Loneliness when working online: not always discussed but of real concern. This is especially true since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic when most of us were forced to remain at home, quarantined.
Of course, many employees have returned to working on-site and have ditched the feelings of loneliness when working online. Some employees are still able to keep working their jobs from home even now. Yet, others got a taste of the freedom of not reporting to an office or job site daily and have either ventured into the online space to start a business working from home or are currently searching for an opportunity that is a fit for them. Blogging, digital marketing, and other forms of online entrepreneurs are sprouting up everywhere like flowers in the spring.
Being an internet entrepreneur, whether in the form of a successful blogger, digital marketer, or some other form of digital entrepreneurship is a remarkable feat that can have a plethora of positive effects on your life.
For example, financial independence, time freedom, and setting your wage are only a few of the advantages that come with this type of success. This career path also allows for creative freedom and—in theory—the ability to achieve the work-life balance many of us sadly lack.
However, as with most things, there is always a downside; and for internet entrepreneurs, one of the chief drawbacks—loneliness when working online is common—can be detrimental to your health, productivity, and creativity. When first starting and leaving the traditional workforce behind—with its commutes and office politics—it can feel liberating. You’re finally stepping out in faith and calling all the shots after all. How exciting is that?
But eventually, you may begin to miss the companionship that comes from working with other people and in creep the feelings of loneliness when working online. When you hear about your friends’ office parties and romantic relationships, you may even feel left out of the loop. You’re missing out on what was once normalcy. You may eventually find yourself bored or going stir-crazy from lack of human interaction.
In this article, 4 Tips: How to Quickly Ease Loneliness when Working Online, we explore quick and easy ways to avoid letting your digital ventures drive you insane.
How to Quickly Ease Loneliness when Working Online
Tip #1. Change it Up: Get Out of the House to Ease Loneliness when Working Online
One reason many people want to blog or become some type of digital entrepreneur for a living is so they can have the ability to “work from home.” Though, it is important to note that this is not necessarily an actual description of where you will be working.
There are many benefits to being some type of digital entrepreneur for a living, including the ability to work from anywhere. This flexibility allows you to work in a variety of locations, including cafes, bars, and even in the great outdoors. When you think about it, this sort of freedom should enable you to feel less lonely, rather than experiencing more feelings of loneliness when working online (as many do experience).
So why not take advantage of this and quickly ease your loneliness when working online? Grab your laptop and go work in a local coffee shop, restaurant, or park instead of sitting at home all day. You could go to a bar or pub. When it’s sunny out, you could relax on the grass with a drink.
Not only will taking action in “relocating your office” for the day make working for yourself more desirable, but you are also likely to encounter more people and have conversations with them. Plus, if you’re open to it, you may even meet some new friends of the opposite sex. That alone ought to dramatically help the feelings of loneliness when working online, right? Seriously though, stranger things could happen!
Working from home can also be more sociable if you take advantage of opportunities to meet up with friends and acquaintances to ease the feelings of loneliness when working online. You can also use blogging or other forms of digital entrepreneurship as an opportunity to catch up with people you don’t see very often, instead of blaming your digital lifestyle for leaving you fighting feelings of loneliness when working online.
For instance, if you are felling unusual loneliness when working online one day, you can meet your friends for lunch or after work. You’ve got the time, and you can even do things like design work while you chat. And in fact, this will allow you to be more sociable than most people are in the office anyway. Apart from anything else, you’ll be enjoying connecting with people who are your real friends rather than strangers or colleagues. The comfort of being with people you care about will surely help stave off those feelings of loneliness when working online.
Tip #2. Make Time to Network to Ease Loneliness when Working Online
Even without trying to pacify feelings of loneliness when working online, networking is also key for bloggers and others who work online. You can attend events. There are many different networking groups in most larger areas. You can also find fabulous opportunities for networking on sites such as Eventbrite and Meet Up.
Reach out to your local Chamber of Commerce. Here is a link to the national directory website to help you out! Check into local groups in your niche. You can even find groups on platforms such as Facebook (Ummm…Meta) that have meetings in person.
Networking is also a great way to interact with bloggers and digital entrepreneurs of all types and promote your business. Not only is networking good for business, but it can also help improve your mental health by decreasing the feelings of loneliness when working online.
Tip #3. Create Opportunities to Communicate with Others to Ease Loneliness when Working Online
Another interruption to your sanity’s slow death is to set aside time specifically for responding to your fan mail or checking in on customers via email or a quick call. This will help build relationships and create loyal followers and customers as well as recharge your spirit as you connect with others.
