How to Stay Motivated When You Hit the "Quarantine Wall"

4 reasons quarantine gets you down and how to get your motivation back

COVID burnout is real. Home isolation, social distancing, screen fatigue and overwhelm make it incredibly difficult to stay motivated.

At times, it may feel like you just blinked, and here we are. However, the reality is that a year ago our lives and homes changed dramatically— and since then we’ve all been on a roller coaster of emotions, reaching highs and lows in turn. 

As we’ve reached the one-year anniversary of the first stay-at-home order, remember to give yourself some grace, because we’ve all been experiencing these things for an entire year. It’s natural to hit the “quarantine wall” at some point.

This article will explore specific tips for staying motivated while dealing with home isolation, social distancing, screen fatigue and overwhelm in different ways.

Home Isolation Part 1: How to stay motivated while staying put

Being inside for long periods of time is bad for you and can drain your motivation. “Stay Home, Stay Safe” makes it hard to compensate for the natural outdoor time you got as you traveled between school, work, home and social activities. Mood-boosting outdoor activities, even if they’re small, can help.

Try some of these easy ways to incorporate outdoor time into your regular routine:

• Answer your morning emails on the porch
• Serve lunch for yourself and the kids as a picnic in the backyard
• Take a quick walk around the block on your work breaks
• Get a sun lamp to help you feel better

Planning a socially distant hike is great weekend activity for the whole family. Or consider taking up gardening. It guarantees outdoor time and you can even grow your own veggies to supplement groceries. Start with some of the easiest vegetables to grow if you don’t know anything about gardening.

Home Isolation Part 2: How to get motivated to get out of bed

It’s tempting to stay in bed looking at cat photos on your phone all day and trying to get inspired. However, while occasionally sleeping in is a lovely treat (and totally fine to do), extended periods of staying in bed all day isn’t good for you.

Making small changes in your routine can help motivate you to get up and get going. For instance, put your phone walking (not reaching) distance from the bed, and make your bed as soon as you wake up. After the effort of making the bed you’re less likely to want to mess it up by getting back in again.

Getting dressed can also help boost motivation. Even if you’re switching from one set of sweatpants to another, take the time to wash your face, brush your teeth and brush your hair. It feels good to be refreshed and is a signal to yourself that you’re ready for the day.

Make time for the good stuff. Celebrate family milestones with an online party. Use planner stickers that make you happy to schedule fun virtual activities with your friends.

Social Distancing Part 1: Staying connected with family and friends

Loneliness is NOT about being alone, it’s about feeling disconnected. It’s a huge motivation bummer and it’s even been linked to negative health effects. Scheduling quality time to connect with loved ones can give you something to look forward and help you stay motivated.

Start a club with your friends to motivate yourself to schedule friendship-time online. From a book club, to cooking themed meals on video chat and sharing recipes. It can even just be a video chat to discuss the results of your favorite reality show.

Celebrate. It might not feel like it, but there’s still a lot worth celebrating. Friends and family are still having birthdays, having babies, meeting milestones and all the other important stuff in life. Make time to send a card, a gift or flowers or throw a virtual party for your kids on their birthday.

Bring back Sunday dinners. Whether it’s pizza delivery or a home cooked meal, block off an hour or two on Sundays to have dinner together as a family. Remember, just because you’re in the same house together all day, doesn’t mean you’re spending quality time together.

Family fun night. Make sure you’re scheduling family quality time that feels special. Sitting at the same table while you work from home and the kids do distance learning doesn’t count as quality time. Break out board game classics or find other fun family activities to do together.

Social Distancing Part 2: How to cope with less public rewards

Being around less people means less opportunities for extrinsic motivation (motivation that comes from external rewards). For example, your boss congratulating you on a job well done, a teacher thanking you for classroom volunteering or friends and coworkers admiring your new outfit.  

Cultivating intrinsic motivation is important so that you can keep going no matter what. Try using a planner or bullet journal to track your goals and accomplishments. Looking back on what you’ve achieved will help you realize that you did a good job, even if there’s no one around to praise or thank you.

You can also try getting dressed up at home once in a while and admiring yourself to get a quick motivation boost. Maybe no one else will see it, but it will help you remember that how you feel about yourself is what matters most.

Surround yourself with inspiring goals and celebrate small wins. Decorate with motivational quotes and pictures of your family on removable wall decals. Print your own cute file folder labels to tackle paper clutter on your desk.

Screen Fatigue: What happens when everything is shifted online?

Using our devices to stay connected during quarantine is very helpful. However, you have to remember moderation and to take breaks because it’s too hard to stay motivated if you’re literally in pain.

Spending long periods looking at devices can strain your eyes and create screen fatigue. Computer vision syndrome (CVS) is very real and can result in headache, eye strain, blurred vision, dry eyes and neck and shoulder pain.

We’re always nagging the kids to get off their devices and get some fresh air. Now it’s time to take that advice and pause work to go for a walk now and then. Give your eyes a break so you can come back refreshed, motivated and ready to be more productive.

Overwhelm: How to stay motivated when it feels like too much

Set goals. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed after a year in quarantine, and that feeling can affect your ability to stay motivated. Setting goals for yourself allows you to prioritize what’s most important and let everything else fade into the background.

Read and reflect on your goals daily. Write your goals and favorite motivational quotes in your bullet journal, a personal planner or display them on your wall as a daily visual reminder. Having a direction to head towards gives you something to get excited for, and a reason to get up and get motivated each day.

Focus on small wins. Break down big projects into small attainable tasks that don’t take too much time. For example, if you want to be more organized don’t start with the huge task of reorganizing your home office, or even your whole desk.

Instead, give yourself a small task to begin with, such as neatly labeling your folders. Allow yourself to feel good about accomplishing that task. Then give yourself the task of using your folders to organize paper clutter, and so on. Completing each task will give you more motivation to tackle the next.

Staying motivated is a journey, not a destination— give yourself grace

As multitasking heroes of the household many of us took on additional jobs, from homeschool teacher to  full time short-order cook and even hair stylist (despite the kids’ complaints). It’s okay to feel like you’re running on fumes.

When you hit the “quarantine wall,” take a breath and identify the ways quarantine is getting you down. Then you can start to pick them apart and find small manageable ways to keep progressing forward on the self-motivation path.

Remember that even the smallest progress is still progress, and you’re not alone. Connect with us on Instagram and send us a message any time. We’re with you, listening and here to help you stay motivated through it all.