Dealing With the Isolation of Working At Home

In the beginning we love being able to get up, grab a cup of coffee and walk to the “office” in our pjs. Who would ever want to go back to those crazy commuting days? After a while we slowly begin to miss those chats around the water cooler and being able to walk over to a coworker’s desk. Being stuck at home and isolated from the rest of the adult world is one of the biggest challenges we face working from home.

In the long run, this isolation can make you unhappy and even depressed, not to mention that your family might not appreciate being “tackled” the moment they walk through the door because you are desperate to talk. Take some of these steps right from the start to avoid feeling isolated in the first place.

• Build a network of other adults around you that you can call upon. This can be a mix of old friends, the neighbors and even other folks who work at home that you meet online. Just make an effort to stay in touch via phone or IM and get together for lunch or grab a cup of coffee with anyone that lives close to you.
• If you are feeling particularly isolated on any given day, just pick up the phone and call a friend to chat for 30 minutes. Or pack up your gear and head to your local park or coffee shop.
• Join local groups and organizations. It forces you to get out of the house and meet other business owners.
• Remind yourself that your business doesn’t have to take up all of your life. Find some new hobbies, or rediscover old ones and become active in that area. Take a pottery class, or join a book club. You may feel guilty at first, but believe it or not, your business will survive and your family will thank you. In fact both your family and work will benefit from the fact that you will return refreshed and reenergized.

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