To think that doing something for yourself before work is important, especially for those WFH?

[WorthyOrca]

I’ve heard a lot about the benefits of taking time for yourself in the morning, rather than just rolling out of bed and diving straight into work. Whether it’s a quick workout, meditation, or even enjoying a cup of tea in peace, I feel starting the day with self-care sets a positive tone. What do you do for yourself before work, and do you think it makes a difference?

I wake fairly early naturally, & so does my cat. But it also makes the weekend lie-ins, when I get up, feed her & come back to bed with a coffee, all the sweeter.

One of the big reasons I love wfh is not having to get up and dressed and walk to the station. So the last thing I'm going to do is voluntary get up and go for a walk!

I do however make a coffee and take it back to bed for an hour. I have some little games I play on my ipad so I have a bit of relaxation time before getting into work mode. Most days one of the cats will join me for a cuddle.

Adult DS also wfh and he's one of those that rolls out of bed 1 minute to 9 and starts work immediately. I couldn't do that, I do need time to wake up properly. He's got a treadmill so we both use that every day if we're not going out somewhere.

I have to get up at 4.50am as it is!!! No thanks..

Up to a month ago it was go to the gym at 6.30 3 times a week....I'm not a gym person at all, but it was a weights class and I just got up and did it. I've been ill for a month though so hoping to get back to it.

Previously I used to get up and do a 40 minute walk in the morning, along the prom, it was rather lovely and occasionally blustery or wet!

On days I'm not doing this I sit in the sun on the bench outside the front of the house and brush the cat and have a cup of tea.

All of these are preferable to me rather than a lie in!

I was never a morning person but post pandemic as an introvert suffering from NEVER being alone I forced myself to develop a habit of waking early just to get some time to myself. I have a sunrise light but I now almost always wake up around 6 and sometimes earlier. It has changed my life for the better I have to say. Just that hour or so of peace first thing in the morning to myself

I try to do 20 mins of yoga or HIIT exercise before I WFH and most days I do. I also read for a 10-15 minutes before I start and after I finish. Works well for me.

That sounds very hard!

can you find a way to WFH sooner than in a couple of years?

One of the big reasons I love wfh is not having to get up and dressed and walk to the station. So the last thing I'm going to do is voluntary get up and go for a walk!

Quite !

Once awake, I'd FAR rather crack on and start work. Potentially then being able to finish a bit earlier, or add on a bit of flexi time to use usefully another day.

I suspect this is another headline where 'early birds' try to make themselves sound superior to night owls.

I hate getting up early so getting up before DC and leaving the house or exercising is just not going to happen for me. I love my sleep.

But my DC have all left for school by 8:40, I then make myself a coffee and breakfast and sit on the sofa in peace until about 9:15 then i start work. I usually only take half an hour at lunch so the late start balances out.

@AutumnTimeForCosy24, I would love to ship out sooner, but I need my salary for a bit longer, hence the 2 year timeframe. If I could find a WFH job which more closely matched my salary, I'd go for it, but all WFH posts I'm seeing which I might be able to do straight off the bat as an ex-teacher all seem to necessitate a 10k+ paycut. If I had the skills sets required there are obviously many other WFH or hybrid jobs I could do, but I accept it's reasonable to expect to be starting out on a lower paypoint when starting afresh in a new job. For ages, I wouldn't entertain the idea of WFH, given my experiences during lockdown when my workload while teaching from home became completely unsustainable, but having read about people's experiences of WFH in other lines of work, it sounds entirely manageable and actually quite nice.

@MargaritaPracticallyCan

That sounds great too!

it's natural to miss them when they've been underfoot for so many years!!

but slightly easier when the laundry takes 5 minutes & it doesn't look like the chimps held their party in the kitchen!! 😂

I have a weights workout routine and Pilates, I do that every morning. Def makes me feel smug 😂