I was so excited to work from home – this is a new development where I work – because I thought that it would be great to be able to be with my family while catching up on emails and meetings. Boy did I underestimate this undertaking. I romanticized working from home because the commute takes a lot out of me now, especially as I’m getting older. But Covid-19, as we continue to see, has completely changed the game. Back in the day if remote working was available, I would more than likely have sent my daughter to daycare accordingly and worked at home in peace. Of course that option is now a not so distant memory. And as the Ministry of Health declares more and more positive cases of the virus, we see less and less chance of life returning to normal any time soon. So, how to deal with this new way of life? As we know, until there’s a vaccine we have to live like this – mixing work life and home life and trying to find a balance – which could be for at least a year or more (yikes). Let us make the most of it with the following:
1. Get away from your responsibilities for a day (or at least a few hours). I found myself mentally drained and exhausted recently. I realized it when I felt an immense sense of dread when I thought of having to shower my daughter and get her ready for her nap. This is a routine activity to which I have gotten accustomed, but I just didn’t feel like doing it AT ALL. I am pretty sure that was one of the signs of burnout, or at least that I needed a break. Set aside time to recover. You need to be your best self in order to work well and complete all that you need to do every day. Find a way to get in that time for yourself for a nap, a yoga class or whatever you need.
2. Focus on one thing at a time. You can’t do the Zoom meeting, wash the clothes and cook all at the same time. Pick a task and deal with it. Your mind tends to think about the chores you could be doing since you’re already at home. Please try not to do that. It brings unnecessary stress. You can only realistically complete one task at a time. Schedule your meetings in the morning so you can get them out of the way. Treat with emails and other tasks you need to complete for work in the morning as well as far as possible. The rest of the day will hopefully be easier and you can then tackle the dishes or the cleaning (if you are up to it and don’t just want to nap).
3. Take a few days off. If you have vacation leave, take it! This is possibly the most stressful time I have ever been through, and I am sure many of us feel the same way. This is definitely an unprecedented period in any of our lifetimes. Why not make use of the time off you have earned? Many persons say that they are not really on vacation if they cannot travel, and clearly travel is basically out of the question right now. But even without that option, being on vacation means you do not have to go to office or work from home. I think a few days with one less worry would work wonders.
We continue to take each day as it comes. Make time for yourself so that you can be your best self when you need to be. Remember, #Perituscanhelp!
#PeritusSundays #vacation #timeoff #workfromhome
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