I’m guessing during this time, when we are all for the most part forced to work from home or stay in the house due to the coronavirus scare, a lot of bloggers will be typing away at their computers. I might as well join them!
I have a dream board in my office at home. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a board or sheet of paper even, where you put pictures or sayings of things you aspire to have in life. Some people have pictures of certain homes, maybe a certain car even. One of the pictures on my board is a picture of Oprah with the words “You Get to Work from Home!” This is something I truly want one day. I only put this up maybe two months ago. Well, thanks Oprah! This IS what I wanted, however, not exactly what I meant.
Before all of this, my usual routine is to get up every morning at around 7:30 am, jump in the shower and get ready for my day at the office which is about a half an hour drive from home. Some days I’ll stop and pick up a coffee but lately I’ve been utilizing the free coffee at work. Mostly because I’ve been just making it in at my start time of 9:30 am with no time to spare! I sit there at the computer daily, feeling trapped, then I take my hour lunch which usually consists of errands at the drug store or just a nice stroll around the local mall. Enough time to get back within the hour and sit again at the desk until 5:30 pm. I’ll get in my car and do the usual drive home, walking in the door around 6:15 pm.
This has pretty much been my routine for many years give and take. Once in the door we get ready to make dinner, eat and clean up. Now that I have a YouTube channel for the past couple of years, I will spend between one to two hours working on editing etc. after dinner. By the time I sit down to relax and catch up with my family and watch some tv, it’s already after 8:00 pm. No later than 11:00 pm, I am washing up and getting ready for bed just to do it all over again the next morning.
I have gotten so tired of this routine over the years that my family is sick of hearing me complain about it. “If only I could work from home,” I would say numerous times, “I could do so many other things around the house that would give me more free time at nights and on the weekend!”. A true goal would be to work for myself and not for a company but at the moment, I wish I could have at least been able to be home regardless.
Well here I am. In a position I never in a million years thought would happen. I’ve been working from home now for two weeks. I always had the capability to work from home but it was something that was discouraged from doing.
It took me a few days to get acclimated and figure out how the day should run. As scary as this virus was, I am not going to pretend that I wasn’t a little excited that I was home and not getting up to waste my day away in an office. I get to be home with my pets and family, able to do the things I only dreamed I would be able to do if I could only work from home. I made a whole list of projects I would do around the house that have been pushed aside due to lack of time. Yes, I still had to work but I could do that along with other things. Couldn’t I?
Tomorrow will be exactly two week I’ve been home. I was able to get only a couple of things accomplished around the house. How is this? I couldn’t understand it. It’s not like I was busy with work constantly. Why was the day going so fast for me and I was getting pretty much, nothing done!
I even made a sheet that I taped to the wall indicating what time I will do what. I didn’t follow it once. I realize my problem started with the morning. I needed to get on track first thing. Instead of getting up early and showering right away I pretty much rolled out of bed only moments before I needed to log on to the computer for work. After checking emails and doing some office work, I would go make my coffee. In between, I tried to get a quick workout in and then a shower, which includes minimal makeup and drying my hair...all at a snail's pace. What was the rush? But before I knew it, most of the day was over. I was able to stick some of my YouTube work in between which was nice and gave me free evenings which my husband loved. But I still couldn’t understand how the days would go so fast.
I’ve been trying to figure this out and wonder why I haven’t been able to do all the projects that were on my list. I do know, that deep down, I have the answer. I just didn’t want to hear it. As I mentioned before, I needed to get up early. At least the same time I would as if I were to go into the office. If I got up early I could shower first thing and by 9:30 am I should be sitting at the desk, coffee in hand ready to go. This simple change will give me more time for a better productive flow throughout the day. I could do my workout once work was over. If I could get this in my head and actually do it, I could cook dinner in between with the free time I had and get all my chores done. These weeks at home, I’ve been cooking dinner the same time I was when working in the office. Why was I not utilizing my time better?
Tomorrow is already Friday. It seems pointless to start an actual routine that could work when it’s my last day working from home. Or is it? I’m expected to go back into the office on Monday for a week and the following week work from home again*. Nobody knows how long this will be going on for. Everyone in the office will be taking shifts.
Come two Mondays from now I am going to really push myself to get up early. I am NOT a morning person. I don’t fall asleep early at night so I really do not like this plan at all. However, if I want to get something done I must push myself to get up early.
I think my dog is confused as well. I know she must be excited to be seeing so much of me but because I can’t go anywhere in the house without her following me, she is constantly with me and I notice by night time she seems exhausted! I realize while I am at work she’s probably taking hour long naps all day long and now she’s only getting in a few quick naps throughout the day! Poor thing.
I’m not alone when I say I’m not sure how long this will go on for. It could be another month that we are taking shifts working from home and the office. As much as I love working from home I do wish a miracle would happen where the coronavirus disappears completely and we can all get back to our normal lives of going out to restaurants for dinner and meeting up at a bar for drinks with friends, going to a movie even. More importantly, I hope it ends soon so that nobody else becomes a victim to this virus.
I don’t know about you but this whole experience has made me see all the little things we take for granted. Let’s hope this does conclude really soon. We can look back at how great it was to spend the moments together with our loved ones and hope that those moments are not forgotten and taken for granted the second we are all thrown back into reality. In other words, let’s not take anything for granted anymore, be it going to a restaurant to being stuck in the house with our family. Every single action we take in life is a gift. A blessing in disguise. Let’s not forget that. I hope everyone stays healthy and happy.
*UPDATE:
Since writing this only days ago, it has been enforced in New York that only essential businesses remain open and everyone else must work from home. So now I am going on my third week home and I’m thinking this might go on for a couple of more weeks at least. Again, none of us know how long this will last. I am going to do my best to really appreciate every moment with my family.