I’ve been working from home for the past 2 weeks now, with at least 2-3 to go. I say at least because that’s the official line as of now, but we all know that it’s going to be longer than that if you’re lucky enough to work for a company that allows for it. I was trying to think of a way to capture my thoughts in a narrative form but as you all know by now, I’m not the best writer you’ll ever meet. Instead, enjoy some bite-sized observations from the past few weeks.
Day 1: So many podcasts and reading to catch up on! The lack of a commute is nice, but also makes boundaries difficult. It’s very hard to focus on work with all of the news going on.
Day 3: Finding a rhythm now. Trying to get outside on a few breaks during the day. Getting a puppy right before this all happened turned out to be a blessing in disguise!
Working more on daily check-ins with everyone on my team at work. Some folks are better at remote work than others and even if they are good at it, this isn’t normal remote work. So many distractions with kids at home, the news and
Day 5: I’ve FaceTimed with people more in the past week than I have my entire life! Work-life balance is okay and I’m realizing more and more that I’m an introvert that really doesn’t mind being in my office for 8-9 hours a day with music playing in between meetings. The hardest thing for me has been the inability to gather as much information passively (walking around, sitting with teams). Everything has to be done with more intentionality but overall I’m okay with this tradeoff.
Day 7: The blur between weekends and weekdays barely exists. The lack of a commute as a way to ramp up and down from work is missed in a way although I do enjoy the extra time it affords me.
Disheartened with the lack of seriousness most neighbors are treating this whole thing. Kids are allowed to play all day with each other as long as it’s outside. Most neighbors congregate in a few folks’ lawns all day with a few feet of one another. It feels like we have a false sense of security and when it does hit this area, it’ll hit hard.
Day 10: This looks like it’s going to go on a while. Time to start looking for ways to upgrade my office. So far, I’ve been shopping for sound-absorbing panels, a new monitor and new chair. This could get expensive.
Day 14: What are the long term implications of this? I’ve started to watch a lot of movies like World War Z and Contagion. I’m hopeful about a world where white-collar folks like myself can work remotely if they want to, and also worried that so much of the American myth is just that – a myth. Things fell apart fast in a lot of ways ($2T stimulus needed just to keep things afloat after a few weeks of non-essential shutdown!) which just goes to show how the only way we stay so rich is running ourselves ragged. And most people don’t have enough to pay a month’s rent / mortgage saved. I don’t mean that in a judgmental way, either.