Adjusting to working from home certainly hasn’t been easy. The routine of normal working life has gone out of the window, there is no ‘I need to leave the house by this time to beat the traffic’ attitude. No ‘morning everyone, shall we put the kettle on?’ when we all get in to the office. It’s getting downstairs to your make-shift office and then sitting alone for the day, without the atmosphere of office life. Instant messaging and video calls just don’t give you the same feeling, it’s a lonely day. But one thing is for certain, I don’t miss the commute to and from work. It’s just a case of shut down and wander off to a different room – relax mode in under two minutes.
I’m not very tech savvy – if it works, that’s great. If it doesn’t, then where do I even start? My biggest issue so far has been technical issues. Be it from not being able to remote log on causing numerous calls to IT, to my mobile signal not being great at home. The feeling of being on the phone and worrying how professional you sound with the washing machine on in the background and moving to a quieter area of the house. It’s a big change to having everything where you need it in the office. But then you look at the bigger picture and remember WHY we’re working from home and realise that it’s not a fraction as bad as what’s going on in the outside world.
I still have the bridge to cross with continuing to work AND be a mum/teacher at the same time. A concept that I’m dreading a little bit. How will I find time to do everything? How can I keep a five year old quiet whilst I’m on the phone? How many times will I have to use bribery each day just so I can do some work? But, I’m so looking forward to having her around a bit more and getting involved in her schooling (I perhaps won’t be saying that after day one but who knows?!) That’s a hurdle I’m yet to experience.
I think I’m finding my way, have ironed out some of the kinks and have told myself that I better get used to working this way as who knows how long it’s for, so it’s best to just make the most of it. One thing you can’t get in the office is picking up your desk and sitting in the sun, or moving around the house to find the comfiest place to work and get a change of scenery – that’s definitely a plus. I have the freedom to be able to have a dance around the kitchen and sing full volume as my break away from the laptop without a care in the world – I’m sure that wouldn’t be appreciated in full view of my office family!