I am one of the fortunate people of the world who has been able to maintain their job by working from home. Working for a school that already had a virtual learning system in place for our students who needed it, we had a smoother transition into working from home than most people. Still, my coworkers and I have been struggling to maintain our sanity and energy levels during this strange time, and it only partially has to do with the fact we are mostly interacting with teenagers throughout the day.

While deep down I knew that we would be in this situation for awhile, I nearly cried when my department head confirmed that we will be staying away from campus until the end of May, at the very least. Talking to one of my coworkers this week, we both realized that part of our problem is that we have been holding onto a “we’re just getting through this” mindset. The solution that we came up with is to start looking at this as a permanent situation so we can create a positive mindset, sustainable routine, and self-care regimen to keep us healthy, both mentally and physically.

The coworker I was talking to about this is also a creative type like me, a musician more specifically, and we came up with ways that we could use this whole working from home situation to our advantage. I talked to him about how I am currently writing a book and rebuilding my writing platform, and I asked him what creative projects he has been wanting to work on or that have had to be put on pause because of time spent outside the house.

He told me that their were several songs he still needed to finish and that he wanted to learn a new instrument, but with all the craziness going on, he didn’t think to get back into those. What’s also important that we are getting back into our creative pursuits is that he is the music teacher and I am the writing teaching; it doesn’t just help us personally but also with our careers.

A little later that day, the music teacher and I got into a conversation with a few other faculty members, as well as our boss, about what we have been feeling, and there were many more suggestions to be made:

• The yoga/mindfulness teacher (yes, we have one of those) told us about how we need to get into a regular practice of exercising every day, even if we don’t feel like it. Eventually, the body will crave that movement because it is a release of stress and tension build up throughout the day. And if you can do it in the morning and give yourself time to do some deep breathing, you can set an intention for you day to increase your engagement in what you do.
• One of the history teachers told us that we need to stop getting on another screen after we log off for the day. Her first routine when starting this was to get off the computer and go turn on the TV or look at her phone, but when she gave herself at least an hour or two between screen times, she started feeling so much better. Go for walks, learn how to cook, play with your kids and/or pets, and doing some stretches were some of her suggestions.
• Our head of school suggested that we stop looking at the news so much. He told us that he gives himself a half hour a day to catch up so he does not fixate on what is going on in the world and can enjoy what he has been blessed with in his own life. He clarified that it is good to be informed, but it is bad for your mental health if you are over informed, especially with bad news. And most importantly, don’t read it before bed or right when you wake up.

Working from home can be a challenge for most people, such as myself, and it can be hard to find a way to work through it. But the moral of this story is that, on our own, no one from our faculty would have been able to figure all of these things out on our own. We had to come together and support one another by offering what has worked for us and helping others find new ways to cope with this current situation. My team was already strong to begin with when this pandemic started, but it has only brought us closer because we knew from day one that we were going to have to lean on each other.

You might not have your whole team or bosses to lean on, but there are people in your life that you can reach out to for support. Don’t forget that while we are social distancing, we don’t have to be alone in this!