Here’s what is helping us cope with stay-at-home orders

April 6, 2020

All Reserve staff are working from home in accordance with recommendations from the CDC and local and statewide public health and Governor offices. When we’re not working, we’re partaking in all the traditional stay-at-home activities including home workouts, cooking, streaming tv and movies, reading, facetiming, trying to learn a language, checking out home concerts from our favorite musicians, gardening, and more! Here’s a quick list of what is helping us cope and deal with working from home/ stay-at-home orders / self-quarantining. We hope you might find some new and/or useful ideas and that you stay well!

For working

  • Encourage ergonomic tips and considerations while working from home: Check out this list for some great tips https://boltonco.com/2020/03/18/ergonomic-tips-and-considerations-while-working-from-home/, including changing postures frequently, moving every 30 minutes for 2-3 minutes, sitting up straight with relaxed shoulders, and placing the monitor approximately an arms reach from the body
  • Chatting with coworkers at the water cooler and at lunch is definitely missed by our staff! We’ve implemented weekly “happy hour” chats where we all gather virtually with our drinks and have totally non-work-related chats.

Fun activities while staying at home

  • Lunch doodles with Mo Willems – “This is likely not news to the working parents out there who are now holding down full time jobs while simultaneously serving as co-educator, coach, playmate, and recess monitor. My kids and I have very much enjoyed lunchtime doodling with one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems. It’s a wonderful creative break (I admit that I have even been sucked into it and away from my work computer on occasion). We especially enjoyed one episode with guest Dan Santat.” – Jennifer Weiss
  • Knitting – “I’ve definitely been knitting up a storm, to no one’s surprise. One of my favorite designers, Andrea Mowry, is hosting a sweater “knit-a-long”, so I’ve been working on one of her sweater patterns. It’s a great creative activity, and helps me feel productive while re-watching West Wing for the umpteenth time.” – Sarah Wescott
  • Socially distanced neighborhood walks keeping 6ft away from anyone else outside – “I’ve also been taking daily walks after work for a change of scenery – staying a safe distance from any passing neighbors on the sidewalk. My neighborhood is full of citrus trees, so an added bonus is that we usually come home with a bunch of lemons, oranges, pomelos, and tangerines that were otherwise going to waste.”  – Sarah Wescott

More pics from walks around the neighborhood:

  • Supporting our favorite businesses with online shopping – a lot of stores, including wineries, have some great deals right now. “My favorite winery – Two Mountain in Zillah, WA – has a great shipping deal. They have a cool Lemberger, which is pretty similar to a pinot noir. And the shipping comes with delivery tracking, so you can watch your case of wine getting closer to your door in real time!” – Holly Davison
  • Online multiplayer strategy board games – “You can play Catan, Agricola, Terraforming Mars, Ticket to Ride, and many more awesome strategy board games with friends while observing the social distancing stay-at-home orders. Here are some recommendations from Nerdist: https://nerdist.com/article/8-board-games-available-as-apps/ and a list of game apps from Asmodee: https://www.asmodee-digital.com/en/. If anyone out there reading this wants to challenge any member of our staff, just shoot us an email!” – Rhey Lee
  • Online learning – “This is totally the perfect time to take the courses you’ve been meaning to take if only you had the time! I’m taking a course on copyediting and diving deep into AP style and Chicago Manual of Style. This particular course is in line with my professional development goals, but you can find online classes on pretty much anything – many of them free through Coursera or your local library. Some of my friends are taking advantage of free courses on Coursera like life coaching or other self-exploration topics. I’ll likely be taking one through them next for project management. Oh, and soon, there will be some Virtual Cons that I might attend…so that will be interesting!” – Heather Raven

Mental health tips

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