Are you reading this on your computer screen? I bet you are! I bet you haven’t gotten up for the last several hours of Zoom calls all day long. Such is life in the pandemic…!
So many clients are wondering how they can stop feeling so drained, leading to fatigue, anxiety, procrastination, lack of motivation to do anything. They ask for some kind of magic tool that can help restore them and their ability to perform again, usually at work but also in life.
Take a ride into the past, before the pandemic happened and we were locked down and forced to work in our homes. We got up in the morning, got ready, then hopped out the door to get to the office. Yes we sat at our desks, but we also got up and moved around and interacted with people there. Then at the end of the day, we traveled home and then had dinner, interacted with our family, and went to sleep. In between that, we would meet up with friends out at restaurants, cafes, and bars. We would go to the gym or yoga studio to exercise.
Look at where we are today. We don’t leave our houses. We roll out of bed, stroll over to the desk in the *same* room, and sit down to begin our day. Our days are endless hopping from Zoom call to Zoom call. The bookings are on the hour, with no breaks. We are stuck in our chairs for hours and hours until we realize that we must either eat or answer nature’s call. This continues until we finally get fall back into bed and repeat it all again the next day.
No wonder we are drained! Even for sedentary people, there was still a *ton* of movement before the pandemic. Now there is not, even for them. And all the others who used to move regularly are now not moving much at all.
There is a simple answer to this dilemma: you need to get back to moving!
When people ask for what can they do to alleviate this mental/emotional/physical energy drain, I just tell them:
Change in Position, Change in Scenery
What is this exactly? It goes in these steps:
Step 1: Change in Position Part 1 – don’t lock yourself into any one position for too long. Sitting in front of Zoom motionless is a prime example of that. So change your position first. Stand up if you were sitting, sit down if you were standing. Sit-stand desk setups are awesome for this. Or just get up and stretch a little bit. Move your arms up and down. Do some squats. You can do all that in place in front of your desk. This gets the blood flowing and wakes you up!
Step 2: Change in Position Part 2 – The next step in this progression is to not only get up, but MOVE yourself away from where you were. Take a walk around your room. Get on the floor and roll or crawl. Do some yoga or air squats.
Step 3: Change in Position to Change in Scenery – Moving yourself quickly turns into change in scenery. Looking at the same surroundings for hours and hours is draining! Being in the same room for hours and hours can suck the life out of you. So pick up your laptop and go to your living room. Sit on the kitchen table. Or leave your laptop and take a walk out of your room and down the hallway. Go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee or a snack in the kitchen. Stare out the window for a while. Now not only are you changing position, but the scenery is starting to change.
Step 4: Change in Scenery Maximized – What if you were now to go outside? Take a stroll down the street. Go for a longer walk. Breathe in the fresh air. Feel the sunshine on your face. Take a drive to a cafe. Now you’ve really changed the scenery and relieved the monotony of being in the same room for all that time. And by the way, being outside is therapeutic and restorative. We don’t hang out in nature nearly enough! Even take your laptop to the cafe and work there for a while. If you need to take a call, try taking it walking around the block. Or out in your backyard.
You get the idea (hopefully!). Give this a try if you’re feeling stuck, drained, unmotivated after hours of being on Zoom, or even just working by yourself. It is sure to restore you and give you back some of that energy you’ve been lacking!
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