Finding avenues for working face-to-face with designers and marketers rather than locking yourself away as if you’ve become a recluse, is another way to not only save your sanity but also to make new connections that could potentially explode your blogging or digital marketing career quickly.
Tip #4. Practice Self-care Regularly to Ease Loneliness when Working Online
Self-care is underrated by many people. We are indoctrinated to work hard, make sacrifices for our jobs and families, be reliable, and often expected to go above and beyond regardless of the cost. Of course, some set high standards for themselves and create their state of overwhelm and exhaustion as well.
For these reasons, self-care may be seen as selfish, inappropriate, unrealistic, etc. in several societies. It is also for these reasons that self-care is increasingly important. We’d venture to bet this is especially true if you are suffering from loneliness when working online.
This direct quote from Dr. Matthew Glowiak (2020) of Southern New Hampshire University sums up the need for self-care quite appropriately.
Burning the candle at both ends, so-to-speak, comes with significant consequences, which may include but are not limited to burnout, depression, anxiety, resentment and a whole host of other negative implications. Engaging in a self-care routine has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, improve concentration, minimize frustration and anger, increase happiness, improve energy, and more. From a physical health perspective, self-care has been clinically proven to reduce heart disease, stroke and cancer. Spiritually, it may help keep us in tune with our higher power as well as realize our meaning in life.
You can view the entire article here and learn more about how vital self-care is, especially if you have feelings of loneliness when working online.
Some of you may not realize what an extensive range of activities qualifies as self-care and how beneficial it can be in combatting loneliness when working online. Because we care about you, we want to provide you with a few resources on self-care.
- First, we love this 34-page PDF entitled, “SELF-CARE TOOLKIT (Covid-19 Edition),” with worksheets included, from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland. This PDF is exceptionally thorough and may well come in handy for you or someone you know. Be sure to bookmark or download it! Better still…USE IT!!
- Second on the list—a resource ADRA Media staff are committed to utilizing for our practices of self-care—is a two-page checklist called, “THE BIG LIST OF SELF-CARE ACTIVITIES” from Eastern Kentucky University’s Kentucky Educational Collaborative for State Agency Children. We love this list! Our staff incorporates self-care challenges into our workweek and this list is the basis for our shenanigans. We hope you will love it too, so be sure to download it and print it out. Keep it somewhere visible as a reminder!
- The third resource we have for you today is a fillable 2-page PDF SELF-CARE ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Be sure to take the assessment to find out your score! This will give you a better understanding of where you are right now. Once you’ve implemented and followed your new self-care routine, take the assessment again to see the how you have improved.
- And finally, we are including a 22-page PDF entitled, “CREATING A HEALTHIER LIFE, A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO WELLNESS,” from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, specifically from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Conclusion
We hope this article,4 Tips: How to Ease Loneliness when Working Online, has helped you find ways to defend your health and sanity. To be honest, these tips may even improve your relationships with close friends and family—even with your significant other—since your frustrations and unhappiness over feelings of loneliness when working online affect them as well. Seeing you happier will likely make them happier as well.
Rather than thinking of blogging and digital marketing careers as work-from-home positions, perhaps it is better to use the term “remote” to describe these paths.
Remember, you are calling the shots now and you can work whenever and wherever your heart desires! You are not stuck in a rut unless you allow yourself to be. You can change things up at any given time. Even if you have children, you can take them to several places that will allow you all to enjoy the fresh air and/or a change of scenery.
Grab the bull by the horns, my friend! Live the digital nomad life to the extent that it is feasible for you. Don’t forego one of the most attractive benefits of your blogging / digital entrepreneur path. You will feel much less withdrawn. Your mental and physical health will be improved. Your productivity will likely increase, and your creativity may reach new heights as well.
If you are still deciding if this is the right path for you, we at ADRA Media are happy to provide you with a free consultation to help you clarify your vision and gain a better understanding of the options available to you.
We can also help you stick to a budget and avoid unnecessary expenses. We do offer all the services you will need to get started and grow your new adventure if you are ready to make a go of it.
ADRA Media’s staff finds unmeasurable pleasure in helping people pursue their dreams and thrive while doing it. We are here for you! Contact us here.
References
Glowiak Apr 14, M. (2020, April 14). What is self-care and why is it important for you? Southern New Hampshire University. Retrieved April 30, 2022, from https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/health/what-is-self-care
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