Coping with Isolation

Back in March, I shared some tips about coping with crisis. 

I’ll be honest, when I sat down and wrote that post, I never imagined that in July, I would still be working from home.  At Penn State, we are in the midst of preparing return to work plans, and we hope to be back in the library soon to start preparing for the fall semester, and whatever it may bring.   

Over the last few months, like so many, I’ve struggled to find my footing in the work from home environment.  Though I’ve created a comfortable home office, I miss my dual screens and my ergonomic office chair.  I’ve also experienced Zoom fatigue after days filled with (what felt like) a million virtual meetings. 

Through it all, I think the thing that I’ve struggled with the most is a general feeling of isolation.  It’s not surprising that I feel this way – I’ve talked to a lot of people that have experienced this same emotion during this work from home period.  I find myself missing those every day conversations with my team; the ability to check in, talk through processes, and share some laughs.  While it’s been vital to making work from home truly successful, virtual conversations just aren’t the same.  

One way that I’ve been battling feelings of isolation is to surround myself with sound whenever possible.  I wanted to share a few of the resources I’ve found that have really helped me cope with the sense of isolation I’ve felt during this crisis: 

Ted Talk Playlist: A love letter to libraries

Ted Talk Playlist: How to get into a work from home mindset 

Ted Talk Playlist: Talks to help you get through the work week 

Ted Talk Playlist: How to protect your passions from burnout 

WorkLife Podcast 

Life Kit Podcast 

And as a bonus, I’ve also escaped my home office walls by engaging with some virtual tours of libraries, museums and botanical gardens:

Virtually visit 8 libraries from around the world 

Library of Congress tours 

12 Virtual Museum tours 

8 botanical garden virtual tours 

I hope that you enjoy some of these links as much as I have. I hope that it helps you to cope with your continued work from home, or as you transition back to work on site at your library.