on mental health 😓

Mental Health?!? C'mon Ajoy, What does this look like? The Doctor's office? 

Now, I won't pretend to be your shrink, but I figured I'd talk about mental health for two reasons: 1) May is mental health awareness month ... yea ... so ... clearly, that's got to count for something, right? Wait, it's August already? and 2) Five years into remote working, I can see how it can affect your mental health. At Touchstorm we embraced remote working even before remote working was a thing. People at Touchstorm has been working remotely for 15+ years.

I understand mental health is a heavy and broad topic. It's no secret that most people starting something new have to deal with the side-effects of pursuing it. I'd like to share my thoughts on it in the context of remote working. Looking into the five signs that someone is in mental pain made me wonder about our responsibility at work (to each other).

Before working remotely, I worked at Touchstorm's Dallas office (and later in the NY office). I got a chance to witness the many personalities at work. I enjoyed trying to figure out what made them tick. Some came in early to get work done before others came in; some sought out quiet isolated space to do intense work; some stayed late for people to leave so that they can do some real work done; and some did their best work during their smoke breaks.

Although I fully advocate the many benefits of remote working, sharing a common space with my coworkers energized me. When I talked to them I had an easier time relating to them. I drew energy from people around me.

When you were struggling, you were struggling together.

When you reach new heights, there were no virtual high fives - It was high-frekin'-✋. Flesh and blood!

Depending on your personality, remote working can be God's gift for your soul or it can also send you to a dark place.

If I'm not in a meeting then I'm scheduling a meeting. If I'm not actually doing the work then I'm assigning the work to someone else ... which requires some kind of meeting. So I'm engaged in some kind of discussion. This might be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you really do. If your work involves minimum interaction with others, it can get hard to keep the energy up. When you stitch a few 8 hours of low energy days together, it can snowball into something bigger. I don't intend to solve mental health here but I would like for us to be more open about how working remotely can negatively affect our mental health. So the question becomes - how do we bring our best to work despite working remotely?

Up until recently, I didn't quite understand the concept of co-working. Why would someone leave the comforts of their own home to work in an office? But now I get it. Coffee shops and libraries are great for a change of scenery but it lacks infrastructure and a sense of community. Lacking that sense of comradery is something I have personally struggled with. Here are a few things that have helped me:

1. Regardless of the external environment, figure out the thing you do at work that consistently makes you happy. For me, this is looking at the engineering slack channel and seeing new code pushed live. Put another way - launching stuff makes me happy. I haven't found a better morale booster than pushing code that improves our system. It doesn't matter if it is a small bug fix or a massive undertaking. Heck, it doesn't even have to be my own code. I can live vicariously through someone moving the needle. #nerdAlert. This means seeking out things that are low effort but high impact. Remember we are talking about happiness here, it doesn't matter where it comes from - just optimize for it. 
2. Anyone in sales will tell you there is no substitute for a face to face meeting. I guess the next best thing is Google Hangouts. I'm usually apprehensive about turning my camera on, but when it is on I'm less prone to multi-tasking. Sometimes seeing another person on video can make you forget that you live in another time-zone, Otherwise, it's just a glorified phone call. 
3. Given the nature of my work I do end up talking to almost all my co-workers (at least once every couple of months). I do consider fortunate enough to be in that situation. If most of your interaction is within your department, make an effort to connect with someone else. I know this is easier said than done. Reaching out to the newest person to join your company might be a start.
4. I miss physically disconnecting from work. In the Dallas office, I remember walking away from a problem at the end of the day, and the solution will just come to me on the drive back home. Zooming out always helps. Try to take breaks, go for a walk especially when you are facing a hard problem.
5. Monthly one-on-ones with your subordinates and superiors can help you to look for the five signs mentioned above. Apart from tracking goals, it's a great way to connect with your peers at a personal level - just like you would at the office.

Sometimes learning a bit more about yourself can help you hack your own happiness. Ben Pollack from Khan Academy had the right idea when he said: 

Are you sad when a lot of your office is out sick, or are you relieved? Do you get uncomfortable when you’re in quiet environments for too long, or do you revel in them? Do you feel weirdly lonely when you’re in a noisy coffee shop, or do you feel energized? Use experiences like these to help you form an opinion of what will make you happiest, and then go search for an environment that’s close to what you’re looking for.

When it comes to remote working, I'd like to think that we are all totally crushing it! We have access to a bigger talent pool that is not limited by location. I'd like to think that this is an awesome perk. I'd like to think that we are all taking advantage of the flexibility, exploring the great outdoors, doing awesome work from any place with reliable wifi. I'd like to think as managers we are focusing on people's output and not their input. I'd like to think that you feel remote working pros totally outweigh the cons. I'd like to think that ... but on the off-chance, if you are constantly feeling down or isolated, doesn't hesitate to talk about it with your peers, chances are you might not be alone.