Being on a “lock down” at home can become difficult to sustain for all of us. If you are not used to being at home for extended periods of time you will likely have a harder time adjusting.  This means changing the way you think and interact with your surroundings. Here are some tips to help you adjust to being on lock down at home.

Routine

Developing a routine that closely resembles what you had before can help considerably. This will help keep you busy, and focused. Having a routine will also allow you to mentally define work time, family time, and relaxation time. Setting those boundaries mentally and physically will help keep your days and mood moving in the right direction. 

Separate your physical space

Routine will help mentally separate the different areas of your life, and making physical space will promote that even further. Set up an area specific to work in, a different area to relax in, and so on. Preferably this will be in different rooms. If it can’t be in different rooms try having different areas in the same rooml.  This will help provide your brain que’s to what it should be doing and create novelty in your day. Novelty is the remedy to boredom. 

Do that thing you been meaning to do

What a great opportunity to complete some projects, pick up a hobby, work on your fitness, and reconnect with others. Not only will you feel good about doing “that thing” but you are also successfully battling boredom.

Connect with others

We are social animals and social animals have to have some contact with others to feel good. Call some old friends, video chat with family, join an online social group, and just connect with who you can. This will not only strengthen your relationships, it can make you feel good. Remember we are all in this together.  

Take Care of Yourself

It may be easy to go on autopilot and treat yourself poorly. For many it can be easy to stress eat, drink more, sleep less, and not exercise. Treating yourself poorly is a recipe to have a very hard time with being locked down. All those things take effort, but they pay back that effort in feeling good. If you find yourself struggling with depression, anxiety, or general mental health make sure to reach out to your therapist or get one if you don’t have one. They are trained to help you find ways to happiness and relief from suffering. Many therapists, including Valor Counseling, are doing telehealth (therapy by phone or video chat) to make it convenient for you to seek help during this time.