Author’s Note: I’m not a doctor. None of this should be taken as medical advice. This blog post intends to share my story. With the hope, it can help others looking for non-pharmaceutical ways of managing their mental health. If you are experiencing feelings of work from home depression, please talk to someone immediately. If those feelings lead to thoughts of self-harm, and you don’t have anyone to speak to, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).
I love travel blogging because I get to share knowledge and experience to help others travel better. But I also know that this is a platform (albeit a small one). I’ve shared with many my story of How Coworking Saved My Life. However, that was before the majority of office workers had experienced COVID pandemic induced remote working. As the number of individuals facing long term remote work increases, it’s more important than ever to talk about a downside of remote working: work from home depression.
How Coworking Saved My Life
I had no idea what to expect when transitioning from being an employee to starting my own business. That alone came with plenty of challenges. If you thought learning how to manage all the extra paperwork and accounting was difficult, that wasn’t half of it. I struggled the most with a lack of regular coworker interaction, structure, and collaboration.
Here’s the full story:
Why You Might Not Need Meds to Treat Work From Home Depression
If you never worked from home (or remotely) before COVID or even 1-2 days a week, chances are you’re still adapting to full-time WFH. Plenty of research points to an increase of loneliness, affecting sleep quality, ability to focus, and overall happiness. We’re quickly coming up on a full year of this global experiment in remote work – and some symptoms are just now presenting.
If you’ve struggled with depression before, it can be difficult to realize and admit it. Or, if you’re experiencing new feelings, you might not even know what it is. Worse, you might assume you need meds to treat it. This is what is so troubling about work from home depression. We’re all facing an increase in social isolation through lockdowns and social distancing.
While I don’t recommend breaking local lockdown laws, coworking – when done safely – can be a great way to combat work from home depression. If anything, it’s the perfect excuse for getting showered and dressed for the day – even if it’s only one day a week. I think coworking is such a great solution because you do get non-work interaction with people. You can engage and connect with someone in an office without the drama of company politics hanging over your head. It might also be just the change of scenery needed to get “unstuck” on whatever you’re trying to focus on.
The post How Coworking Can Help You Overcome Work From Home Depression was first published on Coworkaholic.