After last year’s craziness some of us (me ??♀️) are still working remotely. As things continue to progress and open up, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling anxious about returning to the office. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited to return to a somewhat normal life but, I’ve been set in my routine for the past 16 months and change is sometimes hard.
Anyways, as I think about my return to the office I find myself feeling anxious, nervous and worried. Anyone with me? ??♀️I almost feel kind of silly having these feelings because prior to 2020 for me, working from home at my current job wasn’t even an option and everything was perfectly fine with me commuting to and from work.
As I think through these feelings and the upcoming return to the office, I thought it would be a good idea to write a blogpost sharing some of the ways I’m preparing to return to work. I hope that if you’re feeling a similar way upon returning to work, this helps in one way or another.
Think through your feelings
I’m a firm believer that everyone is entitled to feel what they want to feel but, I’m also a firm believer that feelings always have a “root” or a “cause/reason”. What I mean by this is that I would suggest you think about why you are feeling the way that you are feeling. In my case, I think that I’m feeling anxious with the fact that I don’t know how things will have changed upon my return to work. In other words, I don’t know what new processes we’ll have to follow or who will be returning to work. I know a few people in my building are no longer going to work there, so that in itself is a change that I’ll have to get used to. This is all contributing to some of the anxiousness I am feeling. So, I encourage you to think through your feelings and identify the why.
Prepare
One of the things I’ve begun doing has been literally thinking of what I need to do before returning to the office. The things that are on my mind are prepping my work bag, thinking of lunch ideas and also preparing my lunch bag, and looking through my clothes to determine what work clothes still fit me and what I need to buy. This is definitely something you don’t want to leave for last minute since it will most likely add to the anxiety of your return.
Start practicing
My next tip that will help you make the ‘return to work’ transition more seamless is to start practicing your morning routine. Personally, I was very afraid that I was going to get used to getting up later than I would during my time working from home, so I made sure that I still set an alarm on workdays just to not lose the habit LOL but, if you are waking up at a very different time than when you have to commute to work then it’s time to start getting your body used to the old routine of getting ready in the morning. I feel that practicing will relieve a little of the mindful stress of “what if I don’t get up on time” ?
Really make the most of your current time/situation
Although this past year was hard in many ways, I’m sure there were some positive sides to it. For example, the not having to commute for many of us and having more time before and after work. In a way, this time that we’ve been working from home, I personally feel that I have more time to do things with friends and family (now that vaccines are out and places have opened up more). That is one of the parts I have really enjoyed, so as I prepare to return to work and to get back to the old routine, I want to take advantage of not having to drive to work (LOL) and using that extra time to schedule activities and adventures with friends and family. This will help me upon my return because I will feel that I really took advantage of the little extra time I had when I was not as busy going and coming from work and preparing for each workday one after the other.
Before this gets too long, I hope reading this helped in one way or another. The return to work for those of us who are still working remotely is a change that we have to adapt to and one that can cause anxiousness and nervousness but, even after writing this I feel much better thinking that everything will be okay.
Let me know if you have any other tips to share in the comments. I would love to read them. 🙂
Until next time,
Marisol
