Now that most of us have been working from home for a month now, how are you feeling?   Are you enjoying the coziness of your home during this pandemic?  Or has cabin fever set in and everyone in your household including the pet is getting on your nerves?  

Not sure if you have cabin fever?  Below are just some of the symptoms:

• Lack of patience

• Decreased motivation

• Restlessness

• Trouble concentrating

• Food cravings

• Irritability 

What can you do to avoid taking your cabin fever out on your partner, family, and coworkers? Here are five things that can help:

1. Exercise and it doesn’t have to be a traditional work-out, going for a run, or a walk.   What physical activity needs to be done at your house where you can get a chore done and get some exercise at the same time?  Or what about putting some music on and having a dance party with the little ones with the bonus of getting some of their excess energy out?

2. Keep some alone time for yourself if you’re living with others.  Get creative with this, if you’re used to grabbing a coffee with a friend to escape, maybe it’s having a coffee with them over Zoom from your closet instead, or anywhere else the little ones (both the two legged and four legged) won’t disturb you. If you’re used to going to the store to escape, maybe it’s spending some time cleaning out the basement, attic, or those boxes you’ve been meaning to go through.  You never know what forgotten treasure you may find.  

3. Be grateful, being grateful shifts your mindset from frustration and anxiety to appreciation and calm.  You can start a gratitude journal where you write down at least 5 things you’re grateful for that happened that day.  Or having trouble sleeping or falling back asleep in the middle of the night?  Think of five things you’re grateful for that day.  These can big things such as “I’m healthy” or “I have a roof over my head” or small things such as “the sunshine felt wonderful on my face during my walk today”.

4. Find a relaxation activity that will work for you.  Whether it’s listening for five minutes to the Calm app, resurrecting a hobby you used to love doing and then didn’t have time for, connecting with an old friend you lost touch with, or reading one of the many books you’ve been wanting to read.  Relaxation is important for both mental health and your immune system.

5. Feel the core feeling instead of just the anger and frustration you’re experiencing about the other person right now.  Take a time-out and ask yourself, with respect to the thing I’m frustrated or angry about with this other person, what am I sad about?  What am I fearful about?  Because underneath anger, there is always fear or sadness.  Once you get to the core emotion (i.e. root cause), it’s much easier to find a sustainable solution.

As change agents and leaders, the more patient we can be with our partners, family, and coworkers, the more fully we can show up for and help those around us.  Take the time to exercise, find some alone time, be grateful, relax, and feel core emotions.  Bring yourself back to center so you can be the best change agent / leader you can be.

Call to Action

• What is one takeaway you’ll be putting into action?  Or what else are you doing to avoid taking your cabin fever out on your partner, family, and coworkers?  Use the comment feature to share your thoughts.

• Found this blog useful or know someone this can help?  Please share it with your network. 

• If there’s a particular change agent topic you’d like to see covered on this blog, please comment.   

About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.