How I’m dealing with my hiatus from work

shaista wadhwania
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

Precisely two months ago, in July, I quit my job in advertising. The obvious question/s I was asked: Where are you headed? What are you going to do? Are you pregnant?? I could see the questions being framed in the person’s mind before it came out of their mouth. And then I said words that people thought was a joke; like ‘I’m just taking a break to see what I want to do next’ or ‘I am yet to plan out my way forward’. And then more questions when I said ‘I just want to dip my fingers into many things and see what works for me’. My reasons seemed ridiculous and no one bought it. Then some people called it ‘a bold move’. Well, I’m yet to get away with that; as I break it to myself and my family that I need more time to find my mojo.

I’m not panicking. No, I’m not panicking. No, really (read: self-talk). A lot has gone into these two months to give in and say it didn’t work out as well as I thought it would. This hiatus comes with its own challenges and opportunities. Yet, it came with so many upsides that I hadn’t expected at all. Here’s 10 of them.

  • NO MORE MINDLESS SOCIAL MEDIA SCROLLING

I’ve been through phases where procrastination (usually at my office desk) meant scrolling through facebook and twitter and everything in between. I probably use social media as much now, if not more; but it’s not so much to procrastinate. Now when I’m bored of doing one thing, I can easily walk off and come back to it whenever I want to.

  • MY HOME, MY PACE, MY RULES

Being at home, I have more control over what I want to do and when. I can do more deep work suited to my mood. So for hours together you’d hear the clicking of a keyboard or page flips of a book or even chopping vegetables or vacuuming the house. And of course, there are days when I’ve done just nothing (I call it the good procrastination).

When I worked, we left the cleaning to the weekends; in a way that the home looked the neatest on Sundays; and Friday could be named ‘tornado days’. No more! Now, clothes get arranged every day, papers and bills aren’t lost sheep and the overall clutter you can see is minimal. (Well, it is a home, not a hotel.)

You know you’ve read it just everywhere “studies show that taking afternoon naps <insert random benefit here>”. And I’m only finding out that its all true. Just 20 minutes of a nap can me feel a lot better immediately, while dividing my day in a clean first and second half; keeping me productive throughout.

This one is simple- I get to be on my feet a lot more than I did earlier when I came home tired and looking for my bed.

This is something that most of us don’t realize till it actually happens. Taking long lunch breaks when you are hungry, without having to look at the time or your phone is a boon. I spend about half an hour preparing my lunch and eat it immediately after; without a screen in front of me.

I used social media as an excuse for waiting for someone or meetings or just taking a break. Now that time is easily taken over by books. I have a long way to go back to the voracious reader I used to be, but having read three books in two months, I think there’s progress.

  • ON THE PATH TO GETTING BROKE

Of course, I’m going to go broke soon. But I expected to. My essential spending remains where they are. Yet now I find it easier to manage the extra rupee, since I don’t feel the need to splurge mindlessly every now and then on coffee and clothes; with the excuse that I need it (read: deserve it).

It isn’t easy to give in to the introvert in me and pick up the phone to call chat with friends. Now, I have no excuse of being busy or in meetings. So more meaningful conversations happen.

While the husband is toiling away at work, I’ve started to plan better weekends, so we are doing something new/different most of the time. And that’s also when I pretend to be an extrovert and meet friends and whatnot.

Of course, these are only the good things and I need a lot more discipline to stick to my tasks and not get bored. I dare not delve into the scary parts of not going out to work every day. Those demons are only mine that I will flaunt like trophies when I conquer them.

Until that blog post, if you have any tips, suggestions, arguments, praises or freelance assignments, feel free to let me know!


Originally published at shais17.wordpress.com on September 3, 2018.

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