Antonia Maguire
Back in the old days, or ‘BC’ (before Corona) as I like to call it, Working From Home was something you got to do on an occasional Friday if you’d been a) very good b) could be trusted to complete a day’s work without anyone peering over your shoulder. You could just about get away with it if you had to wait in for a dishwasher or something to be delivered, but it was never, ever, ever supposed to be Full Time. Or for a year! Or for even longer!
But now it looks set to stay and whilst most won’t have missed a tortuous commute or a sandwich-based diet, the reality of a life of Working From Home long term is something we all need to get to grips with now and make long lasting adjustments for.
Throw in home-schooling young ones, nocturnal teenagers and the kitchen being used as an eternal self-service café, it’s time to really think about what’s working, what’s not and most importantly how to fix it and make it better.
So what’s worked well for you in the last year whilst working from home? What would you like to keep from the experience? And what do you think is simply not going that well? What still needs adjusting to? What needs to change?
As with many aspects of health, our habits generally fall into one of three categories:
1) Our diet
2) Our lifestyle
3) Our physical fitness.
At any one time, we are either contributing to our health or subtracting from it. We are the sum of our habits and we are entirely responsible for our behaviour. But it’s just not that simple is it? Many of us don’t really understand what lies behind our behaviour, much less how to change it for the better!
This is where Nutritional Therapy and Health Coaching have a wonderful part to play.
Working from home has, like so many others, put my working life firmly on-line and as for so many others, life has had to change. Having been used to working with very busy professionals, everyone being at home has meant that I have had a very captive audience! Instead of the live Corporate talks I used to run, zoom workshops have of course taken their place, and as the months have gone by, I have developed lots of great strategies for what I now call ‘Home Nutrition.’
Whilst many people have enjoyed a break from the endless commute and on-the-go diet, many have also struggled with weight gain, over indulgence, lack of exercise, low mood, loneliness, anxiety and insomnia. For every person embracing home-cooking, there are several others existing on takeaways and too much alcohol, with physical fitness depleting also. This has not been a breeze for anyone.
I am so delighted to have been able to reach a much wider audience through corporate zoom workshops, covering subjects from Nutrition for Immune Support, Better Mental Health, Digestion, Energy and Happy Hormones as well as making videos for Healthy Lunches, BBQs, Drinks and Smoothies for a variety of Corporate Wellness initiatives.
My ‘Working From Home Toolkit’ is an amalgamation of all of it, designed to you put you firmly in the driving test when it comes to yours and your family’s home nutrition. It is crammed full of ideas, information, tips, hacks, recipes and inspiration to make working from home really work for you, whatever the issues you face.
Whatever the pitfalls and traps, there is an answer and a way out! Perhaps the future is part working from home, part office based, and there will always be issues, but at least now we know what we are dealing with. Planning for, and taking proper care and responsibility for our own personal health has never been more important, so I am very glad to have been able to ride the wave with so many clients.
I have been working with Corporates for many years now, so am delighted to be rolling this out in with my Corporate Wellness colleagues. However, this can be accessed by anyone struggling with their physical or mental health, or the health of their families, during this time.