How to Keep your Body Sane when Working from Home.
June.
I got on the journey of daily blogging for a month with a versatile type of content going from deep reflections to recipes and creative advices, all with my personal photographs.
And being the certified procrastinator and drama-queen that I am, I prepared every article either the day before or the actual day it was ought to be published….
I won’t let you imagine the consequences the pressure left on my body, let me describe it all.
- From gluing my eyes to my laptop’s screen and staying up late, I nurtured myopia and I am now wearing glasses which I always thought was a swaggy sign of intellect and stuff…
let me tell you, they’re horrible, especially during the first week. The cadre bothers your visual land and the glass gets dirty every two seconds. - Virgitudes at the top of my legs from gluing my butt 24/7 to my bed, except for when I get up to take pictures in my 3 per 4 meters room.
- Tough grinchy skin at the sole of my feet from walking barefoot all day -I’m a 20 years old lady. Nice to meet you too.
mm, what else…?
- did I tell you about the 3 days headaches and wrist aches from writing and editing pictures? Wrist aches, who gets that?!
Anyway, my body got miserable and I only cared because it was no longer helping me achieve my goals at the pace I wanted it to.
- I started procrastinating writing and learning to code to avoid shoulder and wrist pain
- by 22h my body was already exhausted so I couldn’t write although the night is my ideal writing time
- and other ways my body started to refuse to contribute to my dream life.
Mid-July, I finally decided to put my act together and signed a win-win contract with my body: I take care of you, give you what you need and you help me check off my list of milestones, successfully. Deal?!
Discomfort.
The biggest reason why working from home can be dangerous for the body is the high availability of comfort.
Our bodies are wired to work and use their potential.
A body ( or part of it) is ill when it is not able or not allowed to do its original function it was meant to perform.
So blindness or myopia are illnesses because the eye is not playing its original role properly or not at all.
Equally, legs that are not walking or blood veins that are not moving swiftly enough or skin fabrics that are not stretching and hydrating enough are all forms of illness, whether that lack of performance is due to a medical illness or our choice of using too much comfort and putting the body to too much rest.
Which means that the higher the point of potential a part of the body reaches, the healthier it will be.
So use your body, move enough to feel your alive inside out, and feed your body the natural and healthy things it was wired to function with.
Here’s how I’m coping to keep my body sane while working and studying and socializing and surviving from home. (nobody’s locking me in, I’m an introvert).
1. I got back to working out.
Working out and I have been in this on and off relationship since Summer 2014.
But I think it’s better than quitting for good or not starting altogether.
Not only do muscles have a memory and they start easily getting back in shape after a break, but also your body starts calling out for movement because it misses how good it feels after a good sweat.
+Yoga yoga yoga , my body screams for it everytime I take a week long break from it.
2.Put things away from you.
- Working on your laptop? put the phone away.
- Put the charger on a higher shelf so that you’ll have to stretch your arms and back to reach it,
- park your car a little further away from where you’re supposed to go…
you got the idea. Create a little discomfort that your later body will thank you for ;)
3. Evening walks get my lungs filling up, my creative juices stimulated and my mind rested from consuming.
4. Read standing.
I try to read my bouquet of morning articles standing up and out loud.
My butt and vocal chords thank me for it because I sit down and shut up for the rest of the day.
5. Set a weekly or monthly spa and massage day.
Pamper your skin, moisturize it, immerse yourself in heart-melting, therapeutic smells and get the boost of beauty that’ll inspire you throughout the week/month.
6. Power naps.
20 to 30 mins to allow the mind to put some order in everything it’s been consuming and/or producing so far and also giving the back and the eyes a relaxing break.
7. Water.
Drink lemon water in the morning.
Your skin, and digestive system will thank you for that as it helps them clean out the ugliness the world keeps throwing at you in this modern life.
Drink a lot of water, the water bottle is allowed to sit next to you, otherwise, you may get lazy to get up and get it.
Stop being lazy anyways.
That’s a wrap, of course, there are endless other ways to keep our body sane and useful while working from the comfort (that is no longer comfortable after this post) of our houses.
