Corona:Advantages in the home office, It’s finally time for selfcare

Fashion brands are also adapting to the new challenges. Fashion bloggers recommend the best and most beautiful pajamas and jogging pants that you can wear in your home office. Because what is comfortable can still be pretty, which also does something with your own self-esteem and work motivation. The Swedish shoe label Flattered sends pictures of the “perfect home slippers” around, they are pretty and at the same time comfortable for at home. Maybe a nice change to thick wool stockings or felt slippers. A nice compromise with tight jeans and an uncomfortable blouse is light fabrics for the home, linen, cotton, and sometimes even silk pajamas.

Because comfort or not, even on the phone it makes a difference whether you are lounging on the couch in plaid pajamas or sitting at your desk in a good mood after a hearty breakfast. Nobody wants to speak on the phone in a busy voice and give the conference the impression that they have just fallen out of bed. Self-regulation is the psychological keyword: structuring everyday life, and that starts with putting on clothes. Those who set themselves neuropsychological anchors, i.e. routines and habits that need to be repeated, are more productive at work because The switch from hanging mode to work mode is made easier.

It can look like this: not eating everywhere, not working everywhere, not sleeping everywhere. At least freshen up in the morning according to the routine, even if it is not the super chic dress and the red lipstick, but only a cat wash. It is made so clear to the mind: the day begins. I’m starting to work. “If you really get ready in the bathroom, put on something beautiful – the whole self-assembly is done. Then you are in a good start phase, also because you may be used to it, ”says Cornelia Seewald.

Spatial markers can also help to differentiate the home office from the rest of the home. This is where my pen, my computer, and my notebook are, and work is being done here. Here, instead of my pajamas, I might be wearing at least nice jogging pants and comfortable shoes. Such rituals can help you switch to work mode. If you follow your morning routine in the morning, you simulate a normal day-to-day work – and usually get in better.

There is no dress code for the home office

This is especially important if you are single and live alone. Families and couples often have established rites anyway. Who goes to the bathroom first? Who’s making breakfast? The system gets going immediately with the usual rhythm.

There is no dress code for the home office, which is nice. “Of course, that’s different when you confer via Skype,” Seewald points out. You should stick to the customs of the respective company, so as a man you should wear a suit if you want it. The nice thing about a home office without video calls is exactly that: I can quickly take things off afterward. I get dressed, but in a way that is comfortable. Not because nobody sees me anyway, but because it is most comfortable for me in this situation. “It becomes critical when hygiene suffers from negligence,” says Seewald. “Then it can be dangerous.” It is not always clear to draw the line in the home office. So here is the recommendation: little morning rituals. In addition to brushing your teeth, don’t forget to comb. Shave every now and then. Such things.
But it’s not all work. The home office and the time gained from it offer opportunities, also in terms of your own fashion sense, your own beauty rituals. It starts with having time, a lot of time to make your own closet. What do I really wear regularly? What I haven’t worn in at least a year – that can go away. Declustering at home, Marie Kondo would be proud. But: You can hang around too, without a guilty conscience! You don’t have to optimize yourself in the time of complete isolation. It’s more about knowing yourself well and feeling what is good for you. Do I feel really good if I hang in my bathrobe and with White Russian in front of the telly all day? Or is it not more beneficial for my well-being,

“We all wish that this time would not take too long,” says Seewald. But the opportunities that this time gives us should not be underestimated, “keyword: self-care”. At least for those who are not sick or busy taking care of their children during these weeks, or still needing to go to work because home office is not possible, can try to do something good for themselves. And for many people that also means putting on something nice or particularly cozy. You don’t have to, as influencer Riccardo Simonetti suggests, have your hair greased for days to do good to the scalp. (If you really want that and possible roommates don’t mind, of course, you can.) But there are many other beautiful things that do most people good, which we can enjoy doing in this time of retreat and rest, instead of feeling the prescribed rest as an imposed break. “Take a long bath, do a body peel, a face mask, a hair treatment, more yoga,” suggests Cornelia Seewald. “Prepare freshly squeezed juices, chop raw food.” Hair treatments, face masks that paint the nails. Things that we otherwise don’t have time for while rushing from appointment to appointment.

“It also has something to do with self-efficacy”

It is a time when you can try out new make-up without looking at it strangely because you will never get it like the super talented people on YouTube anyway. A time in which you can put your favorite outfit on and put it on – just for yourself, not for anyone else. Those who do not want to be concerned with what he or she is wearing can discover other rites of reflection and self-care. “You can make phone calls in peace, with your girlfriend or family,” says Seewald. “Or listen to a CD or record in the morning that you don’t have much time for otherwise.”

Self-care, self-care can also be the meal that you cook yourself in the evening. The time with coffee in the morning alone in the kitchen, with the newspaper and the incredible silence that this time brings with it. “Self-care also has something to do with self-efficacy, so: I am responsible for the fact that I am well.” At the moment, we are all of course also responsible for the fact that others are doing well by staying well at home. And by the way, we can make sure, self-efficaciously and selfishly that we are well.