When the lockdown was announced on May 21, the idea of not going to the office and working from home seemed supremely exciting. You could wake up five minutes before your workday started, stay in your jammies all day, take zoom meetings from your couch, sneak in short naps, and cuddle your pet whenever you felt stressed.
But my favourite part of working from home was that I no longer had to undertake a long and exhausting commute. I don’t miss rush hour traffic, I don’t miss the absurd transport costs that account for half my salary, and I don’t miss wasting 2-3 hours of my life just sitting in traffic. Commuting was mentally and physically draining for me, just like it is for millions of people across the world. That is unless you lived close to your workplace, in which case I have strong feelings of jealousy and resentment towards you (I’m joking…mostly).
So as you can imagine, the first couple of WFH weeks felt like bliss. Until suddenly, they didn’t.
The longer we were confined to our homes, the most I started feeling the effects of burnout. The boundaries between work and my personal life began to blur a little more every day. I would respond to work emails during grocery runs, family dinners, while waiting at the doctor’s office and sometimes even in the middle of a workout.
In the absence of a physical office, my life had become an office. And suddenly I found myself missing my actual office. You know, the place where work begins the moment you step in and wraps up by the time you leave. The place where people can physically see that you are not at your seat, assume that you’re busy, and approach you later. The place where taking an hour-long lunch break meant an actual lunch break with no work on the side.
Of course, there have been days where these boundaries were blurred because that’s a part and parcel of work life. Some days are longer and harder than the others. But at home, these boundaries cease to exist. And that is what’s causing several people to burnout.
So how do we deal with work-life balance in the absence of well-defined boundaries? We define them ourselves. And this is where transition rituals come in.
What Are Transition Rituals?
According to Psychology Today, human beings are creatures of routine. We thrive on structure. Prior to the pandemic, most of our days would be structured and well-defined–a morning routine, commuting to work, lunch break, an evening workout, some personal time. And you may not want to admit it, but going to an office helped define that structure.
Now that we’re home, we’ve adapted and created new routines for ourselves. However, we’re missing one key factor–transitioning between various tasks. As much as you hated your commute, it allowed for a transition between your morning routine and your work day (and back to your personal time). You might have used that time to read a book, listen to a podcast, phone a friend or skim through the news. These can be termed as ‘transition rituals’.
Now, we’re jumping straight from one task to the other, and the absence of said rituals is making us feel stressed. But now that we’re confined to our homes, a lot of our transition rituals are harder to continue. Psychologists have said we should try to stick to our normal routine as much as we can, but we’re not gonna stand with our earbuds on in a corner of our house to mimic our daily commute.
Here’s what we suggest instead:
Stop Waking Up Just Before Work
Look, I get it. The idea of rolling out of bed and immediately starting work would have been a wild fantasy at the beginning of the year. But six months into the pandemic, you might have come to realise that it’s not doing wonderful things for your mental health. And that’s because your mind can’t just immediately switch from eight hours of sleep to crucial work meetings. Having a gap between waking up and the start of your work day is going to help your mind gently ease into the day, leaving you less anxious. Which brings us to the next point…
Develop A Morning And Night Routine
Most of us had a morning and evening routine during the pre-pandemic era, because we cherished every second we had to ourselves. Now, we’re by ourselves twenty four-fucking-seven. And we might be getting a little tired of spending so much time by ourselves (careful what you wish for, right?). But creating a routine for right after you wake up and before you go to sleep will give you a sense of control and balance. Think back to what you would have done pre-COVID, and improvise it. Spent your mornings at the yoga studio? So now you can put on some calming music, burn a scented candle and try online yoga at home. Breakfast at your local cafe? Now you can try to spend your mornings making your favourite breakfast and coffee, find a comfy spot and eat.
Don’t these rituals sound WAY better than rolling out of bed and into your zoom call?
Take Your Breaks Seriously
When you worked out of an office, lunch hour meant you could finally get up from your desk, stretch your legs, chat with your colleagues or read your favourite book while chomping down some food. We would look forward to it because it was an actual ‘break’. With WFH, there’s no defined ‘lunch hour’ and your colleagues probably don’t know what time you’re breaking to eat. So, set a fixed lunchtime for yourself, and inform your colleagues that you will be unavailable during that time. And don’t even try to peek at emails!
Set Boundaries (For Yourself & Others)
Transition rituals can be hard to follow when someone is always knocking on your door and your phone keeps buzzing. So dedicate certain amounts of time to these rituals, and keep the people in your life informed–this could be your partner, your family, your children or your colleagues. And most importantly, stick to those boundaries yourself! Don’t start checking your emails before you’ve had your morning coffee.
But more than anything, go easy on yourself. We’re living in unprecedented times, so cut yourself some slack from time to time. We’re all in this together.
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