Feeling the #wfh stress? Here’s how to keep a good work/life balance during lockdown

Brought to you by Momenti Pizza from Dr. Oetker

Things are improving every day.

As we make our way through the restriction-lifting phases, our lives are becoming easier and more pleasant by the day. We're allowed to see friends, allowed to take trips more than 2km from our homes, and allowed to do some limited shopping. However, a whole lot of us are still at home for work and, while we do enjoy some aspects of that, it can be hard separating work from free time when it's all happening in the same place. A healthy work/life balance is important at all times and we have to be even more vigilant about it when we're working from home. So we've put together a few simple suggestions to help you keep that balance going while you're living that #wfh life.

Make the most of your time off

There's nothing that will bring the mood down more than lounging around for days on end. Yes, a lazy day now and then is wonderful but if it's happening so much that your days start to feel a bit aimless, that's a problem. Make sure you're really getting good use out of your free time and doing things that you enjoy, whether that's a walk, a run, a swim, or reading a good book. Having something pleasant to look forward to will keep your workday more positive and you won't feel as though work is entirely taking over your home. Plus it will make you feel more personally accomplished at the end of the day.

Set alarms

Alarms have been our lifesaver while working from home. It's really important that you're not letting your work take over your life but sometimes that's easier said than done. What we do is set alarms that let us know when we need to start working and then we set one again at lunchtime to let us know when our lunch is over. That way, we're not spending all our free time checking the time and worrying that we'll be late getting back online.

Make sure to enjoy your lunch

This follows on from the previous recommendation to set an alarm. Lunchtime is super necessary to break up your day, and even more so when it's all happening at home. Make yourself something nice and let yourself sit down and properly enjoy it. Recently, we've been obsessed with Dr. Oetker's new Momenti Pizza range. The pizzas are frozen single-serve pizzas, coming in Tomato, Mozzarella & Pesto and Salami Calabrese flavour, and they're both under 450 calories. So they're perfect to keep in your freezer and to munch on at lunch. Delish.

Choose the hours that work best for you

Now, not all of us have flexibility when it comes to working hours but, if you are lucky enough to enjoy flexi-time or other flexible hours, you should use it to your advantage. You know yourself when you work best so make sure you're working during your most productive hours so that you can properly set the work aside and enjoy yourself during your free time. For those of us who have set hours, the best we can do is make sure we're organising our work properly. If you're more productive in the morning, make sure you get all the hard stuff done then so that you're not stressed at the end of the day. Finishing the workday on a relaxed note can help you properly ease into that leisure time.

Create a workspace for yourself

Look, we know a nice benefit of working from home is being able to work in bed and we're not saying that you can never do that but, for the most part, it's important to maintain as much separation between your work life and home life as possible. Try to set up a mini office in one of your rooms (or an actual office if you have the space) and make that your productive corner. Only use that space for work. After a few days, you should find yourself settling into the work mode as soon as you sit down there and breaking out of the work mode when you stand up. Brought to you by Momenti Pizza from Dr. Oetker Dr. Oetker's new Momenti Pizza is a small, great-tasting frozen pizza. The two flavours - Tomato, Mozzarella & Pesto and Salami Calabrase - contain up to 450 calories. They are just the right size for a quick lunch or tasty dinner for one. Available in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Supervalu and BWG. For information, visit the Dr. Oetker website.