Quarantine Guidance Following A Digital Wellness Internship
It is undeniable that over the last several months of a global pandemic there have been innumerable changes to every person’s daily life. From quarantine leading to job changes and lack of in-person social contact to fear causing us to not be able to see loved ones, all in all people have had to adapt to a new way of life. Yet one thing that has become abundantly clear to me is that despite these clear observations, people are unable to recognize or do not want to actually change.
From both introspection and discourse with those near to me, it has become clear that people try to cling to the norms of life before Covid-19. Whether this is a defense to cling to some normality or people unaware that more than just social distance and gathering needs to change, there are two main areas that I have discovered people struggle to change and adapt. Those two things are communication and their daily life routines. Namely people have not adapted to a largely online method of communication in helpful ways and people struggle to allow themselves to adopt a new routine for their work-life balance.
With my arguably limited “real life” experience I have ascertained two ways to adjust both routine and communication. These two things are allowing oneself to have a flexible and forgiving routing and to adopt an intentional and direct method of communication. While only two aspects of every complicated life, by adapting in these methods, hopefully people can accept and embrace this new way of life just a little bit easier.
Flexible Routine
I know far too many people who feel like they still need to be bound to a strict 9–5 work schedule every day. A questionable schedule even when not during a pandemic, this kind of strict schedule simply does not make sense in a quarantined world. With home and work spaces blending, juggling activities such as taking care of children at home, and lack of change of stimuli and surrounding, expecting yourself to stay focused for 8 straight hours a day is simply unreasonable. One of the benefits pre-pandemic of having an office space was the clear separation of work and home. There were clear physical boundaries that separated when a person should be focused on their job and when a person should separate from that job and have their personal life. With this clear physical boundary not absent it can be much harder to find the clear line between work and personal life.
This lack of boundary translates simply into the fact that we cannot expect ourselves to work for 8 solid hours a day and then give the rest to our personal lives. Rather, a better approach is to adopt what is known as a flexible routine. In short with a flexible routine you identify the tasks you need to accomplish throughout the day and identify the most important or time sensitive tasks. Additionally, identify things that you can use throughout your day to mark progress or natural time markers. The goal of this is that rather than a set time limit for your day you have tasks to accomplish and a more flexible time-frame to do them. By doing this you give yourself the freedom to take breaks, mentally and physically recharge, and adapt as needed throughout your day. Maybe this entails taking an hour long walk while the sun is still out every day on top of a lunch break, a period of time to have a call with a friend or family member, or time to spend with your children or spouse. By breaking up your day with personal activities, your overall work day may extend a little longer but your overall wellness and therefore productivity will likely increase as well.
Be Forgiving of Yourself
The biggest step towards adopting a flexible routine and accepting a quarantined life-style is forgiving yourself for the moments where you simply cannot maintain your focus and productivity No one can, or should, expect their employees to maintain the same level work as normal. This can be hard for people, especially those who have maintained a regular 8-hour workday for most of their lives. It has been hammered and driven into people that that is the norm and expectation, and you should maintain it no matter what. Yet during these trying times it is inevitable there will be moments of increased stress, loneliness, and to be honest, hopelessness. These are hard times and people are affected accordingly.
With this accepted it is necessary to forgive oneself in moments where these feelings manifest. So what if you have a day where lack of social contact has distracted you and you simply cannot focus on your work. Rather than beating yourself up for it and reinforcing a loop of negativity, treat yourself to something nice, meditate, call a friend, do what it takes to bring yourself back to a space of positivity and wellness and try again. Rather than trying to ignore and push out the negativity, embrace it, accept it for what it is, and actively try to counteract it. The kinder we are to ourselves and those around us the easier it will be as a collective to work through these changes and adopt a new normal.
Direct Communication
Other than in a daily routine, one of the biggest aspects of life affected by the pandemic has been methods of communication. Not only the method of communication changing from in-person to online, but also the frequency and quality of communication has been impacted. When communicating online whether it be email, video call, phone call, text message, or any other of the plethora of platforms, a great deal of communication is lost. With over half of all communication being nonverbal, it is inevitable that a lack of in person contact will lead to lack of communication.
One of the biggest hits to nonverbal communication is implicature. Much more of speech and meaning conveyed is implied rather than stated than people think. Take the question “How is your project coming along?” This question can be construed in a number of ways. From a simple direct question of pure curiosity, to an implied worry and help offered, to a reprimand stating that the work is overdue, many questions and statements can lose the intended meaning if the proper body language, tone of voice, and emphasis is not conveyed. This leads to one of the simplest suggestions possible: be direct in what you mean. Rather than suggesting to a boss off-handedly that you are struggling in the hopes that they will offer your help or an extension, be outright and ask for what you need.
Regardless of whether it is for a work related matter, telling your family you need some personal time, or letting a friend know that you want to have more contact, be outright and straightforward with your needs and desires. Not only will it make you feel better because you can be sure your needs are being heard, it will be appreciated by those around you because they will not have to guess as to what you are thinking/needing. Far too often people forget that it is not rude to say what you need and that to the contrary it is often the easiest, most helpful, and kindest ways to communicate.
Be Intentional in Your Communication
Gone are the days of walking past a coworker’s desk and stopping for a couple of minutes to chat. Gone are the days when you can easily meet up with a group of friends and not worry about if it is safe. Gone are the days when you can casually stop by an elder family member’s house to catch up without the risk of passing along Covid. Being quarantined in your house, whether that it with roommates, family, or alone, it is much harder than it used to be to get regular and meaningful contact with those you care about. This makes it much harder to have those casual and brief conversations with the people around us that are so vital to feeling socially connected.
It is because of this that it is very important to be intentional in your communication now. By intentional I do not mean that every time you communicate you have to have a set goal with a set outcome in mind, but it is important to very consciously reach out to others with whatever may be needed. This intention can be a simple desire to have contact, it can be the intention to reconnect with an old friend, or it can be the intention to speak with a coworker about an important project.
Whatever the intention is, by having a purpose and conscious effort in mind, it can make the awkward pauses and lack of nonverbal communication much easier to manage. Rather than stumbling for things to talk about with your friend for a half an hour because you feel like you should talk, reach out when you feel the need, have a solid 10 minute conversation, and then accept that is all you need. It seems people feel that because of the lack of communication they now have an obligation to talk as often and as long as possible. Often the reverse is true though. Those five-minute pass by conversations that are so common in a workplace are just as important and meaningful over the phone. Take time to reflect on what you need and what you want and communicate with others to meet those needs and desires.
Be Deliberate
The common theme with these tips is being deliberate in actions. Given the novelty and unpredictability of the current global situation, it is hard to quickly move from old habits to adopt new ones. Therefore, it is important to be deliberate. By being conscious of your choices and actions it is much easier to focus on what you need as an individual to succeed and maintain a level of wellness necessary to function. Only you know what you need and only you can choose to take the actions that will get you what you need. The best advice I can give is be deliberate in your choices, time, and communication and make an active effort to adapt so that this unprecedented situation can be embraced rather and merely endured and a new normal can be adopted.
