CREATE A BEAUTIFUL WFH SPACE FOR WELLNESS
Hello & happy Tuesday! As 2020 closed out & we approached a New Year, I came to terms with the fact that I was experiencing early stages of burnout.
The year without a doubt was a challenging one with the pandemic, national racism overtly on display & long workdays.
I was consistently tired; working late hours and began to feel out of balance, even irritable at times. My day job rarely sees downtime and this year went through an unprecedented double peak season in addition to a busy Q4. Compounded with everything happening in the country, I knew no longer maintaining healthy work-life boundaries.
Earlier last year, I participated in the Manifeast Wellness Summit where I spoke about the intersection of wellness & decor and found myself reverting back to my own presentation. I knew had to make some changes because I cannot be my best for anyone or anything including work if I’m not taking care of myself.
Now, I won’t say I’ve become some kind of master at work-life boundaries. Many days I feel far from it but like a lot of you, I’m trying daily to do my best; implementing small changes and giving myself grace when I fall off the wellness wagon.
With that being said below are some of the tips I shared from the wellness summit. In a follow up post, I’ll share more about what I’m doing beyond decor to alleviate burnout.
WELLNESS & WFH HOME
Studies show that a beautiful workspace can be beneficial to our wellness; affecting mood, productivity & boosting self-care practices.
create a beautiful WFH space to promote wellness
Clean/organize your space.
I don’t know about you but I can make quite the mess in my home office since it serves as closet, day-job & creative/personal business space.
So many of us are using a space for double duty so keeping it tidy & organized is essential in maintaining an environment that helps you feel relaxed and allows you to think clearly.
Bring light & color into the space.
If you’re able to, setup your WFH area in a space with lots of natural light. If that’s not possible try to sit by a window for parts of the day as this will boost your mood especially in the colder/darker months.
If you’re unable to get natural sunlight, a good desk lamp or happy light can be useful. Personally, I haven’t used a happy light before but some of my co-workers used them and said they’re very beneficial.
Add color to your space in various ways. Paint or wallpaper a wall if you can or use artwork & accessories that bring you joy!
Decorate with fresh/faux flowers or plants
I prefer fresh flowers and plants for their element of nature as well as mood boosting & air filtration properties however, if you’re not able to acquire/maintain fresh ones, faux flowers and plants can be used as well. They bring the feeling of life to any space!
Accessorize and add scent to your WFH space
I mentioned artwork, painted walls and flowers/plants before but cute sculptures and decorative mugs can be used in the space to help organize things like pens and desk accessories while being pleasant to look at.
Scent is proven to be a mood booster & anything that affects your mood will eventually affect your productivity. I like to use candles as a way to bring scent and light into the space. I also like a good essential oil diffuser. Grapefruit oil is my favorite! There’s something about citrus that makes me feel invigorated. Lavender oil is also a good option for its calming properties and we all need that on high stress days, which seems quite frequent recently.
