Isolation? – Part 1

Isolation? – Part 1

Isolation?

How has this first week been for you all? A huge time of adjustment, still a novelty but we all have our own coping mechanisms. These maybe include getting angry and blaming as well as helping supporting and providing shoulders and kind words.  We are all human after all.  I am feeling a lot of anxiety and my over-riding desire is to bury my head in the sand!  A friend and colleague James Palmer placed a post on Facebook which I have found really useful so I thought I would share in a few parts. For me being practical and doing physical tasks is really helpful. I hope some of these tips may help you too. Take care and stay well.

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‘’When I was 21 I had chronic fatigue syndrome and I did my entire university degree under conditions not totally dissimilar to lockdown, then a PhD and a lecturing job where I was working at home most of the time. Here are a few ideas on how to make being in the same place work and stay sane. Maybe one or two will help you:

(1) If you are in the same space ALL the time, a key factor is how to create “zones”.

a. One way that I found invaluable is to use time to create different zones. So I would work from 9-13, have an hour for lunch and then work again 2-5.30. When you work in your living space it’s very easy to allow work to bleed into everything else. This will become unbearable. If you are lucky enough to have a home office then great, but time zoning will help too. You obviously don’t need to follow my times, but having a clear point at which you stop will help you.

b. You can use smells. The coffee in the morning, the smell of your shampoo in the shower, or aromatherapy oils.

c. Use different music. Work with Mozart and then have George Michael in the evenings. Or whatever.

d. Create micro zones. Use that chair which you never sit in for certain parts of the day, if you are going to exercise then move the rug or the sofa. Something as simple as sitting on different sides of the kitchen table when you are working vs when you are eating can help create some separation.

e. Wear work clothes for work, then change after.’’

James Palmer