Working from home. How often while in a corporate job did I daydream about being able to work from home? The easy commute from bedroom to office, the close proximity of the kitchen, the ability to sit on the couch as opposed to at a desk…the list goes on. Well, since March 12, I’ve gotten my wish. So, how does it compare to the daydream? As with many things, the reality does not measure up to the wishful thinking. During the semester (while I was teaching on line) hubby and I did the dance of the Zoom meetings…”I have a meeting at this time. OK, I have one here. OK, I can hang out in the living room”…You get the picture. One of us was traipsing in and out of our shared office at any given point in time.
The semester is over and I’ve resigned/retired from my faculty position. But, I’m still writing. Book 2 will be coming out this fall and that is my priority right now. But, I don’t really have a proper work space. I have ceded the office to hubby as he (obviously) still has meetings and phone calls. Sitting on the couch and trying to write is not going well. I really need to figure something out in an apartment where options are very limited.
The other issue is the “no alone time” thing. I am used to having summers off and scheduling myself (however well or poorly I manage that). I am NOT used to hubby being home All.The.Time. No, we don’t argue or fight or fuss at each other and we love hanging out together. But, there’s absolutely no alone time right now. Yesterday, I walked downtown to get my hair cut and we realized it was the first time since March 16 (his last day in the office) that we had not left the house together. We each had about two hours to ourselves (OK, I was at the hair salon, but it was soooo nice to see and talk with other people!) and I think we really needed it.
There’s also the issue of pets, or new coworkers. My cat likes to sit next to me, half on my lap, and rest on the keyboard of my laptop. Yet another reason why I need to get off the couch and figure out a different work space. I cannot spend all day watching bird videos with him. It’s just a time sink. People with small children at home have the same problem. You have to entertain or otherwise engage the kids in a way that allows you to get some work done. That’s extremely difficult.
Do not get me wrong. I am extremely grateful that we have been able to keep our jobs, that we have the home infrastructure necessary to be able to work from home, and that we enjoy spending insane amounts of time together (now that I think about it, being in grad school together may have contributed to that. We are used to having lots of unstructured time and used to spending lots of time together while working on our own projects).
Are you sharing work space? Do you have interesting and exciting new coworkers (i.e. kids and/or pets)? How have you managed it?
Happy Friday Eve (tm Stan)!
Image by Mylene2401 from Pixabay