How to Unplug When You're Working from Home

The lockdown could become one never-ending work shift if you don’t establish some boundaries

- CLAY SKIPPER

WORKING from home’s become the new normal during the coronavirus lockdown, at least for those who’re still employed or haven’t been designated “essential”. We’re all adjusting to professionally Zooming where we’re personally Netflixing. And without a commute, it seems one of the most urgent challenges is turning off at the end of the day, knowing where “work” ends and “home” begins.

Of course, in the digital age, disconnecting’s never been straightforward: when your channels of communication – and, subsequently, you – are always on, leaving work at work’s going to be a struggle. But if you’re accustomed to working in an office, then at least you used to have a physical separation between your professional and personal life – now coronavirus has collapsed that space. Add the fact that being in that same collapsed space day after day (after day) is already taxing our mental health, and you’ve got a true anxiety cocktail. The need to turn off’s both more difficult and more urgent than ever. But how?

First, it helps to understand the importance of boundaries, which are as much about internal orientation as they are about external separation. Erasing the space between your office and your home doesn’t just eliminate a physical barrier – it also deletes the space between your personal and professional identities, which can be confusing, psychologically.