Wellness: Finding a New Balance During Difficult Times

For many of us in the meetings and events industry, our days are full of moments spent collaborating with our co-workers, our clients and our suppliers to craft perfect experiences. By nature, this has always meant site visits, brainstorming sessions and the occasional happy hour – all taking place in person.

Over the last few weeks, the way we work, interact and connect has changed abruptly for all of us. There are event professionals around the world who normally spend their days interacting with others finding themselves suddenly working from home. Compounding the stress of what we are collectively going through as a society with the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, working from home for many means adjusting to a completely different routine and way of doing work. Continue reading for tips on managing a new balance as we work through this difficult time.

How to stay positive while working from home

Try to remember that we are all in this together

Your co-workers, as well as people from other companies and across industries, are also in this new reality. Many of us are facing a very different situation than even just a week ago. You are not alone, and there’s some comfort in that.

Be easy on yourself

There is a lot of information to process at any given hour of the day. Layer in work, and sometimes your productivity might suffer. But don’t be too harsh on yourself. Do your best, take breaks when you need them (a 15-minute puzzle break is a great way to de-stress) and prioritize what you can accomplish.

Try to keep your healthy habits

When things are suddenly so different, it can be easy to default to unhealthy habits. Many of us may not be moving as much as we typically would be, but there are plenty of creative ways to stay active indoors. Meditation can help calm the mind and yoga and body weight workouts are a great way to keep moving while adjusting to our new routines inside. If you are looking for some direction, there many free resources online to get you started (the Headspace app or workout videos via YouTube, for example).

Try your best to maintain or develop a routine

Many of us are in the position where our daily routines have been partially or totally interrupted. The habits we had formed across our commute, work, social lives and hobbies have shifted overnight which contributes to feelings of unease. If you normally make coffee for yourself in the office and do a quick workout around lunch time or after the work day ends, try to keep up those simple habits at home. Incorporating pieces of your “normal” routine at home may help with adjusting and easing anxiety.

Find new ways to connect

Times like this call for creativity! Although face-to-face interaction isn’t an option anymore for many of us, luckily, technology can help bridge the gap. Try video calling for your conference calls. And, who says you can’t do a virtual happy hour with colleagues? Find inventive ways to create face-to-face moments to make sure that you’re still able to access that valuable human connection.

As we all look for new ways to stay connected through this global shift, we are offering clients options to keep business moving forward while their people aren’t able to meet face to face. When meetings can’t take place in person, virtual meetings can prove to be a valuable solution until in-person interactions can resume. Interested in learning more about the benefits of virtual meetings? Take a look here.