Recently I've been finding myself a little more down each morning that I drop my husband off at work. We own 1 car, so I wake up with Chris in the morning and drive him in each day. When I was first "funemployed" I would come home and take the dog for a 40 min walk. Then the summer really hit, and dangit..it's really HOT out there! So there go the walks. Now it's turned into "lets surf the web for an hour and a half and listen to the TODAY show" time. That was okay for a little while...but now I'm finding that I'm just flat out depressed when I drop Chris off. It's not that I don't have anything to do, I just don't have anyone to talk to either. The dog only says so much. I said something about it on Twitter, and I got some great responses on how to help yourself out when you work from home alone.
@GuitarKat had some great suggestions. I have a laptop that I usually work from the couch with. I'm finding out that that is a no no. As GK put it, "LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION" You want to surround yourself with a positive environment. Big window, big desk, and lots of sunlight. Make it uplifting and comfortable, but not so cozy that...you..fall....asleep...zzzzzzzzzzzz.
I have a beautiful art table that is currently drowning in 30 unfinished projects. This week I plan to clean the whole thing off an start anew with a pretty polished workstation. I'll be sure to take before and after pictures.
@HerUniverse, @_FestivalNet, and @TonyMast also had some good ideas. Schedule breaks for yourself. Take an hour somewhere to bake a batch of cookies! (Even if they're from a roll) Sometimes this is really hard to do. I have a TON of work to get done, and I'll find that the panic mode begins to set in and I just GO GO GO! I also forget to eat a lot. Set an alarm on your phone, or even an alarm clock for lunch breaks, 20 min Mario Kart/Twitter/Facebook breaks, or Starbucks break. Something to break up the day. Keep to a schedule, and you'll find yourself getting more done in-between those little downtimes.
Don't forget to shower! I know that sounds silly, but a lot of times I will find myself waking up and going straight to work on my projects. Before I know it its 4:30 and I'm still in my PJs. Some people like that, and that's fine! But for someone like me, I kinda like to feel a little bit more like a grown up when I answer the door for the UPS man. It doesn't kill me to put on a bra I suppose! Make up also does wonders for your self-confidence.
Stay away from time sucks. These include but are not limited to:
Deadliest Catch marathons
World of Warcraft (I don't CARE if it's a new patch, put a parental control on your account to keep you off during the day!)
Browsing Twitter..just..cause?
Farmville
Waiting in line at McDonalds at 12 noon
Lastly, a great suggestion from @Jwyl, audiobooks! If you're like me, you used to having human contact. So when that gets cut off for 8 hours, it gets kinda quiet. Try an audiobook! It's good to hear a human voice, and especially when it's about something you enjoy. Take a look at http://www.podiobooks.com for all kinds of FREE audiobooks in podcast formats.
I look forward to hearing any suggestions you guys may have. And if there's a geeky "work from home" chat channel or forum out there, I'd love to know :)
