Work at Home Isolation – Your Action List!

It’s time to beat work at home isolation once and for all!

When I tell people that I work from home the first reaction is almost always something along the lines of how great it would be and that they wish they worked from home. I mean it sounds amazing, and really it is, with the total freedom, the completely flexible hours, the working from the couch (or the bed even), the making money while you sleep.

I quit my job back in May of 2007 and so I’ve had a lot of years to experience both the good, the bad and even the ugly of working from home. The good FAR outweighs any downsides in my opinion and that’s why I’m coming up on my 19th year of working completely from home to earn my living and support my family!

One of the big downsides, though, is isolation and loneliness. That’s real and it’s a slippery slope because work at home isolation and loneliness can lead to depression if you’re not careful.

So let’s tackle this challenge!

I’ve learned a lot from my years at home and I’ve experienced the isolation and loneliness myself, especially after I broke my leg and was on the couch for six months or when I had my baby girl almost four years ago now. Even though I see family every day we, as social beings, need more interaction in our lives than just the few people in our immediate family.

Here are my best “Beating Work at Home Isolation & Loneliness” tips:

Local friends

I meet up for coffee and lunch on the regular with people I think are awesome! It gets me out around people and that’s often enough to make me not feel isolated at all. Love spending an hour or two at the local coffee shop.

Conferences & Events

I am sad to say I haven’t been to many lately. Getting out to industry events is just a wonderful way to ramp up your energy and enthusiasm!

Join Groups

One of the best things I EVER did for my business was join a membership group. It was for moms who wanted to work at home. I did that back in 2006-ish and I still have so many friends from that group. It’s great to have people who understand what it is I do for a living.

Meetup with online business friends, In Real Life

Take those online relationships offline! Of course be safe and careful about it. Some of the best friends come from those you’ve connected with online.

Workout, Sleep & Eat Right

Working at home can lead to major inactivity if you let it. That can lead to weight gain, poor meal choices and very low energy. The thing is when you’re energy is low you don’t want to leave the house. When you don’t leave the house you’re sure to feel more isolated and alone. Keeping on top of health and fitness will give you the ability to think better and have more energy. Thus allowing you to get doing all the other tips I’ve given you so far in this post.

Rent Shared Office Space or Co-Working Space

Did you know that some places have shared office space for rent? You’re not renting a whole space on your own, rather renting a room for a few hours, days or weeks out of the month. Then there’s the whole co-working thing where you work in a big open space with other business owners… pretty cool!

Take a Class

You could take something related to your business, or not. Either way you’ll get around people of similar interests and you might make a new friend! I’m currently signed up for 18 weeks of dog training classes for good ol’ Bear, our “rescue” dog! I’m already feeling happy to connect with new people and Bear is learning new skills, too!

Take Care of YOU

This fits with suggestion six on working out and eating right but it encompasses so much more. You’ve heard the work at home people talking about spending all day in their pajamas. What about when all day turns into a week? Is that ok? What if you barely shower? What if you’re too busy working that you don’t clean the kitchen and as a result you don’t cook healthy meals. You see how this can quickly spiral out of control leaving you with no desire to leave the house or socialize. That’s a problem! Take care of YOU. Do that workout, shower, get the laundry done, cook healthy meals, clean the house and take time to do things that make you feel renewed, energetic and ready to go see the world (or at least something more than your own four walls)!

I know I’ve given you a LOT of tips. You don’t have to do them all. I don’t do them all, not all the time. I have done most at some point or another. For now I’m actually going to use this list for myself as a sort of to-do list to get out and social MUCH more than I’ve been. I hope it helps you do the same!