I am in the same situation. It has caused me such deterioration in mind and body that my relationship has been affected, and we are in counseling now.
As a remote worker, I have decided to give up on walking - it takes up so much time that I conclude that is suitable exercise for rich people only. Furthermore, three months of the year here it is too hot to walk; six months, it is dark by the time I am freed enough from work to go walking; and trying to get a worthwhile walk in before work is too time-consuming and potentially sleep-depriving.
Therefore I have decided to go to our local gym, less than ten minutes' walk from where I live and work, 2-3 times a week, and to commit to hiring a trainer, because I will either achieve nothing alone or else I will injure myself.
It creeps up on you, the extent to which this isolated working life can run your body and mind down into the ground, until, as in my case, it even threatens the things you hold dearest.
I walked to work for 1 hour a day and it was hugely beneficial for my mental health, put a nice break between work and home, was able to do podcasts or study foreign languages.
After going full remote I had to force myself to replace that hour, it is psychologically a lot harder especially when the walk has no purpose. That said, you are a remote worker, so you ought to have at least 1 hour of (formerly commute) time to spend. For me, I go to the gym. It's easier to motivate myself to work out when I'm going to a specific place for it. I usually do it around lunch to break up the work day, 3x/week.
I am going the gym route, though I would either do it in the morning or the evening. As a writer, I have max 4-5 hours of useful work in me today before my frontal lobe gives up, but once I am started on a writing session, it is hard to have it interrupted.
Have you tried pushing through and getting used to it? I run for half an hour in Shanghai summer weather. Over 35 degrees and humid.
It's hard but it works. Been working from home for 20 years and I do go for walks almost no matter the weather. If it snows I just put on my mountain hiking gear. I skip heavy rains though :)
But you're in Shanghai which is mostly a huge city as far as I know, and I live in an European city. I definitely don't walk in the dark, I walk 2.5 km to a park and stop at a coffee kiosk there, then walk back.
The experience in the suburbs may vary.
The worst thing with stuff like this is when you think of exercise as lost time though. Netflix is lost time. Exercise isn't.
Comments
I am in the same situation. It has caused me such deterioration in mind and body that my relationship has been affected, and we are in counseling now.
As a remote worker, I have decided to give up on walking - it takes up so much time that I conclude that is suitable exercise for rich people only. Furthermore, three months of the year here it is too hot to walk; six months, it is dark by the time I am freed enough from work to go walking; and trying to get a worthwhile walk in before work is too time-consuming and potentially sleep-depriving.
Therefore I have decided to go to our local gym, less than ten minutes' walk from where I live and work, 2-3 times a week, and to commit to hiring a trainer, because I will either achieve nothing alone or else I will injure myself.
It creeps up on you, the extent to which this isolated working life can run your body and mind down into the ground, until, as in my case, it even threatens the things you hold dearest.
I walked to work for 1 hour a day and it was hugely beneficial for my mental health, put a nice break between work and home, was able to do podcasts or study foreign languages.
After going full remote I had to force myself to replace that hour, it is psychologically a lot harder especially when the walk has no purpose. That said, you are a remote worker, so you ought to have at least 1 hour of (formerly commute) time to spend. For me, I go to the gym. It's easier to motivate myself to work out when I'm going to a specific place for it. I usually do it around lunch to break up the work day, 3x/week.
I am going the gym route, though I would either do it in the morning or the evening. As a writer, I have max 4-5 hours of useful work in me today before my frontal lobe gives up, but once I am started on a writing session, it is hard to have it interrupted.
Have you tried pushing through and getting used to it? I run for half an hour in Shanghai summer weather. Over 35 degrees and humid.
That sucks. Are there parks nearby or could you use a headlamp and wear high visibility clothing?
Ten minutes of a high intensity interval teaching training routine is no fun but it can be done every morning.
It's hard but it works. Been working from home for 20 years and I do go for walks almost no matter the weather. If it snows I just put on my mountain hiking gear. I skip heavy rains though :)
But you're in Shanghai which is mostly a huge city as far as I know, and I live in an European city. I definitely don't walk in the dark, I walk 2.5 km to a park and stop at a coffee kiosk there, then walk back.
The experience in the suburbs may vary.
The worst thing with stuff like this is when you think of exercise as lost time though. Netflix is lost time. Exercise isn't.
I am a person that runs cold, terribly affected by heat; I don't think I could make much headway doing this. I get heatstroke very easily.
There is a park, but it's not so near, and walking in the dark just has zero appeal.