The Drifting Desk

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5 Things To Do When Working From Home Gets Lonely

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5 Things To Do When Working From Home Gets Lonely

Although I will never miss the stress of treading water at an understaffed and overworked company, I’ve been really missing my coworkers and being in a lively office space. I’ve been noticing I’m getting bored faster and really looking forward to the evening when I get to see humans again, wishing my workdays away. I love blogging and I love working for myself, so I wanted to compile a list of things that I’ve noticed help me from going crazy with loneliness at home, when I do have to stay home. (Check out my post 5 Excuses To Get Out Of The House When You Work From Home if you want to get out of the house, too.

So here are the things I do when I have to keep working from home and am feeling lonely. This may be unconventional wisdom to fighting loneliness when working from home. There may be better, more intellectual and healthy ways, but this is my unconventional wisdom that is easy for me to do when I realize I’m bored and restless and that working from home gets lonely:

 

1) Listen to music
Silence kills me when I’m working from home. I was lucky to get a free trial subscription to a satellite radio service around the time I started working from home. Free music streaming services or just plain-ol’ radio works as well! But, I’m a huge fan of satellite radio because A) I can work and not get distracted by ads and B) the variety of music and C) the quality of the radio personalities. My favorite is the infamous LA DJ Richard Blade on Sirius’ First Wave channel (they take requests from Facebook and Twitter, so it gives me a feeling of interacting with others when I hear a song I requested thrown on or as I casually wait for a shout out). I also have a shared Spotify playlist with a friend and we both listen to it at work, adding new songs we think the other one will like. See if someone you know will agree to start a shared playlist with you and share new music they’d think you’d be into.

 

2) Change your scenery
Do you have a laptop? I’m currently writing this post from my couch (knee deep in Parks season 3 and waiting for Ben and Leslie to get together already). Although I invested in an awesome computer with dual monitors that is in my home office, sometimes I need to get away from that area of my house. I try and jump on my laptop and write posts since it doesn’t require much more than the skill of typing and some research. I’ve been known to go hangout in the guest room or in the bedroom to write as well, just to get a new perspective so things don’t seem as repetitive.

 

3) Put on a workplace-themed TV show in the background
Like I just mentioned, I love watching self-aware, multi-camera comedies that have workplace themes and improv roots. And I’ve watched the entire series of (brilliant) shows like 30 Rock, The Office and Parks and Recreation more times than I’m willing to admit. (Clicking these links will take you to eBay to the DVD sets of these so you can watch them on repeat, too!) I start the show and set it to autoplay, and start working. I know the show well enough that I’m able to tune in and out as needed, and even though its my kinda weird thing I do when working from home gets lonely because the characters are fictitious and the series aren’t even in production anymore, I love doing it and it’s helped me tremendously to stay out of my head and feel less stagnant and alone when working from home gets lonely.

 

4) Get Social
Connect with your readers and let that be a social outlet for you. Part of building a blog involves expanding your brand with responding to reader comments or interacting with them on social networks. Do this on a daily basis, so that it helps you get social, literally, every day.

 

5) Get an animal
If you’re willing to be a good caretaker for a pet, get one. I have a more solid schedule for my pets than my job. We have treat time that involves a lot of throwing, fetching and playing. Like the coworkers I had in my office, my animals are the now one of the sole factors of unpreditableness in my day, and I love it. There are tons of animals at shelters that will be kick-butt coworkers for you. If you’re in the Rocky Mountain region or willing to travel (or just looking for a cute mid-day work break) check out the current adoptable animals at the Denver Dumb Friends League.

 

 

What say you guys? Do you have any weird habits you practice (like my off-beat TV show idea) when working from home gets lonely? Let us know in the comments below!
 
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