Wearing pants is essential if you want to avoid the "unprecedented disorganization" of the outside world while in lockdown, according to an expert. It may be tempting to walk around in just a shirt, or pajamas, but psychotherapist Dr. Kathryn Smerling stressed to Fox News the importance of getting dressed as if you are going to the office each morning while working from home.
"Any kind of structure is important in this time of unprecedented disorganization," she said. "It’s a ritual. Ritual helps us focus. "This can be a ritual — that you get dressed, you have your coffee, you make your bed. This signals you have changed from sleepiness to actual work efficiency."
Putting on pants can transform your mindset from one of "relaxation and sleepiness" to a mental state that is gearing up for work. Smerling explained that the simple act of getting dressed is effective because it signals a change of scenery.
"It’s reframing morning from night. We all need that reframe now in this time," she said.
Self-care and maintaining hygiene habits are equally important for your mental state and focus, Smerling added.
"You think better, if you notice, when you take a shower — when you have a structure," she said. "It’s just one of the variety of ways to mentally prepare yourself for the end of one scene and the beginning of another. It’s like you’re in a Broadway play. You’re changing the scenery."
Smerling explained that essentially, it boils down to separating work mode from home mode.
"You have to set up these demarcations of where I sleep and where I work," she said. "Wherever your work space, you have to mentally prepare yourself to transition from sleep to work."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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