You‘ve probably well accustomed to working from home. However, your mental stability may not always agree. Between juggling with the workloads and dealing with a pandemic, your system will invariably shut down every now and then. While we cannot control or end the pandemic, we can train ourselves to re-design our WFH experience to make it at least a little less chaotic. 

If you've been experiencing what seems like a perpetual burnout, these reality checks could help put you back in track:

1. Not Having Your Own Personal Work Space

It doesn't have to be Pinterest-worthy or anything grand. Setting up a dedicated workspace will help wire your brain to switch to working mode whenever you're in that space— it could be that favorite corner in your living room, your kitchen table next to the snack cabinet, or in front of the TV. As long as you have the setup, you're good. 

2. Depriving Yourself Of Breaks

Including at least a five-minute break in between tasks could heavily influence the state of your mental health throughout the day.  could try to make it a routine to squeeze in at least one mindful activity when taking your breaks like brisk walking, sitting down, looking out at your balcony, listening to music with headphones on— whatever that relaxes you. 

3.  Not Knowing When To Stop The Working Hours

Knowing the difference between "Living At Work" and "Working From Home" could save you from the daunting effects of burnout. working late into the night, or substituting your lunch hours for doing more work when you're supposed to be on a break is an awful act of self-sabotage. If this behavior continues, you'll eventually turn into an empty, worked-up, task-fuelled machine. 

4. Not Considering Flexibility In Your WFH Approaches

Say you have a solid approach to WFH that you've been vibing with for a while, and it reaches a point where it stops being effective. If your solution is to wallow in self-pity instead of adjusting to the changes, you're going to speed up your episodes of burnout. Adjustment in schedule or evolution in perspective towards certain tasks could do you a huge favor. 

5. Thinking "It Doesn't Count" When You WFH

Most people think working from home makes everything more relaxed and stress-free when in reality it is far from what one might expect. Some people might find it hard to reward themselves with the satisfaction of being productive when working from home, for some reason. Maybe it's the change in environment or the sense of comfort that being at home tend to give, but working from home is just as energy-consuming as working from office and thus, should be viewed as such.