Tips for Being Happy and Healthy at Home

As we approach the year mark of this pandemic, you may be feeling a little stir crazy. This holiday season, in comparison to the summer, has seen more canceled plans and more time inside, especially with the colder weather.

While the end of the pandemic is in sight, here are some tips to get in a better mental space to tackle the new year while still staying healthy at home in the first months of 2021.

Tips for Being Happy and Healthy at Home

Define your spaces

For many people, our homes went from just a place to sleep at night to our office, classroom, gym, restaurant and salon. This, however, means that the lines between these places may be blurred and the stressors of each can blend together.

As comfortable and easy as it is to get some work done in bed when you close your computer and set it on the nightstand, the problems and challenges of work are an arm’s length away and even harder to ignore as you try to relax. While there are many great and easy quarantine workouts you can do from anywhere in your home, if you’re right next to the couch or kitchen when you try to do them, you may have the temptation to skip them.

When you cannot leave your home to do these other tasks, the distractions can seem endless. By defining our spaces, like setting up an at-home office or gym, we allow ourselves the chance to change our mindset. Being in a different environment can help to get motivated, and allows us the opportunity to physically step away from the stress and challenges when we need to.

Establish a routine

The same problem that exists in our spaces can also exist in our time. Many people are feeling fatigued while working from home because it is much harder to unplug. Work-from-home has added pressure on employees to always be available. People take their phone on a walk “just in case” or overcompensate with longer hours because they feel guilty about distractions during the workday.

Creating a weekly or even daily schedule can help you better set your hours so that there are clear expectations and boundaries in place. Just remember on the days you don’t feel productive at home, that these days existed in the office as well. When you had a bad day in the office, you still went home and came back the next day ready to improve. Do the same thing at home.

Outside of work, try to establish a routine, including getting dressed for the day, scheduling a work out, regulating mealtimes, and taking defined breaks. For exercise, consider joining a live workout class, like these QiGong, Tai Chi and Yoga classes, rather than just watching a prerecorded class to help keep you accountable and feel a better sense of community.

For breaks, take the time to step away and make lunch or work on a relaxing craft or puzzle for a few minutes – anything that will give your eyes a break from the computer screen. Be careful if you meal prep to actually take a lunch break and not just eat while working, since you will spend less time actually preparing your food. Little things like this can mean each task during your day is reserved for what it is intended for.

Plan ahead

Self-care comes in many forms. While most people think of a relaxing bath or peaceful walk, there is another component of self-care that involves planning for the future. While budgeting, saving, and calculated spending can be stressful now, the purpose is to offer peace of mind for the future. Things like good health coverage mean less stress in the event of an accident whereas a mattress upgrade can improve your sleep for years to come.

With the amount of time we spend at home, it has become even more important to make sure it is a true sanctuary. While defining spaces and decorating with things that make you happy are great surface-level ways to start, there are plans to protect things that may not be as obvious.

Of course, homeowners insurance will cover a great deal of costs for bigger events, but having a rainy day fund or additional fail-safes can help in any just-in-case scenario. Not to mention, our systems and appliances usage has shot up significantly while staying at home all year, so plans like a home warranty can provide practical peace of mind so you can truly enjoy cooking all the at home lunches, and making sure the hot water heater works for a shower after one of your home workouts.

Of course, this type of planning can feel like a chore, so definitely practice more traditional self-care afterward.

Trying to find the boundaries between labor and leisure this year hasn’t been easy. With all of the sudden changes, it’s hard to define what your new lifestyle should look like. However, setting goals to be more conscious of these things, in tandem with traditional healthy living, will help you be more productive and happy in the coming year.