs are being met. Not only will these tips benefit your work life, but your personal life will also thrive when you’re feeling great too!

Do you take extra steps to protect your mental health? Let us know what your favorite tips are in the comments!