Our very own Jake Mountford has penned a personal account of his own way to stay positive in these uncertain times. Jake writes:

Another day beckons as I begin my new regular commute from the kitchen to my landing upstairs and to my new, makeshift office area!

For someone who’s not used to working from home, this has been a bit of an adjustment, to say the least.

During the first week I found myself full of energy and the newness of it all gave me a challenge which I was eager to get my teeth into, be it keeping in touch with as many staff as I could on ‘Teams’ or helping people with their new systems. Then the second week came and the novelty definitely started to wear off.  I found myself becoming more and more lethargic and, dare I say it, lazy.

The short trip to make a cuppa downstairs suddenly felt like a task that required a lot of effort and, comparing this to the way it would feel in the usual office environment, I found myself wondering why I was feeling like this.  I realise now that it’s the lack of external mental stimulation that I’m used to as part of a busy office. I’m now working in a very quiet and (relatively) calm environment with very little going on, outside of the usual work tasks, and that had started to take its toll.

In an attempt to stem the flow of this growing lethargy I have now taken some simple steps:

• like making sure that I force myself to go into the garden for half an hour during the day,
• to eat my lunch away from my workspace and
• doing my best to change the scenery around me, as much as possible.

We all know the importance of keeping in contact with our teams when we are at distance but I feel that those calls shouldn’t always be centred around a work subject, the call is worth making just to chat about anything for a few minutes, perhaps to feel like we are walking past each other’s desks like we used to in the office.

At the moment, I like to take each day as it comes and try not to look too far into the future. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful every day to be in the position I am, but every person in this crisis has their own personal challenge, currently this is mine and I thought I’d share it with you.

Hoping everyone finds their own way to stay positive and adapt during these uncertain times.

Stay in touch, it’s good to hear from you all – Jake.